Author: admin
When Gulf leaders touched down in Kuala Lumpur for a summit with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this May, the ink was barely dry on their massive investment pledges of some US$2 trillion in the United States to placate President Donald Trump.But as the summit doors closed, the senior officials from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) turned their attention eastward, towards forging a pan-Asian economic zone reminiscent of Brics that could shield them and Asean from the unpredictability of Washington’s erratic tariffs and dictates.“The need to diversify trade away from an unpredictable US administration is likely to further fuel…
Russia is open to peace with Ukraine, but achieving its goals remains a priority, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday, days after U.S. President Donald Trump gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire or face tougher sanctions.Peskov and other Russian officials have repeatedly rejected accusations from Kyiv and its Western partners of stalling peace talks. Meanwhile, Moscow continues to intensify its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, launching more drones in a single night than it did during some entire months in 2024, and analysts say the barrages are likely to escalate.“President Putin has repeatedly spoken of his…
Facing a US tariff of 30 per cent from August 1, South Africa is intensifying efforts to significantly grow its exports to China and address a persistent trade imbalance.A high-level delegation, led by Deputy President Paul Mashatile, has been on a week-long visit to Beijing, seeking investments and pitching strategic opportunities to diversify the nation’s export basket beyond basic commodities towards higher-value products such as pharmaceuticals, automotive goods and green energy technologies.In a speech at the South Africa China Investment Forum, held on the sidelines of the third China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) in Beijing earlier this week, Mashatile…
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) — Pope Leo XIV renewed his call on Sunday for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, asking the international community to respect international laws and the obligation to protect civilians.“I once again call for an immediate end to the barbarity of this war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” the pontiff said at the end of his Sunday Angelus prayer from his summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo. Pope Leo also expressed his “deep sorrow” for the Israeli attack on the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, which killed three people and wounded…
A fresh push by China and Pakistan to redraw the map of South Asian cooperation risks stumbling at the first hurdle, with analysts saying India remains key to future regional cooperation given its economic heft and crisis management credentials.According to sources cited in Indian media, discussions between Islamabad and Beijing on a potential replacement for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) are at an advanced stage – a move observers interpret as a broader geopolitical play by China to sideline India in its own neighbourhood.Bangladeshi officials reportedly attended a meeting on June 19 in Kunming, China, about the…
SINGAPORE/BEIJING: China’s fuel oil imports recovered in June after a slump in May, while bunker fuel oil exports also climbed from the previous month, customs data showed on Sunday. Fuel oil imports in June totalled approximately 1.4 million metric tons, or about 295,708 barrels per day (bpd), up 7% from May and but were down 6% from the same month a year earlier. Import volumes rebounded after China’s Shandong provincial government raised fuel oil import tax rebates for some independent refineries. Demand for refinery feedstock had tapered off earlier in the year after China raised import tariffs and reduced tax…
BEIJING: China’s soybean imports from Brazil in June climbed by 9.2% from a year earlier, customs data showed on Sunday, driven by a strong harvest and the ongoing Sino-U.S. trade war, while supplies from the United States rose 21%. The world’s biggest soybean buyer imported 10.62 million metric tons of the oilseed from Brazil last month, or 86.6% of the total imports, compared with 9.72 million tons a year earlier, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. June arrivals from the U.S. reached 1.58 million tons, or about 12.9% of the total for the month, up from 1.31 million…
PARIS (AP) — D-Day veteran ″Papa Jake″ Larson, who survived German gunfire on Normandy’s bluffs in 1944 and garnered 1.2 million followers on TikTok late in life by sharing stories to commemorate World War II and his fallen comrades, has died at 102.Tributes for “Story Time with Papa Jake” poured in from followers across the United States, where he had been living in Lafayette, CA., and from towns around Normandy still grateful to Allied forces who helped defeat the occupying Nazis.“Our beloved Papa Jake has passed away on July 17th at 102 years young,” his granddaughter McKaela Larson posted on…
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian border authorities said Sunday they have seized one of the largest hauls of cocaine from a Belgian-plated van en route to Turkey.According to customs officials, the nearly 206 kilograms (453 pounds) of cocaine was the largest seizure at Bulgaria’s land border. A vehicle inspection led to the discovery of the drugs valued at 20 million euros ($22 million). The drugs were hidden in 179 sealed bags stashed among personal belongings in five suitcases.Haskovo District Prosecutor Ivan Stoyanov identified the three people attempting to cross the border into Turkey as a 40-year-old diplomat from the Democratic…
Hundreds of thousands of people in southern China have been evacuated and flights and trains cancelled as a result of Typhoon Wipha.The China Meteorological Administration issued an orange typhoon warning, the second highest level in the four-tier system, on Sunday, expecting Wipha to make landfall between Zhuhai and Zhanjiang in Guangdong province on Sunday afternoon or evening.The storm, which had already battered Taiwan and the Philippines, also caused strong winds and heavy rain in the neighbouring provinces of Fujian and Hainan as well as Hong Kong, where a No 10 typhoon alert was raised.At the time of landfall, Wipha was…