Author: Steven Sahiounie

Venezuela has said the United States is setting up “secret” bases in the disputed Essequibo region. “We have information proving that in the territory of Guyana Essequibo, temporarily administered by Guyana, secret military bases of the (US) Southern Command… a body of the CIA, have been installed,” Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said. Essequibo is an oil-rich region located between Guyana and Venezuela, disputed between the two countries. Maduro said the US bases were being set up to prepare for an escalation against Venezuela, describing the move as a direct aggression against the people of the southern and eastern part of the…

Issues were also reported on Apple’s fitness service Apple Fitness+, as well as Arcade, Audiobooks, Books and Podcasts, according to Apple’s system status pages for several countries reviewed by Reuters

Gold prices posted their fifth straight record peak on Thursday as Federal Reserve officials reiterated expectations of interest rate cuts in 2024, even if their timing was unclear, while traders await key U.S. jobs data.

The ECB kept borrowing costs at record highs at the meeting but started to cautiously lay the groundwork to lower them in June

Egypt’s trade balance deficit dropped by 37.2% year on year (YoY) to $2.08 billion in January, Asharq Business reported, citing the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

Recent retail results show that consumers are under financial pressure as high interest rates increase the cost of debt

Oman’s debt capital market (DCM) shrank by 7% year-on-year (YoY) to $44 billion in 2023 as the government pre-paid more of its debt using the budget surplus from high oil prices, Fitch Ratings said in a new report.

HCOB’s composite Purchasing Managers’ Index for the currency union, compiled by S&P Global and seen as a good gauge of overall economic health, climbed to 50.3 in March from February’s 49.2, improving on a preliminary 49.9 estimate

The non-oil sector, which expanded by 9.1% yet marginally down from 9.2% in 2022, was the main factor behind the 3.1% growth and was offset by a weaker performance from the oil sector

US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak on Thursday, a US official said, in their first call since an Israeli strike killed seven aid workers in Gaza.The call comes after Biden expressed outrage over the deaths of the employees of the US-based World Central Kitchen group and said Israel must do more to protect aid workers and civilians.“I can confirm President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu will speak tomorrow,” a US official with knowledge of the matter told AFP on Wednesday.Netanyahu has said the Israeli military “unintentionally” killed the aid workers in the attack in…