Category: World

Washington has approved a potential $11.9 billion foreign military sale to Germany covering an integrated combat system, related equipment and support, in a move that underlines Berlin’s push to strengthen high-end naval air and missile defence within NATO. The U. S. State Department cleared the package on Friday, with Lockheed Martin and RTX named as the principal contractors.The proposed sale is centred on AEGIS-based combat system computing equipment and associated radars for as many as eight ships, according to

World Bank has launched a new strategy for small states, promising a more tailored approach for countries that face outsized economic risks from isolation, narrow domestic markets and repeated external shocks. The plan, unveiled on Friday by World Bank President Ajay Banga during the spring meetings in Washington, puts jobs, private investment and more flexible financing at the centre of support for small island economies and other small countries that struggle to convert limited scale into durable growth.The initiative

Etihad Airways has set out one of its biggest Africa pushes in years, unveiling six new destinations across the continent as Abu Dhabi’s flag carrier deepens its reach into markets it says are being shaped by trade growth, cargo demand and rising cross-border mobility. The expansion adds services to Accra, Asmara, Kinshasa, Lagos, Harare and Lubumbashi, with the first of the new routes due to begin in November 2026 and the rest to follow in March 2027.The airline said

More than half of Israelis do not want Benjamin Netanyahu to continue as prime minister, according to a Channel 12 poll that has added fresh weight to a long-running pattern in domestic surveys showing a battered leader still in office but struggling to rebuild broad public confidence ahead of a national election due by October. The finding, circulated widely in Israeli media, lands at a moment when war, security, coalition arithmetic and personal leadership have become tightly fused in public

Falling oil prices after Iran said the Strait of Hormuz was open to commercial shipping have eased one of the sharpest inflation threats facing the US Federal Reserve, giving policymakers more room to consider rate cuts later this year if the decline in energy costs holds. Brent crude fell below $90 a barrel on Friday, April 17, for the first time since March 10, after dropping by more than 10% as markets responded to the reopening announcement and a temporary

Iran said on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz was open to commercial shipping during the ceasefire, easing pressure on one of the world’s most sensitive energy chokepoints and helping lift Bitcoin towards $78,000 as investors moved back into risk assets. The market reaction was swift across oil, equities and cryptocurrencies, though the rebound also reflected wider hopes that hostilities involving the US, Israel and Iran may be moving towards a diplomatic phase rather than a full military escalation.Tehran’s message

Alarm over the Strait of Hormuz is spilling far beyond the Gulf, sharpening attention on the Malacca Strait near Singapore as traders, shipowners and Asian governments weigh what a prolonged disruption in West Asian energy flows could mean for the region’s busiest maritime corridor. The immediate military confrontation is centred on Hormuz, where Iran has tightened restrictions and the United States has imposed a blockade on Iranian ports, but the commercial aftershock is already being felt along the longer route

A court in Saratov has fined a local news agency and one of its executives after the outlet published a review of the television series Heated Rivalry, in a case that underlines how far Russia’s campaign against LGBTQ+ expression now extends into ordinary cultural coverage.The Oktyabrsky District Court in Saratov imposed a 500,000-rouble penalty on SaratovBusinessConsulting, widely known as SarBC, over an article that discussed why the series had become popular. A separate fine of 50,000 roubles was handed to

Global growth prospects have darkened after the International Monetary Fund cut its forecasts and warned that the war involving the United States, Israel and Iran has delivered a fresh energy shock just as many economies were regaining stability. The Fund’s latest assessment points to weaker output, firmer inflation and mounting fiscal pressure as oil flows through the Gulf remain disrupted and governments weigh how to shield households without worsening already heavy debt burdens.The central fault line is energy. Brent

Australia’s unemployment rate held at 4.3% in March, defying a widening energy shock from the US-Israeli war on Iran and underscoring the resilience of a labour market that has so far remained tighter than many economists expected. Official figures showed employment rose by about 18,000 over the month, led by a sharp lift in full-time work, even as participation edged lower and policymakers faced a more complicated inflation outlook.The March data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed full-time employment

Saudi Arabia has pledged an additional $3 billion in support for Pakistan and agreed to extend a $5 billion deposit for a longer period, giving Islamabad fresh breathing space as it works to manage external financing pressures and a looming $3.5 billion repayment obligation to the United Arab Emirates this month. Pakistan’s finance minister, Muhammad Aurangzeb, disclosed the support in Washington, and the arrangement was confirmed by reporting that cited both countries’ finance ministries.The announcement matters because Pakistan’s foreign

The International Monetary Fund, World Bank and International Energy Agency are moving towards scheduled calls every two weeks as they deepen coordination over the economic and energy fallout from the war in the Middle East, with officials warning that prolonged disruption could sharpen inflation, weaken growth and hit poorer energy-importing countries hardest. The three bodies first set up a joint coordination group at the start of April and have since widened their joint warnings as the shock to oil, gas

Super Typhoon Sinlaku battered Saipan and Tinian in the Northern Mariana Islands on Wednesday, ripping away roofs, toppling power lines and flooding homes as one of the fiercest storms to strike the Western Pacific this year swept across the remote U. S. territory. Officials said residents were told to remain in reinforced shelters and concrete buildings as dangerous winds and heavy rain continued long after the eye moved past the islands.The storm made landfall with sustained winds of about

Paper tubes, cartons and bamboo-based alternatives are gaining commercial ground across Asia as the war-linked disruption to petrochemical supplies pushes plastic costs higher and leaves manufacturers, retailers and consumer brands scrambling for substitutes. What began as a supply shock tied to oil and chemical flows from the Middle East is now rippling through supermarket shelves, cosmetics counters and factory floors, giving an unexpected opening to packaging formats that use less plastic or avoid it altogether.South Korea’s Yonwoo, which makes

Chevron has struck new agreements with Venezuela to expand oil production in the Orinoco Belt, tightening its focus on the country’s vast extra-heavy crude reserves at a time when Caracas is trying to pull foreign capital back into its energy sector and Washington has loosened some restrictions on dealings with the country’s oil industry.The agreements, reached with state oil company PDVSA, give Chevron a larger position in Petroindependencia, where its stake rises to 49% from 35.8%, and open the way

A tanker under U. S. sanctions has passed through the Strait of Hormuz despite Washington’s new maritime restrictions around Iranian ports, raising fresh questions over how tightly the measures can be enforced and how much disruption they will inflict on a waterway central to global energy trade. Shipping data cited by Reuters showed the vessel, Rich Starry, moving through the chokepoint on Tuesday after loading methanol at Hamriyah in the UAE and setting course for China.The passage matters because

Washington has moved from threats to enforcement, with the U. S. military beginning a blockade on shipping to and from Iranian ports across the Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, in a step that sharply raises the risk of a broader regional conflict even as a temporary ceasefire remains in place. U. S. Central Command said the restrictions took effect on Monday morning U. S. time and apply to vessels of any flag travelling to or from

France and Britain are preparing to convene partner countries for what President Emmanuel Macron described as a peaceful multinational mission to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, marking a European push to keep one of the world’s most important energy arteries open without joining Washington’s new blockade of Iranian ports. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain would not support the US blockade and insisted London’s efforts were focused on getting the strait “open and fully open”.The

Britain will not back a United States blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday, drawing a firm line between protecting shipping routes and joining a wider military escalation around Iran. His intervention came after Washington announced it would block maritime traffic entering or leaving Iranian ports, while saying vessels transiting between non-Iranian ports could still pass through the strategic waterway.Starmer’s position is politically and economically significant because the strait sits at the heart

Hexagon has agreed to buy Waygate Technologies from Baker Hughes for about $1.45 billion in cash, giving the Swedish measurement technology group a bigger presence in industrial inspection and opening a new front in its push beyond traditional metrology.The deal, announced on Monday, hands Hexagon control of a business that supplies non-destructive testing equipment used to inspect critical components and assets without taking them apart or shutting them down. Waygate’s technologies span radiography, computed tomography, ultrasound, imaging and remote visual

Brussels is preparing to urge European Union governments to cut electricity taxes and trim power-grid charges, betting that cheaper power can both shield households and industry from the latest oil and gas shock and speed the shift towards cleaner technologies. The move comes as the European Commission tries to contain the economic fallout from surging fossil-fuel prices without abandoning the bloc’s longer-term decarbonisation plans.The recommendation would build on the Commission’s affordable energy agenda and on measures already trailed this

Cyclone Maila has killed at least 11 people in Papua New Guinea, with flooding and landslides tearing through Bougainville and cutting off communities already struggling with damaged roads, broken bridges and disrupted food supplies. Local authorities and relief officials said the toll could still rise as reports continue to come in from remote areas where communications remain patchy after the storm crossed the region late last week.The worst single incident reported so far was a landslide in Central Bougainville

A frantic hunt for oil cargoes that can be delivered at once has tightened the global crude market, even as headline prices have swung with every turn in the fragile ceasefire around Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. Behind the moves in futures, traders, refiners and state buyers have been competing for physical barrels from the North Sea, West Africa, the United States and anywhere else supplies can move without delay.That rush reflects a deeper market fracture. While some tanker

Two empty supertankers heading towards the Persian Gulf reversed course near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, underscoring how quickly shipping sentiment can turn when diplomacy falters in one of the world’s most sensitive energy corridors. The movements came as talks between Washington and Tehran in Islamabad ended without agreement, leaving a fragile ceasefire under strain and traders, shipowners and refiners facing renewed uncertainty over access to Gulf crude.The failed negotiations followed 21 hours of discussion between delegations led

Police in San Francisco arrested a 20-year-old man after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the home of OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, in an attack that was followed within an hour by threats against the company’s headquarters, according to police statements and OpenAI. No injuries were reported, but the episode has sharpened concerns over the security risks facing senior technology executives as arguments over artificial intelligence grow more heated.Officers said they were called at 4:12am on Friday, April