Author: Finance for Sight

NEW YORK: Opening statements are set to begin on Tuesday in the retrial of Sarah Palin’s lawsuit accusing the New York Times of defaming the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate in a 2017 editorial about gun control. Palin, 61, who was unsuccessful in her 2008 bid for the second-highest US office along with running mate John McCain, lost her first trial against the Times and former editorial page editor James Bennet in 2022. But the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan last August decided that the verdict was tainted by several rulings by the presiding…

SYDNEY: U.S. controls on sensitive defence exports, relaxed for AUKUS partner Australia last year, still apply to submarines, creating hurdles to defence industry collaboration on U.S. Virginia-class sub production, officials and executives said. Whether the United States can overcome production delays to meet U.S. Navy targets is key to whether Australia can buy three Virginia-class nuclear powered submarines under AUKUS, Defence Minister Richard Marles said last month. Australia faces a 2025 deadline to pay $2 billion of the $3 billion it has pledged to improve the U.S. submarine industrial base. Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has been tasked by…

HANOI: China and Vietnam signed dozens of cooperation agreements Monday, strengthening ties between the communist-run countries after Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned that protectionism “leads nowhere” and that a trade war would have “no winners”. Xi is in Vietnam for the first leg of a Southeast Asia tour, as Beijing tries to present itself as a stable alternative to an erratic US President Donald Trump, who announced — and then mostly reversed — sweeping tariffs this month. The Chinese president was welcomed to Hanoi Monday with a 21-cannon salute, a guard of honour and rows of flag-waving children at the…

CAIRO: Mediator Egypt has presented a new Israeli proposal for a Gaza ceasefire to Hamas, Egyptian state-affiliated Al Qahera News TV said on Monday, but a senior Hamas official said at least two elements of the proposal were non-starters. Citing sources, Al Qahera said mediators awaited Hamas’ response. Hamas said in a statement later in the day that it was studying the proposal and that it will submit its response “as soon as possible”. The group reiterated its core demand that a ceasefire deal must end the war in Gaza and achieve a full Israeli pull-out from the strip. Earlier,…

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump resumed his attempts Monday to blame Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for Russia’s invasion, falsely accusing him of responsibility for “millions” of deaths. Trump – who had a blazing public row in the Oval Office with Zelensky six weeks ago – said the Ukranian shared the blame with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion, and then-US president Joe Biden. The Republican told reporters that there were “millions of people dead because of three people.” “Let’s say Putin number one, but let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was…

BEIRUT/AMMAN: Saudi Arabia plans to pay off Syria’s debts to the World Bank, three people familiar with the matter said, paving the way for the approval of millions of dollars in grants for reconstruction and to support the country’s paralysed public sector. The plans, which have not been previously reported, would be the first known instance of Saudi Arabia providing financing for Syria since rebels toppled former leader Bashar al-Assad last year. It may also be a sign that crucial Gulf Arab support for Syria is beginning to materialize after previous plans, including an initiative by Doha to fund salaries,…

CAIRO: A senior Hamas official said on Monday that the Hamas is prepared to release all Israeli hostages in exchange for a “serious prisoner swap” and guarantees that Israel will end the war in Gaza. Hamas left Cairo on Monday after negotiations with mediators from Egypt and Qatar – two nations working alongside the United States to broker a ceasefire in the besieged territory. “We are ready to release all Israeli captives in exchange for a serious prisoner swap deal, an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the entry of humanitarian aid,”…

GANAPAVARAM: Turbulence unleashed by President Donald Trump’s tariffs could rock global shipments of shrimp to the United States, with exporters in biggest supplier India saying they endanger 2,000 containers packed with the frozen delicacy. But Ecuador, thousands of kilometres nearer to the United States faces a lower tariff rate and stands to benefit, the exporters say, as shrimp is its most important export after oil. India’s shrimp industry is staring at a tariff of 26% under Trump’s July plan, which threatens a thriving $7-billion seafood export market heavily reliant on US supermarket chains such as Walmart and Kroger as buyers…

WASHINGTON/WEST PALM BEACH: US President Donald Trump on Sunday bore down on his administration’s latest message that the exclusion of smartphones and computers from his reciprocal tariffs on China will be short-lived, pledging a national security trade investigation into the semiconductor sector. Those electronics “are just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket,’” Trump said in a social media post. “We are taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN in the upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations.” The White House had announced the exclusions from steep reciprocal tariffs on Friday. Tariff war could cut US-China goods trade by…

RIYADH: The United States and Saudi Arabia will sign a preliminary agreement to cooperate over the kingdom’s ambitions to develop a civil nuclear industry, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told reporters in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Sunday. Wright, who had met with Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman earlier on Sunday, said Riyadh and Washington were on a “a pathway” to reaching an agreement to work together to develop a Saudi civil nuclear programme. Wright, on his first visit to the kingdom as secretary as part of tour of energy-producing Gulf states, said further details over a memorandum…