By David Brunnstrom, Emma Farge and Olivia Le Poidevin April 21 (Reuters) – The four candidates vying to become the next United Nations secretary-general face live hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday on their bids to lead the troubled global organization from next year. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal’s…
ANKARA, April 20 (Reuters) – Turkey will tighten gun-ownership rules and increase penalties for owners whose children find the firearms, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday after last week’s rare, deadly school shootings. The second of the two separate attacks by students last week killed eight pupils and a teacher in a southeastern province of…
The US-Israeli war on Iran has unleashed sharp swings across global energy and financial markets, fuelling demand for safe-haven assets, with Hong Kong emerging as a potential beneficiary across gold, property and capital markets. In the third of a three-part series, we look at Hong Kong’s position as a stable base where demand for property…
BEIJING, April 20 (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping called for normal passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz to be maintained, in a phone call on Monday with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held as Beijing steps up efforts to help end the Iran war. China is concerned over renewed instability…
ISLAMABAD, April 20 (Reuters) – Pakistan has put a $1.5 billion deal to supply weapons and jets to Sudan on hold after Saudi Arabia asked for the agreement to be terminated and said it would not finance the purchase, two Pakistani security sources and a diplomatic source said. The conflict between Sudan’s army and the…
ANTALYA, Turkey, April 20 (Reuters) – This year’s U.N. climate summit will seek to turn past decisions into action, with financing the main focus, Turkey’s Environment and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum told Reuters, as the country prepares to host and chair COP31 in November. The minister, Murat Kurum, said financing was the most important…
THE PAST couple of days in the Middle East have been characterised by the now-familiar whiplash. On April 17th Donald Trump announced the Strait of Hormuz had opened to traffic. Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, confirmed as much. The same day outlets linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) criticised Mr Araghchi for failing…
DUBAI, April 20 (Reuters) – Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Monday that every rational and diplomatic path should be used to reduce tensions with the U.S., but added that vigilance and distrust in interactions with Washington were an “undeniable necessity”, according to the state news agency IRNA. A two-week ceasefire between Iran and the…
Financial markets got quite excited after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi tweeted at 8:45am New York time on Friday (10:45pm Friday AEST) that the Strait of Hormuz was “completely open”, followed by a series of jubilant posts by US President Donald Trump and a triumphant, if bellicose, speech. Oil futures fell 10 per cent and…
The US is more coordinated with China than many assume, former Israeli Navy commander Maj.-Gen. (res.) Eliezer Marom told 103FM on Wednesday. “I think the fuel problem has been completely solved, because the Chinese will get supplies from the Russians,” he said, claiming that alternative energy arrangements are already reducing the impact of regional disruption…