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☆ Major Gulf bourses drop on Fed's hawkish tone
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Md Manzer Hussain | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 23 (Reuters) - Major Gulf bourses closed lower on Thursday as investors remained cautious after the U.S. Federal Reserve's minutes from latest meeting reinforced a hawkish tone, although the Egyptian index bucked the trend. Most Gulf currencies are pegged to the U.S. dollar, while Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar usually mirror U.S. monetary policy changes. With steepest intraday decline since Jan. 17, the index witnessed losses in almost all sectors, led by financial and energy stocks. The gulf region's largest lender Qatar National Bank (QNBK.QA) declined 2.1% and Qatar Islamic Bank (QISB.QA) plunged 9.6%, the sharpest intraday slide since March 2020 as the stock traded ex-dividend. Outside the Gulf, Egypt's blue-chip index (.EGX30) rose 1.4%, snapping its previous session losses.

☆ Russia will not fire Zircon missile at South Africa naval exercise
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Siyabonga Sishi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov and Chinese frigate Rizhao (598) are seen ahead of scheduled naval exercises with Russian, Chinese and South African navies, in Richards Bay, South Africa, February 22, 2023. REUTERS/Rogan WardSummary Russian media reported planned test launch of hypersonic weaponSouth Africa hosting drills with Russia, ChinaWestern diplomats have voiced alarm over drillsRICHARDS BAY, South Africa, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Russia's navy will not fire its new generation "Zircon" hypersonic missile during a joint exercise with South Africa and China, a senior Russian naval officer said on Wednesday, contradicting an earlier Russian media report. A Russian frigate armed with the Zircon weapon system has been deployed to the joint exercise. Along with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle which entered combat duty in 2019, the Zircon forms the centrepiece of Russia's hypersonic arsenal. South Africa has defended its decision to host the Mosi II naval exercise despite the concerns of diplomats from European Union and NATO countries.

☆ UAE gas IPO’s $50 bln valuation looks like a floor
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Karen Kwok | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Feb 22 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The United Arab Emirates’ bumper gas listing inevitably invites comparisons with Saudi Aramco (2222.SE). As with the five other subsidiaries which ADNOC has listed, including its distribution arm and Borouge (BOROUGE.AD), ADNOC Gas comes with juicy shareholder payouts. While ADNOC Gas benefits from a 25-year agreement with its parent to provide gas for its needs, ADNOC takes a share of the resulting profit. That said, with over two thirds of its gas serving local customers who contribute one-third of its operating profit after tax, ADNOC Gas earnings are arguably more predictable. ADNOC Gas envisages an equity valuation of at least $50 billion, people familiar with the situation told Reuters Breakingviews.

☆ South African cities scramble to keep the lights on
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Carien Du Plessis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Officials plan to procure up to 500 megawatts (MW) from private power companies by 2026 to provide roughly a third of the city's annual 1,500-1,800 megawatts (MW) electricity needs. [1/5] A woman tests LED lights on a solar panel at their factory called Ener-G-Africa, where they produce high-quality solar panels made by an all-women team, in Cape Town, South Africa, February 9, 2023. The neighbouring Ekurhuleni municipality has signed deals with 46 private power companies for 700 MW, according to its 2020/2021 annual report. Hill-Lewis said Cape Town also plans to change its energy policy to allow households and businesses that produce solar power to sell the excess to the city. In Cape Town, for those wanting to sell excess power to the city, a 12,000 rand feed-in meter is required.

☆ North Korea-South Korea ties: Tension shouldn't be avoided but managed, think tank says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailNorth Korea-South Korea ties: Tension shouldn't be avoided but managed, think tank saysDu Hyeogn Cha of The Asan Institute for Policy Studies discusses two ways to manage those tensions.

☆ Egypt court to rule soon in case over Intesa's local unit - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

It did not mention AlexBank, though a sale of its remaining stake to Intesa is a possibility, one of the sources said. The sale was challenged in court by activist group, the Egyptian Centre for Transparency, local media reported. Egypt's constitutional court in mid-January ruled to uphold that law rejecting a challenge brought against it. A number of cases, including that centred around the sale of AlexBank, had been put on hold pending the decision on the law. Reporting by Patrick Werr in Cairo and Valentina Za in Milan; Editing by Emelia Sithole-MatariseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russia tells Macron: Don't forget Napoleon when you talk of regime change
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Macron told paper Le Journal du Dimanche France wanted Russia to be defeated in Ukraine but had never wanted to "crush" it. "About 'Never': France did not begin with Macron, and the remains of Napoleon, revered at the state level, rest in the centre of Paris. "In general, Macron is priceless," she said, adding that his remarks showed the West had engaged in discussions about regime change in Russia while Macron had repeatedly sought meetings with the Russian leadership. On Friday, Macron urged allies to step up military support for Ukraine, but also said he did not believe in regime change and that there would have to be negotiations at some point. "Let’s be clear, I don't believe for one second in regime change, and when I hear a lot of people calling for regime change I ask them, 'For which change?

☆ France's Macron, Ukraine's Zelenskiy discuss wartime plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, Feb 19 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed strategies on Sunday, including what the Ukrainian leader described as joint decisions ahead of this week's anniversary of Russia's invasion of his country. The two leaders spoke by telephone as Western leaders pledged at a conference in Munich to strengthen their support for Ukraine in the face of Russia's latest military attacks. "...We also discussed important decisions that we are planning for this week - for our year of resistance." Macron also reaffirmed to Zelenskiy his support for a 10-point peace proposal laid out by Zelenskiy, during their phone call. Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Ron Popeski, Editing by Angus MacSwan and Diane CraftOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Macron - France wants Russia's defeat, but not to 'crush' it
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

PARIS, Feb 18 (Reuters) - France wants Russia to be defeated in Ukraine but it does not want to "crush" it, President Emmanuel Macron told paper Le Journal du Dimanche. "I do not think, as some people do, that we must aim for a total defeat of Russia, attacking Russia on its own soil. Those observers want to, above all else, crush Russia. That has never been the position of France and it will never be our position," Macron said in an interview published on Saturday. On Friday, Macron urged allies to step up military support for Ukraine.

☆ South Africa's naval exercise with Russia, China raises Western alarm
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Carien Du Plessis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"These exercises are going to be a lightning rod," said Steven Gruzd, of the South African Institute of International Affairs. "South Africa, like any independent and sovereign state, has a right to conduct its foreign relations in line with its ... national interests," South Africa's defence ministry said last month. Russia's defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment, and South Africa's National Defence Force has denied the TASS report. China is now Africa's top bilateral trading partner, but the EU is by far the largest market for South African exports. Domestic critics of South Africa's push to deepen ties with Russia and China say that economic reality alone should be enough to give the government serious pause.

☆ Inside Tracy Anderson's cutthroat fitness empire: Legal threats, paranoia, and trainers who say their bodies were 'breaking apart'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Katie Warren | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

One day around 2015, a dozen or so gift boxes showed up at the Brentwood, California, studio of the celebrity fitness trainer Tracy Anderson. "It was an exclusive boutique fitness studio," the former New York trainer said. Darren Gerrish/WireImageThe method demanded that TA trainers, most of whom were also professional dancers, perform the strenuous workouts full out, every time. Let's help you do it correctly so you don't get injured,'" the former New York trainer said. "This is at a time where everyone is already overworked," one of the former New York trainers said.

☆ France tears down beach apartment block as rising sea bites
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Stephane Mahe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Today, the hulk of the 80-flat Le Signal apartment block perches precariously on a dune just metres from the water and local authorities are tearing it down before it tumbles. By 2010, the ocean was lapping at the dune on which Le Signal was built. "Le Signal's situation is largely symbolic for what is happening in terms of coastal erosion France," he said. He said ever-rising sea levels and increasingly violent storms made it impossible to let people live in Le Signal without costly shore protection measures that could also have negatively impacted nearby shorelines. "Le Signal is a warning for what could happen in other zones and for the need to prepare for it now," he said.

China’s official count 0 2.5 million 83,150 deaths Model based on Shanghai outbreak 1.6 million deaths LOW ESTIMATE HIGH ESTIMATE Estimate using travel patterns 970,000 deaths Estimate using recent testing data 1.5 million deaths Estimate based on U.S. death rates 1.1 million deaths China’s official count 0 2.5 million 83,150 deaths Model based on Shanghai outbreak 1.6 million deaths LOW EST. But China’s official Covid death toll for the entire pandemic remains strikingly low: 83,150 people as of Feb. 9. Four separate academic teams have converged on broadly similar estimates: China’s Covid wave may have killed between a million and 1.5 million people. Why official data underrepresents China’s outbreak83,150 deaths China’s official count on Feb. 9 0 2.5M 83,150 deaths China’s official count on Feb. 9 0 2.5 millionChina has a narrow definition of what counts as a Covid-19 death. But the work was unwavering in its ultimate conclusion: Ending the “zero Covid” policy was likely to overwhelm the health care system, producing an estimated 1.6 million deaths.

☆ Egypt Launches Privatization Drive as Economy Reels From Inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Chao Deng | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Egypt has pledged to reduce the role of state and military-owned companies in favor of private businesses in the economy. CAIRO—Egypt is set to sell stakes in 32 state-run companies in everything from electricity and banking to hotels, in a bid to attract more private investment as the cash-strapped country grapples with the economic fallout from the Ukraine war. The country plans to sell shares in at least 32 state companies in the coming year either directly to investors or via the Egyptian Stock Exchange, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said Wednesday. The list includes stakes in locally prominent firms such as Banque du Caire and Egypt’s largest insurance company, Misr Life Insurance Co.

☆ What is Atomwaffen? The small neo-Nazi group uses violence to try and bring about societal collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Russell is a founding member of Atomwaffen, which uses violence to try and bring about societal collapse. Russell is named by the FBI complaint as the founder of Atomwaffen Division, a terroristic neo-Nazi group known for its far-right ideals and obsession with violence. "It's an incredibly dangerous group," Schubiner told Insider. Even at the height of the organization's relevance, extremism researchers estimated there were only 30 to 80 active members, according to The New York Times. "But certainly as we've seen," she added, "some of the people in the group have not stopped engaging in violence."

[1/4] South African President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks during his 2023 state of the nation address in Cape Town, South Africa, February 9, 2023. "We are in the grip of a profound energy crisis," Ramaphosa said in his annual State of the Nation Address to parliament. State electricity utility Eskom is implementing the worst rolling blackouts on record, leaving households in the dark, disrupting manufacturing and hurting businesses of all sizes. Declaring a national state of disaster gives the government additional powers to respond to a crisis, including by permitting emergency procurement procedures with fewer bureaucratic delays and less oversight. Ramaphosa said on Thursday he would appoint a minister of electricity within the presidency to focus solely on the crisis.

☆ Microsoft calls for 'coalition' to improve Congo's informal cobalt mines
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Congo accounts for three-quarters of the world's mined cobalt supply. "In practice it is virtually impossible for them to completely exclude artisanal cobalt, especially when it is sent to smelters and refiners in DRC and China." Microsoft declined to reply to Reuters' questions about the visit or about its strategy on artisanal cobalt. The issues around artisanal mining are an existential threat to the cobalt industry, according to Marina Demidova, head of communications at the Cobalt Institute. Entreprise Generale du Cobalt, a unit of state mining company Gecamines, was granted a monopoly on artisanal cobalt by government decree.

Feb 6 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday ordered regulators to reconsider part of the permit approving Lithium Americas Corp's (LAC.TO) Thacker Pass lithium mine project in Nevada, though the mixed ruling rejected claims that the project would cause unnecessary harm to the environment or wildlife. Chief Judge Miranda Du of the federal court in Reno, Nevada, ordered the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to determine whether the company has the right to dump waste rock at the site, a ruling based on a complex set of case law. Du's ruling can be appealed. Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

There are "continued calls for violence directed at U.S. critical infrastructure," the agency warned last February, "as a means to create chaos and advance ideological goals." Law enforcement and utility companies, though, say they're working to resolve the open cases and prevent future attacks. Members of accelerationist groups have been charged with several plots in recent years to attack critical infrastructure. "The critical infrastructure element has become one of the core components of neo-fascist accelerationist movements in the US. "They don't really care who is doing the violence, who's doing the critical infrastructure attacks, Lewis said.

☆ French PM offers to tweak pension overhaul for conservatives backing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A general view shows protesters, members of French Socialist party and members of the EELV ecologist party gathering at Place d'Italie during a demonstration against French government's pension reform plan in Paris as part of a day of national strike and protests in France, January 31, 2023. REUTERS/Benoit TessierPARIS, Feb 5 (Reuters) - French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne offered on Sunday to soften a planned pension overhaul to let some people who started work early also retire early in order to win conservatives support for the reform in parliament. While workers who started to work before 20 would be allowed to continue to leave the workforce early under the reform, Borne said she was open to suggestions from conservatives to extending the measure. "We are going to move by extending the measure for long careers to those who started working at 20 and 21. They will be able to retire at 63," Borne said in an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche Sunday newspaper.

☆ The US's powerful Abrams tanks are heading to Ukraine, but generals disagree over how hard it'll be to use them on the battlefield
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Sebastien Roblin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

The US has pledged to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine, joining a bevy of Western-made tanks. Here comes the M1 Abrams for UkraineA M1A2 Abrams tank fires at a target during an exercise. The same day, word spread that US President Joe Biden would announce he was sending 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. But Hertling disagreed that withholding the M1 Abrams was a "political decision" and didn't find the examples of non-US Abrams operators persuasive. M1 Abrams: training and sustainmentAn M1A2 Abrams drives into the woods during an exercise in Hohenfels, Germany.

☆ I'm a Cirque du Soleil performer. I grew up in the circus, and now I travel the world with my husband and kids.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Jill Schildhouse | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Her husband works alongside her, and their kids travel with them. Then, at age 20, I was invited by Cirque du Soleil to join the Flying Trapeze troupe of Zaia in Macau, China. Working for Cirque du Soleil, I have a lot more consistency. I see my husband 24/7I met my husband, Ammed Tuniziani — a third-generation performer who comes from a traditional circus family in Venezuela — while working with Cirque du Soleil. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and everything is complimentary — it's one of the benefits that comes with being on tour with Cirque du Soleil.

☆ Dubai lender Emirates NBD 2022 net profit up 40%
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBAI, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Emirates NBD (ENBD.DU), Dubai's biggest lender, reported a 40% jump in 2022 net profit to 13 billion dirhams ($3.5 billion) on Thursday, helped by higher interest rates and transaction volumes which boosted overall income. The bank, majority owned by the government of Dubai, made a profit of 3.9 billion dirhams in the fourth quarter, up 94% from a year earlier. Higher interest rates and increased transaction volumes supported a 36% jump in 2022 total income to 32.5 billion dirhams, boosting profit. Total assets grew 8% to 742 billion dirhams. Total deposits grew 10% in 2022 to 503 billion dirhams.

☆ Gulf markets rise on China demand optimism
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Md Manzer Hussain | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Jan 24 (Reuters) - Gulf stock markets closed higher on Tuesday on expectations of economic recovery in the world's second largest economy, China, and smaller interest rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Most Gulf currencies are pegged to the U.S. dollar, while Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar usually mirror U.S. monetary policy changes. The world's largest Islamic bank by market capitalization, Al Rajhi Bank (1120.SE), rose 0.8%. Qatar Islamic Bank (QISB.QA) continued its gains with a 2.3% rise and Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB.QA) rose 1.7%. Egypt has signed a $1.5 billion financing agreement with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation to fund its trading, including imports of energy products and essential commodities.

☆ Russia's Lavrov visits ally South Africa amid Western rivalry
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Carien Duplessis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor shakes hands with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, ahead of their bilateral meeting in Pretoria, South Africa, January 23, 2023. Lavrov met his South African counterpart, Naledi Pandor, after flying in earlier in the day on a trip some South African opposition parties and the small Ukrainian community have condemned as insensitive. President Cyril Ramaphosa's government regards South Africa as neutral in the Ukraine conflict and has expressed a desire to mediate. The South African armed forces said last week the exercise is a "means to strengthen the already flourishing relations between South Africa, Russia and China". There was no official public comment from the Ukrainian embassy but officials said it had asked the South African government to help push President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's 10-point peace plan, which he proposed to the G20 in November.

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