Author: Steven Sahiounie

Thirty million dollars worth of Funko (FNKO) Pop! figures – those big-headed, vinyl pop-culture dolls – willsoon make their way into the hands of a new collector: The garbage collector.Funko said in its fourth quarter earnings report that a combination of waning demand for the toys and asurplus of inventory is creating financial trouble for the company. Last year, they had to rent excesswarehouse space just to hold the buildup of Funko figures, which range from Baby Yoda to Eddie VanHalen.Funko was holding onto about $246.4 million worth of dolls at the end of 2022. That’s 48% more than whatthey…

Some 12,000 people have reportedly been left without shelter after Sunday’s inferno in Bangladesh Authorities in Bangladesh have opened an investigation into the circumstances which led to an inferno at a Rohingya refugee camp on Sunday that destroyed around 2,000 shelters and left thousands of people homeless. Local media has reported that one man – who is understood to be a refugee – has been detained in connection with the fire. Police are trying to determine whether or not the blaze was started “as an act of sabotage,” according to Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, the chairman of Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief Repatriation Commissioner. “Some…

China has set an official economic growth target of “around 5%” for 2023, as it seeks to revive the world’s second-largest economy after a year of tepid growth because of pandemic measures.It will also expand its defense budget 7.2%, marking a slight increase over growth the previous year.Both figures for the coming year were released at the opening of the annual gathering of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s rubber-stamp legislature, which draws nearly 3,000 delegates to Beijing for the next eight days.“China’s economy is staging a steady recovery and demonstrating vast potential and momentum for further growth,” outgoing…

Chevron received authorization last year from the US Treasury Department to revive oil output and expand operations in Venezuela as part of Washington’s efforts to encourage political dialogue towards a presidential election in the South American nation. State-run oil company PDVSA allocated Chevron the first crude cargo this month, which was loaded at Venezuela’s Jose terminal last week, according to shipping data and documents. Chevron’s tanker Caribbean Voyager this week transferred the 500,000-barrel cargo of Hamaca heavy crude it had loaded in Venezuela to Malta-flagged vessel Sealeo at a ship-to-ship hub near the Caribbean island of Aruba, Refinitiv Eikon tanker…

Shutdown was prompted by an “equipment failure,” according to the pipeline operator Gas exports from Britain to Europe have been suspended over an “equipment failure” at the key pipeline the Interconnector, according to its operator. The pipeline is operated by Interconnector Ltd., which is largely owned by a Belgium-based natural gas transmission company, Fluxys. In a notice posted online by the operator late on Saturday, the company said the pipeline will remain inactive until March 8 due to “transmission system unavailability” caused by an unspecified “equipment failure.” The bidirectional pipeline connects the UK to mainland Europe through Belgium. The disruption…

The move is part of Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “tackle illegal migration” Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government in the United Kingdom is set to announce a new law that would stop people who enter the country on small boats from claiming asylum. The legislation, which will be launched this week, comes as part of the government’s pledge to “tackle illegal migration.” “Illegal migration is not fair on British taxpayers, it is not fair on those who come here legally and it is not right that criminal gangs should be allowed to continue their immoral trade,” Sunak said in an interview with the Mail…

US stock indexes fell on Thursday after data pointing to a tight labor market sparked worries that the Federal Reserve will continue with its aggressive rate-hiking cycle that could potentially tip the economy into a recession. The Labor Department’s report showed a surprise fall in US weekly jobless claims, highlighting labor market resilience in a higher interest rate environment. The report did not change expectations that the Fed will further scale back the size of its interest rate increases next month, hopes of which were sparked by a slump in retail sales in December and a retreat in inflation in…

An investor monitors a screen displaying stock information at the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange June 25, 2014. (Photo via Reuters) Saudi Arabia’s stock market closed lower on Sunday after US economic data stoked fears the Federal Reserve will act more aggressively to curb inflation. Most (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have their currencies pegged to the US dollar and follow the Fed’s policy moves closely, exposing the region to a direct impact from monetary tightening in the world’s largest economy. The benchmark index TASI in Saudi Arabia dropped 0.5%, dragged down…

The spokesman of Iran’s Foreign Ministry considers the Israeli regime to be behind the recent lies against Iran in the media and says these lies are not new, but its intensification in recent months has reasons. Posting some photos of the recent unrest in the occupied territories and tweeted: “A very important reason is that the apartheid regime of Israel has long been involved in political conflicts, chaos, street camping, and internal crisis.” “Of course, hiding the facts will not help to save the regime from the inevitable fate of collapse,” he added. Measures taken by scandal-hit Prime Minister Benjamin…

Surrey Heath has been named the house price discount capital of Britain, with three out of five sales done at a cut the price to their initial listing. The Home Counties borough, which covers towns such as Camberley, Frimley and Bagshot, had almost double the national average of discounted property sales last month. 59pc of homes sold in the Surrey commuter belt district in February had a price change before a sale was agreed, according to TwentyCi, a data company. The national average last month stood at 32pc. Julian de la Poer Beresford, of Hamptons estate agents in Sunningdale, said discounts in…