Author: AFP
Argentina recorded a monthly inflation rate of 2.2 percent in January, the lowest in 4.5 years, the INDEC national statistics agency said Thursday, in a boost for budget-slashing President Javier Milei. Inflation, the perennial bugbear of South America’s second-biggest economy, was down from 2.7 percent in December, it said, and January was the fourth straight month in which prices rose by less than 3 percent. Year-on-year, January inflation came in at 84.5 percent, said the INDEC — the first time in two years it was under 100 percent. Self-declared “anarcho-capitalist” Milei came to power wielding a chainsaw as a symbol…
Ukraine conceded Thursday that it was holding barely a third of the territory in Russia’s western Kursk region that it initially captured during a shock offensive last year — land Kyiv hopes it can exchange with Russia. “Today we have our own security zone on the territory of the Russian Federation, along the border of Ukraine, holding around 500 square kilometres (190 square miles),” Ukraine commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky wrote on social media — down from previous claims that it controlled almost 1,400 square kilometres.
US consumer inflation unexpectedly accelerated last month, according to government data published Wednesday, adding to pressure on the Federal Reserve to continue its rate cut pause. The consumer price index (CPI) edged up to 3.0 percent in January from a year ago, rising slightly from 2.9 percent in December, the Labor Department said in a statement. This was slightly above the median forecast of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday he had had a “meaningful conversation” with US President Donald Trump and that the leaders discussed ways to end Russia’s nearly three-year invasion of Ukraine. “We long talked about opportunities to achieve peace, discussed our readiness to work together at the team level,” Zelensky said on social media, adding that he was “grateful to President Trump for his interest in what we can accomplish together.”
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for cutting interest rates, his latest intervention on a policy that is set by the independent US central bank. “Interest Rates should be lowered, something which would go hand in hand with upcoming Tariffs!!!” he wrote in an early morning post to his Truth Social account, adding “Lets Rock and Roll, America!!!” Trump has no direct control over the Federal Reserve but this is not the first time he has demanded a rate cut since returning to the White House in January. He also frequently pressured the central bank during his first term…
President Donald Trump said Palestinians would have no right to return to Gaza under his US takeover plan, describing his proposal in excerpts of an interview released Monday as a “real estate development for the future.” Trump told Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier that “I would own it” and that there could be as many as six different sites for Palestinians to live outside Gaza — under the plan which the Arab world has rejected. “No, they wouldn’t, because they’re going to have much better housing,” Trump said when Baier asked if the Palestinians would have the right to return…
Iran’s president accused his US counterpart Donald Trump on Monday of seeking to bring the Islamic republic “to its knees” as the country marked the 1979 revolution that toppled the shah. The revolution removed a pro-US government in Iran, and the subsequent hostage-taking of American diplomats in Tehran ushered in decades of hostility between the United States and Iran. This year’s celebrations carry additional weight following Trump’s return to the White House. During his first term, Trump pursued a policy of “maximum pressure” against the Islamic republic. In the morning, people gathered in public spaces across Iran, accompanied by pop…
President Donald Trump said Palestinians would have no right to return to Gaza under his US takeover plan, describing his proposal in excerpts of an interview released Monday as a “real estate development for the future.” Trump told Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier that “I would own it” and that there could be as many as six different sites for Palestinians to live outside Gaza — under the plan which the Arab world has rejected. “No, they wouldn’t, because they’re going to have much better housing,” Trump said when Baier asked if the Palestinians would have the right to return…
An explosion Sunday on an oil tanker at a port in northwest Russia forced the crew to evacuate and was being investigated, the country’s federal shipping agency said. The Rosmorrechflot maritime and river transport agency wrote on Telegram that “an explosion took place in the engine room” of the “Koala” in Ust-Luga port west of Saint Petersburg on Sunday morning. It said the crew fled the vessel but the blast did not cause “a spill of the cargo or a leak of oil products” and there was no risk of the ship sinking. “The appropriate agencies are investigating the incident,”…
The head of the world’s chemical weapons watchdog will meet Syria’s new leader Saturday, in a first official visit since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, who was repeatedly accused of using such weapons during Syria’s 13-year civil war. “We will broadcast the President of the Syrian Arab Republic Ahmad al-Sharaa and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Asaad Al-Shaibani receiving a delegation from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)”, an official Syrian Telegram channel said in a statement.