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The US eased sanctions on Venezuela’s energy sector on Friday, issuing two general licences that allow global energy companies to operate oil and gas projects in the Opec member and for other companies to negotiate contracts to bring in fresh investments. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a general licence allowing Chevron,…
Star Cruises has said its ship is “fully prepared” for its next voyage from Hong Kong after a scheduled departure on Friday was cancelled because of “an unforeseen technical issue”, leaving angry passengers who had waited for hours to board complaining they had been treated like “refugees”. The cruise operator apologised for cancelling the three-day,…
Consumer inflation in the US cooled slightly more than expected in January, government data showed Friday, as energy prices dipped. Analysts say the figure allows the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates again later this year, but warn that policymakers need to see sustained improvement to do so – despite US President Donald Trump’s insistence…
In what was described as part of a larger effort to prevent the world’s superpowers from picking Europe apart, France’s Jean-Noel Barrot and Germany’s Johann Wadephul hosted Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday. It revived a configuration not seen since the days of French President Emmanuel Macron’s first term, talks that Wang said were…
Award-winning Indian writer Arundhati Roy has said she is withdrawing from the Berlin Film Festival over jury president Wim Wenders’ comments that cinema should “stay out of politics” when asked about Gaza. Roy said in a statement on Friday that she was “shocked and disgusted” by responses from Wenders and other jury members to a…
One of China’s most anticipated Lunar New Year holiday films features a renowned director, a cast of stars and an unusual creative consultant: the country’s top counter-espionage agency. Scare Out, which will debut in cinemas in mainland China on February 17, is the first film directly supervised by the Ministry of State Security. The ministry…
The United Nations is broke. According to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the institution can’t pay its bills. Members, such as the US, haven’t paid their dues. The UN doesn’t just face a liquidity crisis. An old rule obliges it to pay members back for unspent money, even from dues it never received. The UN…
Switzerland said on Saturday that Oman would host talks between the United States and Iran in Geneva next week, with Washington pushing Tehran to make a deal to limit its nuclear programme. “Switzerland stands ready at all times to offer its good offices to facilitate dialogue between the United States and Iran,” a Swiss foreign…
In her short term as prime minister, Sanae Takaichi has shown that she has the same kind of reality distortion field that other singular political talents have. Her status as Japan’s first female prime minister, her middle-class (read: non-hereditary) background and her blunt, earnest manner have inspired a well-documented frenzy,Sanakatsu, akin to the parasocial attachment…
Hong Kong’s police chief has slammed the alleged involvement of a lawyer and doctors in a spate of so-called crash-for-cash scams as “unforgivable and unacceptable”. Commissioner of Police Joe Chow Yat-ming said on Saturday that the force would speed up its investigation into such cases and expected a fresh wave of arrests. He noted police…
