List of All Articles with Tag 'world'

Benchmark electricity prices in Europe have fallen to levels last seen two years ago in a positive sign

Vladimir Putin is expected to make a shock G20 speech today, as reports say Moscow is scaling back attacks on Avdiivka. The Kremlin said on Monday that the president will set out Russia’s view of what it sees as the “deeply unstable world situation” when he addresses an upcoming virtual G20 summit. Russian state TV presenter Pavel Zarubin said on his Telegram channel on Sunday that it would be the “first event in a long time” including both Putin and Western leaders. It comes as he has scaled back his assault on Avdiivka and shelling in Kherson Oblast due to poor weather conditions, Kyiv’s military officials said. “Russian occupying forces have reduced the number of ground and air attacks, though they still violate the rules of war by shooting at medical teams and evacuation vehicles,” said Ukrainian military spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun. However, the spokesperson warned that Russia had not abandoned their plans to surround Avdiivka, as Ukrainian forces repelled eight attacks on Tuesday. Military officials in Kherson Oblast also said Russian shelling on the west bank had decreased due to poor weather conditions, war monitoring think tank The Instititue for the Study of War said. Read More Putin may start sourcing ballistic missiles from Iran, warns White House Putin scales back attack on Ukraine’s strategic Avdiivka town after heavy Russian losses Ukraine may fail to meet future grain demands amid non-stop Russian attacks, says UN

Some of the most expensive major cities in the US — like San Francisco and Washington — also

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has become the latest in a long line of crypto founders facing potentially significant legal

Sluggish growth in the euro-zone economy is threatening to amplify risks to financial stability posed by higher interest

Rio Tinto Group agreed to pay a $28 million fine to settle a six-year investigation by the US

A cease-fire agreement between the Hamas militant group and Israel has been confirmed by both parties, along with Washington and Qatar, which helped broker the deal that would bring a temporary halt to the devastating war that is now in its seventh week. The Israeli government said that under an outline of the deal, Hamas is to free at least 50 of the roughly 240 hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack over a four-day period. Qatar, which mediates with Hamas, later confirmed the deal, saying the start time will be announced in the next 24 hours and that it will last for four days. The agreement will bring the first respite to war-weary Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 11,000 people have been killed, according to health authorities. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said before the Cabinet voted early Wednesday that the war would continue even if a deal was reached. Some 1,200 people have been killed in Israel, mostly during the initial incursion by Hamas. Currently: — Truce deal raises hopes of freeing hostages in Gaza and halting worst Mideast violence in decades — South African lawmakers vote in favor of closing Israel’s embassy and cutting diplomatic ties. — Bahrain government websites are briefly inaccessible after a cyberattack over the Israel-Hamas war. — Gaza health officials say they lost the ability to count dead as Israeli offensive intensifies — Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war Here’s what's happening in the war: US STRIKES BACK AT IRAN-BACKED MILITANTS IN IRAQ Baghdad — The United States military said Wednesday that it had carried out strikes against Iran-backed groups in Iraq that have launched attacks on U.S. forces. Two officials with Iranian-backed militias in Iraq said the strikes hit three locations in the area of Jurf al-Sakhar south of Baghdad, killing five members of the Kataeb Hezbollah militant group and wounding seven. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Iranian-backed militants have launched dozens of attacks on bases and facilities housing U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17. While most of the more than five dozen attacks have been ineffective, at least 60 U.S. personnel have reported minor injuries. The militant groups have said that the strikes are in retaliation for U.S. support of Israel in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The U.S. Central Command said in a statement Wednesday that its forces had “conducted discrete, precision strikes against two facilities in Iraq … in direct response to the attacks against U.S. and Coalition forces by Iran and Iran-backed groups,” including one on Tuesday involving the use of close-range ballistic missiles. ___ Qassim Abdul-Zahra reported from Baghdad. FRANCE IS HOPEFUL ITS NATIONALS WILL BE AMONG THE FIRST RELEASED UNDER DEAL PARIS — France’s foreign minister says she’s hopeful that French nationals will be among the first hostages released as part of a truce deal between Israel and Hamas. “We hope that French nationals are among them and even, if possible, among the first group that will be released,” the minister, Catherine Colonna, said Wednesday morning on France Inter radio. “We are working for that.” France counts eight people missing, some of them confirmed as hostages, from the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants that ignited their latest and deadliest war. France also counts 40 killed in the attack. Colonna said that not all the hostages taken on Oct. 7 were captured by Hamas. But she said that in the course of negotiations, the militant group has said that “it could assemble together all of the hostages.” THE RED CROSS STANDS BY TO ASSIST ANY SWAP DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The International Committee of the Red Cross says it is standing by to assist any swap in the Israel-Hamas war. “Currently, we are actively engaged in talks with the parties to help carry out any humanitarian agreement they reach,” the Red Cross said. “As a neutral intermediary, it is important to clarify that we are not part of the negotiations, and we do not make decisions on the substance of it. Our role is to facilitate the implementation, once the parties agree.” Read More Israel and Hamas have reached a deal on a cease-fire and hostages. What does it look like? Cameron welcomes Israel-Hamas truce which paves way for hostage release Coldplay concert in Malaysia can be stopped by organizers if the band misbehaves, government says Truce deal raises hopes of freeing hostages in Gaza and halting worst Mideast violence in decades At least 50 hostages to be freed in deal for four-day ceasefire – follow live Fifty hostages in Gaza to be freed in Israel and Hamas deal after weeks of talks

Authorities in Iceland fear stormy weather conditions could affect monitoring systems as the country awaits an “imminent” volcanic eruption. Just 165 small tremors have been recorded in the affected region since midnight on Monday, compared to the thousands that jolted the town of Grindavik in the days prior. The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) says the volcano could erupt with just 30 minutes’ notice as magma is now sitting just below the earth’s surface. The wait for the eruption is gripping the country, with thousands glued to a live stream showing a glowing red rift in the ground running through Grindavik. The IMO said it is likely the adverse weather conditions are impacting “both the sensitivity of earthquake detection and real-time GPS monitoring”. Kristín Jónsdóttir, a senior IMO official, said people will “just have to wait in suspense for the next few days” to see how events play out. She said decreasing earthquake activity could also be a sign that magma has reached very close to the earth’s surface, adding that the scenario is not unlike what was seen prior to a previous eruption in 2021. Read More When will the Iceland volcano erupt and what happens when it does? Iceland braces for ‘imminent’ volcanic eruption with just 30 minutes warning Is it safe to travel to Iceland? Your rights if you have a holiday booked ‘It’s like a dystopian movie’: Iceland residents describe ‘apocalyptic’ scenes as they flee volcano threat

Three people were arrested Tuesday in connection with the shooting of a Spanish right-wing politician earlier this month. Alejandro Vidal-Quadras, 78, was shot in the face in broad daylight on a Madrid street on Nov. 9. He remains hospitalized. The National Police force’s press department said two suspects were detained in southern Spain’s city of Lanjaron and the third in the city of Fuengirola. The department declined to provide more details. Spanish state news agency EFE and other media outlets said none of the three was suspected of having fired the shot that hit Vidal-Quadras, who helped Spain's far-right Vox party. The National Court is investigating the shooting as a possible terrorist attack. Police told The Associated Press earlier this month that Vidal-Quadras had raised the possibility he was targeted because of his ties with Iran's political opposition. Investigators were exploring a potential Iranian link but so far have no found evidence of one, police told the AP. Vidal-Quadras has been aligned for decades with the Iranian opposition in exile. In January, Iran’s Foreign Ministry imposed sanctions on him and others with ties to the exiled opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, accusing them of “supporting terrorism and terrorist groups.” EFE said the two people arrested in Lanjaron were a Spanish man and his partner, a British woman. A man detained in Fuéngirola, also a Spaniard, was was arrested in connection with a motorbike used in the shooting, the news agency reported. Vidal-Quadras was an important member of Spain’s conservative Popular Party and also a European Parliament member before he helped found Vox. He has not been active in politics for several years but maintained a public role as a media commentator and columnist. Read More US court denies woman's appeal of Cristiano Ronaldo's 2010 hush-money settlement in Vegas rape case Fund to compensate developing nations for climate change is unfinished business at COP28 Accuser sues Bill Cosby for alleged abuse dating to 1980s under expiring New York survivors law

UBS Global Wealth Management expects Japan’s cheaply valued stocks to extend their outperformance into 2024 amid a revival

Binace, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, will pay over $4bn to US officials after admitting to unlicensed money transfers, sanctions violations, and willfully failing to institute anti-money laundering protections, federal officials announced on Tuesday. The oversights allowed trading with sanctioned nations like Iran, Cuba, and Syria, and failed to institute systems to report suspicious potential transactions with terror groups, according to the Treasury Department. “Binance was allowing illicit actors to transact freely, supporting activities from child sexual abuse to illegal narcotics to terrorism,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellensaid on Tuesday. Changpeng Zhao, the founder of and CEO of Binance, is also stepping down, and will pay a $50m fine after pleading guilty to related charges. He could face up to 18 months in prison. “I made mistakes, and I must take responsibility,” the executive wrote on X. “This is best for our community, for Binance, and for myself.” Federal officials described a wide-ranging set of problems at the crypto exchange, which at times handled two-thirds of global crypto trades. “It willfully enabled hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions between American users and users subject to US sanctions,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in remarks on Tuesday. “And its platform accommodated criminals across the world who used Binance to move their stolen funds and other criminal proceeds. “Binance prioritized its profits over the safety of the American people.” The massive penalty, one of the largest in US financial regulation history, will also go towards resolving inquiries from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCen), and the Office of Foreign Assets Control. On multiple occasions, Binance leadership intentionally took steps that allowed dangerous and illegal transactions to take place, according to the Justice Department. Binance knew it served US customers, meaning it had to register with FinCen and implement anti-money laundering controls, but “chose not to comply,” per the DOJ. Rather than set up these protections, the company created a separate Binance.US platform in 2019, while seeking to encourage VIP customers to obscure their accounts and continue using the main exchange, officials said. “Binance executives, including Zhao, made a plan to contact VIP customers and help the VIP register a new account for an offshore entity and transfer holdings to that account,” the DoJ said in an announcement of the agreement on Tuesday. “Binance employees also called US VIPs to encourage them to provide information that suggested the customer was not located in the United States.” The company, knowing it had US customers, also failed to introduce controls that would stop them from making trades with sanctioned jurisdictions like Iran, resulting in over $898m in trades between US and Iran-based users between January 2019 and May 2022. At one point, according to the DoJ, Zhao told employees it was “better to ask for forgiveness than permission,” while in another instance, a compliance employee wrote in a message, “We need a banner ‘is washing drug money too hard these days - come to binance we got cake for you.’” In a statement on Tuesday, Binance acknowledge making “criminal violations.” “These resolutions acknowledge our company’s responsibility for historical, criminal compliance violations, and allow our company to turn the page on a challenging yet transformative chapter of learning and growth,” the company wrote. “With the compliance and governance enhancements enshrined in our commitments, we can begin to share our vision for Binance’s exciting future and the future of the crypto industry.” The company also emphasised that the resolutions don’t allege Binance misappropriated user funds or engaged in market manipulation. Richard Teng, the company’s former global head of regional markets, will take over as CEO, according to Binance. The massive agreement with federal regulators will also require Binance to accept the appointment of a government monitor to oversee the business and bar Zhao from involvement with the company until three years after the monitor is appointed, according to court records viewed by The New York Times. Notably, the Securities and Exchange Commission was not a part of the Binance agreement. The SEC sued Binance and Zhao in June, alleging that they used companies beneficially owned by Zhao to inflate trading prices and make money off customers, allegedly mixing customer funds with Binance money. “While we take the SEC’s allegations seriously, they should not be the subject of an SEC enforcement action, let alone on an emergency basis. We intend to defend our platform vigorously,” the company responded at the time in a statement. “And, to be clear: any allegations that user assets on the Binance.US platform have ever been at risk are simply wrong, and there is zero justification for the Staff’s action in light of the ample time the Staff has had to conduct their investigation,” the company added in the statement. The massive settlement comes just weeks after FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty in federal court of defrauding customers on his popular cryptocurrency exchange out of billions of dollars. Bankman-Fried’s defence team has vowed to fight the charges.

Consumer prices in Canada rose at the slowest pace since June, a reassuring sign for central bank policymakers