Category: World

Kenya is moving to keep more value from its minerals at home, signalling a sharper shift from raw exports towards processing, refining and manufacturing as global competition for critical minerals intensifies.President William Ruto set out the policy direction while opening the 2026 Kenya Mining Investment Conference and Expo in Nairobi, telling investors and government delegations that Kenya no longer wants to serve mainly as a supplier of unprocessed ores for industries abroad. The two-day forum brought together more than 500

Wall Street’s latest rally is being driven less by relief over geopolitics than by a force investors can measure more easily: earnings. Morgan Stanley strategists say the strength of US corporate profits, led by technology companies, is giving equities enough support to look beyond the market risks created by the Iran conflict and the disruption around the Strait of Hormuz.The bank’s team, led by Michael Wilson, has pointed to a broad improvement in earnings revisions for the S&P 500 over

Residents across Eastern Samar and nearby provinces rushed out of homes, offices and schools on Monday after a strong earthquake struck the central Philippines, shaking parts of the Visayas and renewing concern over the country’s exposure to destructive seismic activity.The quake hit at 2.09pm local time on May 4, 2026, with its epicentre traced near San Julian in Eastern Samar. Early readings placed the tremor at magnitude 6.1 and at a shallow depth of about 10 kilometres, before updated assessments

Swiss lawmakers are opening a politically charged debate in Bern that could determine how much capital UBS Group must hold after its takeover of Credit Suisse, setting the stage for a confrontation between financial stability concerns and fears over Switzerland’s competitiveness as a banking centre.A 13-member parliamentary panel is meeting on Monday to begin work on proposed changes to the Banking Act, a legislative package shaped by the collapse of Credit Suisse and the emergency rescue that left UBS as

North Korea’s Naegohyang Women’s FC is set to travel to South Korea this month for a high-profile Asian Football Confederation Women’s Champions League semi-final, creating one of the few sporting contacts between the two sides in years.The Pyongyang-based club is scheduled to face Suwon FC Women at Suwon Stadium on May 20, with the final fixed for May 23 at the same venue. The Korea Football Association has confirmed the fixture, while Seoul’s Unification Ministry has received a delegation list

Apple’s March-quarter sales climbed sharply as demand for the iPhone 17 line helped the company deliver its strongest quarterly revenue growth in more than four years, easing investor anxiety over a slower consumer electronics market and its uneven progress in artificial intelligence.The Cupertino-based group reported revenue of $111.2 billion for the fiscal second quarter ended March 28, up 17 per cent from a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share rose 22 per cent to $2.01, while net income reached $29.58

Tehran has sharpened its confrontation with Washington and Gulf shipping powers after Mojtaba Khamenei declared that the Strait of Hormuz would be “managed by new rules”, signalling Iran’s intention to tighten political and operational control over the world’s most sensitive energy corridor.Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader and the son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the waterway would no longer be treated as a passage subject to what Tehran describes as foreign pressure. His remarks, carried through state media, placed

Australia’s data centre industry is moving from rapid expansion to sharper scrutiny as new forecasting shows a widening gap between announced projects and capacity likely to be delivered by 2030.A joint market intelligence initiative by Data Centres Australia and DC Byte has put operational IT capacity at about 1.4 gigawatts at the end of 2025, with the market projected to reach 3.1GW to 3.2GW by 2030. That would imply a five-year compound annual growth rate of about 17%, driven by

Conspiracy theories swept across social media after gunfire disrupted the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Washington Hilton, turning a security emergency into another test of America’s fragile information system.The April 25 attack, which led to federal charges against 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, unfolded near the main screening area outside the ballroom where President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, senior officials, journalists and guests had gathered. Trump was not injured. A Secret Service officer was

Justice Department lawyers have asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit blocking parts of President Donald Trump’s planned White House ballroom, using language that legal critics say closely mirrors the president’s combative social media style and marks a striking departure from the department’s traditional courtroom tone.A motion filed in federal court argues that the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which brought the case, has no legal basis to obstruct the project and is driven by “Trump derangement syndrome”. The

France has set deadlines to end the use of coal, oil and fossil gas for energy, placing itself among the first major economies to publish a full fossil-fuel exit timetable as governments debate how to turn climate pledges into enforceable national plans.The roadmap, presented at the international talks in Santa Marta, Colombia, commits France to phasing out coal by 2030, oil by 2045 and fossil gas by 2050. The plan links the timetable to energy security, industrial renewal and climate

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has said ships could resume passage through the Strait of Hormuz without every mine being removed, raising hopes of a faster reopening of one of the world’s most important energy corridors while leaving unresolved questions over risk, insurance and maritime security.Wright said a workable channel could be created for vessels moving in and out of the Gulf, rather than waiting for a full clearance operation across the waterway. Speaking on the sidelines of the Three

Federal prosecutors have charged a U. S. Army Special Forces master sergeant with using classified information from a military operation in Venezuela to make more than $400,000 through prediction-market bets, opening a criminal case that links national security secrecy with the expanding trade in event contracts.Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was named in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court on charges including unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government

Philippine lawmakers widened their impeachment inquiry into Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday by pulling her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, bank-related records and other financial documents into a deeper examination of whether her declared wealth and reported transactions match what public officials are required to disclose. The move sharpens one of the most politically charged cases in the country, with the House justice committee now testing allegations of unexplained wealth alongside claims tied to confidential funds, bribery

Two fully laden Iranian tankers have slipped out of the Persian Gulf with their tracking signals muted, underscoring how Tehran’s oil trade is adapting to a tightening US-led maritime squeeze even as warships, seizures and threats of interception raise the stakes across one of the world’s most critical energy corridors. Reports circulating on Wednesday said the vessels were part of a broader flotilla that has moved millions of barrels of crude despite the blockade, highlighting both the resilience of Iran’s

Blackstone-owned AirTrunk is preparing what could become a landmark financing for Asia-Pacific digital infrastructure, with the data-centre operator seeking to raise at least A$500 million through asset-backed bonds backed by its facilities, according to market reports and company disclosures on its broader funding platform. The move would mark a notable step in bringing securitised debt structures, long familiar in other asset classes, into the region’s fast-growing data-centre sector.The planned issue comes as investors and lenders search for ways to

Oil traders are warning that the prolonged disruption in the Strait of Hormuz is no longer just a supply crisis but an escalating threat to global growth, as high fuel costs begin to erode consumption, strain industry and darken the outlook for the world economy. Shipping through the waterway remains severely restricted, with only a handful of vessels moving through compared with the normal daily flow, while tens of millions of barrels remain stranded across the Gulf.The concern now

Ministers are moving to turn England’s school mobile phone rules into law, shifting a long-standing policy push from guidance into statute as the government tries to tighten control over children’s screen use and strengthen schools’ hand in enforcing phone-free days. The change is being advanced through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill after fresh parliamentary pressure over children’s online safety and time spent on devices.The proposal would formalise an approach already encouraged across England’s schools: pupils should not be