Author: Steven Sahiounie

Europe’s main Stoxx share index was 1.6% lower in early dealings as all of the region’s main equity gauges fell and futures trading implied Wall Street’s S&P 500 would open more than 1% lower later in the day

Spot gold was up 0.7% at $2,463.46 per ounce as of 1105 GMT on Friday, just $20 shy of the record peak of $2,483.60 scaled on July 17

Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has appointed Mohammad Javad Zarif, the chief negotiator of the 2015 nuclear deal with major powers, as vice president for strategic affairs, state media reported on Thursday. “You are tasked with overseeing major national and international developments as well as how far we succeed in achieving the goals of the constitution,” Pezeshkian stated in the letter of appointment, according to the official IRNA news agency. Javad Zarif,, who served as foreign minister from 2013 to 2021 under President Hassan Rouhani, became a prominent figure on the international stage during the lengthy negotiations for the 2015 agreement. The…

Brent crude futures gained 55 cents, or 0.7%, to $80.08 a barrel

Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has urged OIC to hold an extraordinary foreign ministerial meeting following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani has urged the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to hold an extraordinary foreign ministerial meeting following the Zionist assassination of Hamas top leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Bagheri wrote on his official X account on Friday that in separate phone calls with the UN secretary general, EU foreign policy chief and his counterparts from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Egypt, Jordan, Russia, and Algeria, he has strongly condemned the…

Presidential Spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh today reiterated his call for immediate ceasefire in the war-torn Gaza Strip. Abu Rudeineh, who also serves as a member of the Fatah Executive Committee, made his call during a meeting with Russian Presidential Special Envoy for the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov, attended by Palestine’s ambassador to Mauritania, Mohammad al-Asad. During the meeting, Abu Rudeineh conveyed to Bogdanov President Mahmoud Abbas’s keenness to further develop bilateral Palestinian-Russian relations and briefed him on the situation in the occupied Palestinian Territory, with special focus on the ongoing Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which…

China’s $18.6trln economy grew more slowly than expected in the second quarter, and cautious households are building up savings and paying off debts

Israeli forces today detained Jerusalem’s former Grand Mufti and main preacher of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Sheikh Ekrema Sabri, from his home in Jerusalem, according to WAFA correspondent. Israeli forces detained Sheikh Ekrema Sabri after raiding his home in the al-Sawana neighborhood, in occupied Jerusalem. The preacher was led to the Al-Moskobiya interrogation and detention center in Jerusalem. Source: WAFA

The BoE lowered its benchmark rate to 5.0% on Thursday, from a 16-year high of 5.25%, offering a bit more relief to households and businesses who are emerging from the inflationary shocks

Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has conveyed his condolences to Khaled Meshaal, the acting head of Hamas’ political bureau, over the assassination of its former chief Ismail Haniyeh, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on X on Friday. Haniyeh’s sons, Abdusselam and Hammam, were also present at the meeting in Doha, the ministry added. Following a funeral in Tehran, Haniyeh’s body arrived in Doha on Thursday, where he was buried on Friday. The Palestinian resistance group and Iran announced Haniyeh’s assassination in an Israeli attack in Tehran early Wednesday, a day after he attended the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.…