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☆ Weapons for Russia, anti-government protests and the nuclear deal: What lies ahead for Iran in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

The Biden administration went from encouraging negotiations on reviving the Iranian nuclear deal to levying more sanctions on Tehran and condemning it for providing lethal weapons and training to Russian forces fighting in Ukraine. Iran's Foreign Ministry denies knowing about Iranian weapons transfers to Russia, despite evidence of Iranian-made drones wreaking havoc on Ukrainian cities. Sergei Savostyanov | AFP | Getty Images"2023 is going to be a pivotal year for Iran," Ali Vaez, Iran project director at non-profit Crisis Group, told CNBC. The nuclear deal: too far gone? Ukraine has blamed Iran for providing Russia with drones, which have been used to attack Kyiv.

☆ Exclusive: Afghan government officials helped smugglers sneak almost $1 billion in cash and gold out of Afghanistan as the US-backed government neared collapse, documents show
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | Edris Lutfi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

The office of Ashraf Ghani, the US-backed Afghan president, had been informed about the problem, insiders say. The smuggling flouted Afghan laws requiring travelers to declare cash or gold worth $10,000 or more and a strict ban on exporting $20,000 or more. The documents identify the two men as being part of the 2021 smuggling ring; they do not allege who was behind the $824 million smuggled in 2019 and 2020. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani meets with President Joe Biden in June 2021. The UAE is also the home of Ghani and Noor, the former provincial governor with alleged ties to the Hairatan smuggling ring.

The cedi has lost more than 50% of its value this year , pushing up the cost of Ghana's external debt. Interest payments alone absorb between 70 and 100% of the government's revenuesHOW BIG IS GHANA'S DEBT? Ghana's public debt was 467.4 billion cedis ($37.4 billion) in September, of which 42% was domestic debt, according to the most recent central bank figures released last month. Ghana's debt-to-GDPWHO OWNS GHANA'S DEBT? The fund is yet to comment on Ghana's debt sustainability or domestic bond exchange plans.

ACCRA, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Ghana are expected to reach a staff-level agreement on a loan deal by Tuesday at the latest, said three sources with knowledge of the ongoing talks. Two sources said that the IMF program was expected to be an extended credit facility, which provides financial assistance to countries. One of those sources and a third source said that major hurdles in the negotiations were overcome this week which sped up the process. Ghana turned to the IMF for help in July, and an IMF team is currently in the country until Tuesday. The cocoa, gold, and oil-producing West African nation has said it needs the deal by the end of the year.

☆ Lizzo is TikTok’s top music artist for 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

TikTok users also pushed “Jiggle Jiggle” and the “It’s corn!” kid to the top viral trends on the app in the U.S.Lizzo, who has 26 million TikTok followers, was the No. 1 music artist on TikTok this year, based on total video views. 1 trending song in the U.S. was “Sunroof” by Nicky Youre and Dazy, with TikTok users making some 8.9 million videos featuring the track. “Jiggle Jiggle,” the rap created more than two decades ago by documentary filmmaker Louis Theroux, gained a new life after it was remixed by DJ duo Duke & Jones (No. TikTok Top Artists 2022, U.S.@lizzo @bellapoarch @badbunny @charlieputh @dojacat @selenagomez @nessaabarrett @yunggravy @billieeilish @meghantrainorTikTok Top Trending Videos 2022, U.S.@amauryguichon: Constructing a very large chocolate giraffe @chipmunksoftiktok: Squishy’s back after hibernation!

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☆ Iran's state media denies abolition of 'morality police' as three-day strike begins
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Atta Kenare | Afp | Getty ImagesSome Western media outlets are facing backlash from Iranian activists over headlines printed Sunday saying that Iran was abolishing its "morality police." Many Iranian anti-government activists now feat it will distract from three days of major strikes around the country. What's more, the higher branches of Iran's government have not confirmed it, and Iranian state media has denied any abolition of the morality police. "In reality morality police have been inactive since protests started, but there is no substantive news on their future." "This disinfo was propagated today to distract media attention from the 3 days of major protests in Iran which begin tomo.

ACCRA, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Ghana will launch a domestic debt exchange on Monday, its Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said, expressing confidence that the move would help restore macroeconomic stability and end the West African country's worst economic crisis in a generation. Ofori-Atta said in a video address on Sunday that Ghana's government had finished its debt sustainability analysis, but he did not provide any information on plans for foreign debt that are anxiously awaited by international creditors. The government is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a support programme to relieve its debt distress. "There was little question that Ghana needed LCY (local currency debt) coupon reductions to restore macro sustainability. Ofori-Atta said the government would set up a financial stability fund with the support of development partners to help domestic financial institutions, including banks and pension funds, weather the swap.

☆ Debt-ridden Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of dollars, as foreign currency reserves dwindle to an alarming low
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ghana's government is planning to use gold to pay for oil instead of shelling out US dollars. The move is expected to reduce the "persistent depreciation" of the cedi, the Ghanaian currency. As of end-September, Ghana's forex reserves were just enough to cover 3 months worth of imports. In order to protect the country's fast-dwindling foreign currency reserves, Ghana wants to pay for oil with gold instead of shelling out precious US dollars, Mahamudu Bawumia, the country's vice president said Thursday. However, it still has to import refined oil products such as gas and diesel, because Ghana's only oil refinery has been offline following an explosion in 2017, per Reuters.

☆ England soccer fans have been warned not to dress up as medieval Christian crusaders in Qatar, the first Islamic country to host the World Cup, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

England fans have been banned from dressing up as Christian crusaders at World Cup matches. It has been ruled that fans outfitted as crusader knights, including chain mail and carrying plastic swords, is "offensive" to Muslims, The Times reports. The Times reports that two English fans dressed as crusaders were turned away from the England game against Iran on Monday. The announcement came hours before England plays the USA at the 60,000-seater Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, north of Doha, at 2 p.m EST. Dressing as a medieval knight sporting the flag of St George has become popular among football fans attending England games in recent years.

Presenting the West African nation's 2023 budget in parliament, Ofori-Atta said Ghana was at high risk of debt distress and has agreed on a debt management strategy with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Investment bank Morgan Stanley said on Thursday that it expected Ghana to restructure both its domestic and external debt. "The current debt sustainability analysis conducted reveals that Ghana is now considered to be in high risk of debt distress," Ofori-Atta told lawmakers. Ghana will implement a debt exchange programme to address the challenges, he added. Despite the projected increase in revenue, Ofori-Atta said the fiscal budget would increase to 7.7% of GDP from 6.6% over the coming year.

☆ Ghana plans to buy oil with gold instead of U.S. dollars
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Tom Polansek | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ACCRA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Ghana's government is working on a new policy where gold rather than U.S. dollar reserves will be used to buy oil products, Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia said on Facebook on Thursday. The move is meant to tackle dwindling foreign currency reserves coupled with demand for dollars by oil importers, which is weakening the local cedi and increasing living costs. Ghana's Gross International Reserves stood at around $6.6 billion at the end of September 2022, equating to less than three months of imports cover. Using gold would prevent the exchange rate from directly impacting fuel or utility prices as domestic sellers would no longer need foreign exchange to import oil products, he explained. "The barter of gold for oil represents a major structural change," he added.

☆ Ghana president sacks junior finance minister over alleged impropriety
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Bernd Lauter/Pool via REUTERSACCRA, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo has sacked Charles Adu Boahen, the minister of state for finance, the presidency said on Monday after allegations of impropriety were circulated by a well-known Ghanaian investigative journalist. Adu Boahen did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. read moreThe allegations against Adu Boahen did not appear to be related to those previously raised against Ofori-Atta. Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia said in a statement the video showed Adu Boahen "apparently using my name, inter alia, to peddle influence and collect money from supposed investors". "I would like to state that if what the minister (Adu Boahen) is alleged to have said is accurately captured in the video, then his position as a minister of state is untenable.

"It is not a kind of tactic to avoid formal negotiation on loss and damage funding arrangements here," Schulze said. Some research suggests that by 2030, vulnerable countries could face $580 billion per year in climate-linked "loss and damage". Ghana's finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta, who chairs the V20 group of vulnerable countries, called the creation of the Global Shield "long overdue". Yet some vulnerable countries questioned the scheme's focus on insurance, with insurance premiums adding another cost to cash-strapped countries that have low carbon emissions and contributed least to the causes of climate change. It was not immediately clear how much of the Global Shield funding announced so far was in grant form.

☆ Navid Afkari: Executed Iranian wrestling star’s voice is ‘everywhere now’
▼ + stars: | 2021-06-28 | by ( Don Riddell | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +20 min

Editor’s Note: Wrestler Navid Afkari was executed by the Iranian government on September 12, 2020. On that fateful morning, he learned that another Iranian wrestler, Navid Afkari, had been executed, hanged for a crime that his family and friends say he didn’t commit. The spirit of wrestling is deeply engrained in Iranian culture, where it has transcended the arena of sport. The executionAccording to the Afkari family, his final days were brutal, but there wasn’t necessarily any reason to think that the end was near. Iranians in Canada on Mel Lastman Square demonstrate against the execution of wrestler Navid Afkari by the Iranian regime, in Toronto, Ontario in September 2020.

Cutremurul puternic care a lovit Grecia și Turcia pe 30 octombrie, produs în Marea Egee, a declanșat un mini-tsunami pe insula grecească Samos, relatează canalul de televiziune local ERT1. Declanșat de un cutremur puternic în Marea Egee, un mini-tsunami a lovit insula grecească Samos provocând daune materiale semnificative, relatează ERT1, un post de televiziune local. A tsunami has just hit Vathy town Samos, huge damage to property, as of yet only a few injured. Greek government expecting second tsunami #tsunami #samos #greece #earthquake pic.twitter.com/aVk0kabDKu — Fareid Atta فريد عطا (@atta_fareid) October 30, 2020Un cutremur cu magnitudinea 7 a lovit vineri, 30 octombrie, arhipelagul Dodecanez, situat în sud-estul Mării Egee, a relatat Institutul American de Studii Geologice (USGS). De asemenea, Turcia a fost zguduită de un cutremur care s-a produs în același timp, potrivit Centrului Seismologic Euro-Mediteranean (EMSC).

Persons: Atta فريد عطا Organizations: Sputnik Locations: Grecia, Turcia, Samos, BUCUREŞTI, huge, samos, greece, Mării Egee, turc Izmir

Persons: Atta فريد عطا Organizations: Sputnik Locations: Grecia, Turcia, Samos, BUCUREŞTI, huge, samos, greece, Mării Egee, turc Izmir

☆ How to get a job at McKinsey, BCG, Bain, or Accenture, according to 3 headhunters for these top management consulting firms
▼ + stars: | 2020-06-23 | by ( Robin Madell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

The top management consulting firms — which include McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Bain & Company, and Accenture — are notoriously tough to break into. Insider asked Smith and two other recruiters for management consulting on their top tips for breaking into the ranks of McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Accenture. "We've noticed that more consulting firms are expanding beyond MBA degrees and into other advanced degrees to fill their post-graduate classes." Stokes added that candidates can leverage the international piece of the tripod by keeping in mind that McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Accenture have offices worldwide. You can see samples of case interviews for McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Accenture here.

☆ 20 best German foods
▼ + stars: | 2019-10-09 | by ( Marcel Krueger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +30 min

Check out our list of 20 traditional German dishes that you need to try when you travel there. Germany National Tourism Board Azalea and Rhododendron Park Kromlau: This 200-acre English landscape park was built in the 19th century in Gablenz, Saxony. Germany National Tourism Board Maschsee Lake: This quiet and idyllic lake attracts families throughout the year in Hannover, the capital of Lower Saxony. Germany National Tourism Board Berchtesgaden National Park: Alpine lakes and ice-topped mountains are just a few of the natural wonders that make Berchtesgaden such a breathtaking national park. It comes wrapped in bacon or heaped upon schnitzel; as asparagus soup, fried asparagus, pancakes with herbs and asparagus, asparagus with scrambled eggs or asparagus with young potatoes.

Persons: Königsberger klopse, capers, Maultaschen, Katharina Hild, labskaus, Bodo Schieren, Fried, rostbratwurst, currywurst, Herta Heuwer, Kadir Nurman, schnitzel, Helmut Meyer Zur Capellen, hasn’t, Jägerschnitzel, Käsespätzle Spätzle, Sauerbraten, Stijn Van, Ralph Lueger, Franz Martin Kühn, Jonathan Segal, Rainer Mirau Atta, Attendorner, Mary, Balthasar Neumann, Andreas Bestle, Wiesel, Duke Leopold III of Anhalt, Caspar Diederik Bastei, Monica Skolimowska, Johannes Simon, Patrick Seeger, Daniel Karmann, Armin Weigel, Thomas Lohnes, Martin Schutt, Schwerin, Sean Gallup, Augustus the Strong, Ole Spata, Prince, Bavaria Charles Albert, François Cuvilliés, Ludwig II of Bavaria, Federweisser, Saumagen, Helmut Kohl, Kohl, saumagen, Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, haggis, pinky, schnapps, spargelzeit, John, Johannes Eisele, Frank Vincentz, Josef Hildenbrand, Reuben, jeffreyw, Inga Kjer, Alexander Hassenstein, Christof Stache, Schwarzwälder, Schwarzwälder kirsch, Josef Keller, there’s, Dario Fontanella, Dario, ” Organizations: CNN, German Democratic, European Union, North, West, Austrian, Lichtenstein, UNESCO, Wiesel Garden, Getty, Germany National Tourism Board, Germany National Tourism, Nymphenburg, Mirrors, British, Baptist, revelers, Bread, Wikimedia, Agner, Prussian Locations: Germany, East Prussian, Königsberg, Kaliningrad, Russia, German Democratic Republic, Soviet Union, Berlin, Brandenburg, Swabia, Baden, Bremen, Kiel, Hamburg, Fraconia, Thuringia, Cologne, Ruhr, Turkish, Berlin’s, East Berlin, Vienna, Bavaria, Munich, Franconia, Rhineland, Saarland, Silesia, Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Altstadt, Sanssouci, Potsdam, Swabian, Kassel, Blaubeuren, Berlin's River Havel, Altensteig Sylt, Sylt, Andreas, Saxony, Anhalt, Dessau, Central Germany, Europe, Germany's, Switzerland, Germany's Lake Constance, Mettlach, Cochem, Trier, Erfurt, Schwerin, Dresden, Gablenz, Lübeck, Hannover, Swabian Jura, Rothenburg, Tauber, Nymphenburg, Bavarian, Füssen, Germany National Tourism Board Berchtesgaden, Berchtesgaden, Palatinate, Oldenburg, Osnabrück, East Frisia, Friesland, Flensburg, Aachen, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, St, AFP, Bonn, Austria, Mannheim

☆ I'm a photographer who covered 9/11 and its aftermath. Here are the most gripping photos I took, and the stories behind them.
▼ + stars: | 2001-09-11 | by ( Alan Chin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +21 min

A month after that, I got an assignment to go to northern Afghanistan. Their soldiers had repelled a Taliban offensive in 1997, and massacred thousands of the Taliban prisoners they had captured. Air Force flights from as far away as Germany were dropping American military and humanitarian food packets in an effort to win hearts and minds. This was taken aboard the ferry connecting the east and west sides of the American military base. Even as the American war in Afghanistan ends in both ignominy and relief, the conflicts there and in dozens of other places continue.

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