Rachel Reeves boasts of the £23bn she has built up against her fiscal rules but now she – or any future steward of the economy – has little space to manoeuvre It is with no pleasure that I must report a depressing domestic byproduct of the war in the Middle East: headroom chat is back. Of course, shifts in investors’ appetite for gilts – UK government bonds – are trivial, in the context of the blo...
Rachel Reeves boasts of the £23bn she has built up against her fiscal rules but now she – or any future steward of the economy – has little space to manoeuvre It is with no pleasure that I must report a depressing domestic byproduct of the war in the Middle East: headroom chat is back. Of course, shifts in investors’ appetite for gilts – UK government bonds – are trivial, in the context of the bloodshed in Iran and beyond. Continue reading...
Syria is seeking foreign investors for a $1 billion drive to revamp its mobile-phone coverage and postal service, as the war-torn country rebuilds after the US lifted sanctions. Some $500 million is being sought for a revival of Syrian Post, with Poste Italiane and a consortium of France’s La Poste and CMA CGM SA expressing interest, according to officials from Syria’s Communications Ministry. The...
Syria is seeking foreign investors for a $1 billion drive to revamp its mobile-phone coverage and postal service, as the war-torn country rebuilds after the US lifted sanctions. Some $500 million is being sought for a revival of Syrian Post, with Poste Italiane and a consortium of France’s La Poste and CMA CGM SA expressing interest, according to officials from Syria’s Communications Ministry. The state postal services of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan are also separately considering the investment, the officials said. They asked not to be identified as the discussions are private. The Middle Eastern nation, where dictator Bashar Al-Assad was ousted in December 2024 after more than a decade of civil war, is also seeking foreign capital for a $500 million plan to build new mobile-network infrastructure and improve coverage in commercial areas with high footfall, the people said. The director general of Jordan Post, Hanadi Al-Tayeb, said they’d been approached by Syria’s postal service, are studying the issue and will visit Syria soon. Discussions are in very early stages and there’s no decision yet on whether they will apply for the tender, she said The postal services of Italy, France, the UAE didn’t respond to requests for comment. CMA CGM declined to comment, while Saudi officials weren’t available to comment. The Syrian initiatives speak to the new government’s ambitions to rebuild an economy shattered by the conflict that claimed more than 300,000 lives, split the country into competing fiefdoms and brought in foreign powers. Read More: Syrian Leader Wins More Sanctions Relief After Meeting Trump Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa — a former jihadist who once had a $10 million US bounty on his head — has presented his administration as a fresh start and looked to build international ties. The US, European and Gulf countries have been receptive. Saudi Arabia, in particular, has made generous investment pledges . Investment in mobile-phone infrast...
French authorities detained two new suspects in connection with a foiled bombing near the Bank of America Corp. office in Paris, which officials have said is likely linked to the conflict in the Middle East. The arrests follow the detention on Saturday of an initial suspect, a minor who remains in custody, the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said. The bomb in Paris was placed by minors or young...
French authorities detained two new suspects in connection with a foiled bombing near the Bank of America Corp. office in Paris, which officials have said is likely linked to the conflict in the Middle East. The arrests follow the detention on Saturday of an initial suspect, a minor who remains in custody, the anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said. The bomb in Paris was placed by minors or young men who were paid to carry out the plan, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Saturday, bearing similarities with recent events in other European countries including the Netherlands and Norway. A Jewish school in Amsterdam was hit by an explosion earlier this month, shortly after an explosive device was also set off at a synagogue in Rotterdam. In Norway, three brothers and their mother were arrested in connection with a blast outside the US Embassy in Oslo. Paris police saw two individuals place the bomb in front of the bank’s offices on the Rue de la Boétie in Paris’ eighth arrondissement, between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. on Saturday, according to Nunez. One was preparing to ignite the device, while another filmed. The first detained suspect told authorities that he had been contacted over Snapchat and paid €600 ($690) for the task, Le Parisien reported . A spokeswoman for Bank of America said the company was “aware of the situation” and communicating with authorities. French authorities have stepped up security measures around Jewish and US-affiliated sites since the start of the Mideast conflict. Paris judicial police and the country’s domestic intelligence agency, the DGSI, are also involved in the investigation.
Semenya criticises IOC president Kirsty Coventry ‘Her being a woman coming from Africa … it causes harm’ South Africa’s Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympic 800m champion, said on Sunday that the International Olympic Committee’s reinstatement of gender verification tests for the 2028 Los Angeles Games was “a disrespect for women”. The former hyperandrogenic athlete also expressed her disappointment...
Semenya criticises IOC president Kirsty Coventry ‘Her being a woman coming from Africa … it causes harm’ South Africa’s Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympic 800m champion, said on Sunday that the International Olympic Committee’s reinstatement of gender verification tests for the 2028 Los Angeles Games was “a disrespect for women”. The former hyperandrogenic athlete also expressed her disappointment that the measure was taken under the leadership of the new IOC president, Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe. Continue reading...
Foreign ministers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt will meet in Islamabad today in an attempt to come up with a plan to de-escalate the Iran war, after another group got involved in the expanding conflict: Yemen's Houthi rebels. (Image credit: Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Foreign ministers from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt will meet in Islamabad today in an attempt to come up with a plan to de-escalate the Iran war, after another group got involved in the expanding conflict: Yemen's Houthi rebels. (Image credit: Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
In his strongest intervention yet, PM says some features ‘shouldn’t be permitted’, while education secretary says things ‘are going to change’ Keir Starmer has backed banning addictive social media features in his strongest intervention yet on curbs that could be placed on tech companies, saying the features “shouldn’t be permitted”. The prime minister said the government was “going to have to act...
In his strongest intervention yet, PM says some features ‘shouldn’t be permitted’, while education secretary says things ‘are going to change’ Keir Starmer has backed banning addictive social media features in his strongest intervention yet on curbs that could be placed on tech companies, saying the features “shouldn’t be permitted”. The prime minister said the government was “going to have to act” on the algorithms that hook young people and children to social media, such as scrolling or “streaks” that encourage daily usage of apps. Continue reading...