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Russia has maintained a delicate balancing act in the Middle East for decades, trying to navigate its warm relations with Israel even as it has developed strong economic and military ties with Iran.Israel’s military strikes this weekend on Iranian nuclear and military facilities, killing top generals and scientists, and Tehran’s response with drones and missiles, put Moscow in an awkward position, requiring fine diplomatic skills to preserve ties with both parties. But it also could open opportunities for Russia to possibly become a power broker to help end the confrontation.Some observers in Moscow also argue that the focus on the…
This live blog has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Get faster notifications on the latest updates by downloading our app.For the first time in more than three decades, the United States is holding a major military parade in the nation’s capital on Saturday – fulfilling a long-standing desire of US President Donald Trump on a day that was marred by a political assassination.Echoing displays more typically seen in countries including China, France and Russia, the parade in Washington was already expected to showcase the nation’s political divisions.…
What was shaping up to be a relatively calm week quickly got volatile on Friday, following Israel’s overnight strike on Iran. Here is a closer look at the three biggest themes that defined the market this week. 1. Geopolitics: The attack on Iranian nuclear infrastructure rippled through financial markets on Friday. U.S. stocks sold off on the increased tensions overseas. The S & P 500 and Nasdaq Composite tumbled 1.13% and 1.3% on Friday, respectively. Meanwhile, Brent crude futures and West Texas Intermediate crude futures added around 7% and 7.5%, respectively. Gold rose to a two-month high, as well, as…
NUUK, Greenland (AP) — The first direct flight from the U.S. to Greenland by an American airline landed in the capital city of Nuuk Saturday evening and is set to make its return flight on Sunday morning.The United Airlines-operated Boeing 737 Max 8 departed from Newark International Airport in New Jersey at 11:31 a.m. EDT (1531 GMT) on Saturday and arrived a little over four hours later, at 6:39 p.m. local time (1939 GMT), according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware.A one-way ticket from Newark to Nuuk cost roughly $1,200. The return flight had a $1,300 to $1,500 price tag.Saturday’s flight…
He Jiankui looked a little tired and worn as he contemplated his future.With no home and no institution to host his research, the 41-year-old biophysicist and self-proclaimed “pioneer of gene editing” was weighing up what to do next while staying at an upmarket hotel in Beijing late last month.He, who caused a global uproar in 2018 with his announcement of the world’s first gene-edited babies, planned to move to the United States to continue his research into gene-editing embryos to combat diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer.“My new lab in Austin, Texas is being prepared and I’ll be settling down…
The trial is on a 37-year-old man who had to have all of his limbs amputated after a high-voltage electrical accident more than a decade ago.In March, researchers implanted a device roughly the size of a coin and a series of electrodes into the man’s brain. A few weeks later, he was able to control a cursor on an electronic device, enabling him to play chess and video games, and perform computer operations at a near-normal level of proficiency, according to the report.The researchers plan to conduct a series of small-scale trials on patients with paralysis or the nervous system…
Canada’s new government will invest more in mining at a time when the country’s economy and manufacturing sector are facing “challenges” related to China’s curbs on rare earth exports, Bill Morneau, former Canadian finance minister, told the Post.“One of the challenges for Canada is that we will need to increase our own mining,” Morneau, who was in office between 2015 and 2020 under then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, said in Shanghai on Friday.“The initiative by new [Prime Minister] Mark Carney is to advance the ability to get big projects done. Certainly, mining is one of the critical ones,” Morneau explained.The former…
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump held a lengthy call Saturday to discuss the escalating situation in the Middle East and Russia’s war in Ukraine.Trump in a posting on his Truth Social platform said they spent the bulk of their conversation focused on Israel’s ongoing blistering attacks aimed at decapitating Iran’s nuclear program and Iran’s retaliatory strikes. But Trump said that he also pressed Putin to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.“He feels, as do I, this war in Israel-Iran should end, to which I explained, his war should also end,” said Trump, who added the conversation went…
More than a decade after Club Bboss was closed, a new nightspot has launched on the same site where the once-glamorous establishment operated for 28 years, with the goal of attracting tourists and young revellers eager for a glimpse of Hong Kong’s 1980s clubbing heyday.The new spot – known as Big Boss Generation (BBG) – opened for business on Saturday in the old club’s 56,000 sq ft site at the New Mandarin Plaza in Tsim Sha Tsui East. It will use the former occupant’s old Chinese name, which translates to Big Boss Club.“Big Boss Club is not only a household…
During thorny human rights talks with China on Friday, the European Union voiced concerns about what it called a “deterioration of fundamental freedoms” in the country.The EU cited “government interference” in the succession plan for the Dalai Lama, an ongoing crackdown in Hong Kong, and jailed Uygur and Tibetan activists as examples in its statement on the 40th edition of the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue in Brussels.The bloc accused China of “persistent restrictions on freedom of expression, religion or belief, peaceful assembly, and the right to equality and non-discrimination”.The bloc also called attention to what it said was an “erosion…