MOSCOW (Reuters) - Sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia's third largest lender Gazprombank, which handles the energy trade, are behind the rouble's free fall in recent days, a top executive from VTB, Russia's second largest bank, said on Wednesday. "My assumption is that the sanctions against Gazprombank have had a significant impact, as it has ceased to be a channel for delivering foreign currency to the Moscow Exchange," Dmitry Pyanov told reporters. Pyanov added that stabilisati...Read More
WASHINGTON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The United States is imposing sanction on 21 senior Venezuelan officials for their role in suppressing protests after a presidential election in July, a senior administration official said on Wednesday. Washington says President Nicolas Maduro falsely claimed victory in the vote in what it called a subversion of democratic norms. The United States says opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez won and refers to him as the president-elect. "(This) is not merely about hol...Read More
One of the reasons why bowlers are rarely considered captains is because they are more susceptible to injuries than batters, argues Vishal Menon. IMAGE: Jasprit Bumrah rocked the Australian batters in the opening Test at the Optus stadium in Perth. Photograph: BCCI Jasprit Bumrah, the once-in-a-generation fast bowler, who led India to a magnificent victory in the Perth Test, has no qualms about picking himself as the 'greatest Indian captain'. 'My favourite captain is me. I'm the greatest cap...Read More
FACT CHECKThe slain lawyer was not defending Chinmoy Das; he was part of the Chattogram Bar Association Several news outlets have falsely claimed that a lawyer who was representing arrested Hindu priest Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari was killed in clashes that took place at Bangladesh's Chattogram Court premises on November 26. BOOM was able to confirm that the slain lawyer Saiful Islam, who was a member of Chattogram Bar Association, was not representing Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari as hi...Read More
LONDON (Reuters) - A number of unidentified drones have been spotted over three United States Air Force (USAF) bases in England over the last six days, a U.S. Air Force spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday. "Small unmanned aerial systems were spotted in the vicinity of and over RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall, and RAF Feltwell from Nov 20 to Nov 26," a spokesperson said in an emailed response to Reuters. The three bases, two in Suffolk and one in Norfolk, are leased by the USAF from Britain. A sp...Read More
(Reuters) -Uncertainties around U.S. policies may slow global economic growth modestly in 2025, according to major brokerages. They expect U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's proposed tariffs to fuel volatility across global markets, spurring inflationary pressures and, in turn, limiting the scope for major central banks to ease monetary policy. World economies and equity markets have had a robust year, with global growth expected to average 3.1% this year, a Reuters poll published in October s...Read More
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine law officials on Tuesday summoned vice president Sara Duterte for questioning over her weekend statements that she had contracted someone to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. if she were to be killed. Duterte accused the administration of twisting her words to create a false narrative that Marcos' life was under active threat, saying in a statement on Tuesday that her remarks were a "conditional act of revenge." The summons from the National Bureau of Inv...Read More
SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Affinity Equity Partners, a Hong Kong-based buyout firm, has concluded two acquisitions in Southeast Asia worth a combined $1.65 billion, people with knowledge of the deals said. It bought Jakarta-based gummy candy company Yupi for $1.2 billion, said two of the people. Yupi, founded in 1996, is one of the largest gummy candy makers in Asia and its products are sold in more than 50 countries, according to its websites. Affinity acquired the company from Yupi's fo...Read More
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's economy is expected to have expanded 2.6% in the third quarter due to slower domestic demand and the weight of tighter economic policies, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday, with the rate seen cooling to 3% for the year as a whole. The economy grew 5.3% in the first quarter of this year with strong domestic demand pushed up by a minimum wage hike and households bringing purchases forward in expectation of higher inflation ahead. In the second quarter, sagging demand...Read More
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that on his first day in office he would impose a 25% tariff on all products from Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China, citing concerns over illegal immigration and the trade of illicit drugs. "On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders," Trump sa...Read More
Andhra Pradesh is reviewing government files and will explore if it is possible to cancel a power supply contract linked to the Adani Group, whose billionaire founder has been indicted in the United States, a top official told Reuters. U.S. authorities have charged Gautam Adani and seven others with agreeing to pay bribes of $265 million to unnamed Central government officials to obtain solar power-supply contracts in Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and the federal territory of...Read More
US authorities have charged Gautam Adani and seven others for allegedly agreeing to pay bribes of $265 million to unnamed Indian government officials to secure solar power-supply contracts in Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir between 2021 and 2022. According to the US indictment, most of the alleged bribes, amounting to $228 million, were paid to a government official to get Andhra Pradesh's electricity companies to buy power. However, Adani has denied the a...Read More
Still, the ongoing U.N. climate talks have thrown a spotlight on their efforts to tackle global warming. While the COP29 summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, is tasked with agreeing a goal to mobilize hundreds of billions of dollars for climate, leaders of the Group of 20 major economies half a world away in Rio are holding the purse strings. G20 countries account for 85% of the world's economy and are the largest contributors to multilateral development banks helping to steer climate finance. "The sp...Read More
"The West has decided on such a level of escalation that it could end with the Ukrainian statehood in complete ruins by morning," Andrei Klishas, a senior member of the Federation Council, Russia's upper chamber of parliament, said on the Telegram messaging app. Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy head of the Russian upper house's international affairs committee, said that Moscow's response will be immediate. "This is a very big step towards the start of World War Three," the TASS state news agen...Read More
KYIV (Reuters) - Ten people, including two children, were killed and 52 were injured on Sunday night when a Russian missile hit a residential nine-storey building in Ukraine's northeastern region of Sumy, Ukraine's emergency services and military said. "Sunday evening for the city of Sumy became hell, a tragedy that Russia brought to our land," Volodymyr Artyukh, the head of the Sumy military administration said in a post on the administration's Telegram messaging channel....Read More