Author: Finance for Sight

MUSCAT: The United States and Iran opened high-stakes talks on Tehran’s nuclear programme on Saturday with President Donald Trump threatening military action if they fail to produce a deal. The two sides entered “indirect” talks – via an intermediary – in the Omani capital Muscat, Iran’s foreign ministry said. The Americans had called for the meetings to be face-to-face. Disagreement over the format indicated the task facing the long-term adversaries, who are seeking a new nuclear deal after Trump pulled out of an earlier agreement during his first term in 2018. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is leading the Iranian delegation…

CAIRO: A Hamas official told AFP that senior leaders from the group are heading to Cairo on Saturday for Gaza ceasefire talks with Egyptian mediators. “We hope the meeting will achieve real progress towards reaching an agreement to end the war, halt the aggression and ensure the full withdrawal of occupation forces from Gaza,” the official familiar with the ceasefire negotiations said on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorised to speak publicly on the matter. The delegation will be led by the group’s chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, he said. Abbas urges Hamas to stop giving Israel ‘excuses’ in…

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump insisted Friday that his tariff policy was “doing really well” despite China hiking levies on US goods to 125 percent in the spiraling trade war between the world’s two biggest economies. Investors dumped US government bonds, the dollar tumbled and stocks seesawed after Beijing’s retaliation against Trump deepened concerns on already traumatized global markets. Trump sent financial markets into a tailspin by announcing sweeping import taxes on dozens of trade partners last week, only to abruptly roll them back to 10 percent on Wednesday for 90 days – while raising levies on goods from China. “We…

NEW YORK: Six people including a senior Siemens executive and his family were killed when a sightseeing helicopter crashed into the Hudson River in New York. The crash on Thursday killed all those onboard the aircraft: the pilot and the family of Agustin Escobar, the CEO of a unit under global tech firm Siemens. Two of the victims were initially taken to a hospital but died later. “We are deeply saddened by the tragic helicopter crash in which Agustin Escobar and his family lost their lives,” Siemens told AFP on Friday. US media reports, including from NBC News, identified one…

WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that five more law firms had agreed to devote a total of at least $600 million in free legal work to causes he supports, marking new concessions offered by major firms facing a White House pressure campaign. The agreements mostly mirror others struck with four firms in recent weeks, requiring them to shun diversity-based employment practices the administration deems illegal and work on pro bono projects approved by the president. Kirkland & Ellis, A&O Shearman, Simpson Thacher and Latham & Watkins are set to provide $125 million in pro bono work each.…

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump pledged Friday that his tariff policy is working and will benefit the United States and the world, despite China hiking tariffs on US goods to 125 percent in a deepening trade war. Traumatised stock markets seesawed, the dollar tumbled and US government bonds faced renewed pressure after Beijing’s retaliation intensified the confrontation between the world’s two biggest economies. In a message Friday on social media, Trump continued to insist that “we are doing really well on our tariff policy.” “Very exciting for America, and the World!!! It is moving along quickly,” he wrote. Trump sent global…

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) will cut 20% of its staff from different countries including Pakistan, as it faces a shortfall of $58 million, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher has told staff after OCHA’s largest donor – the United States – cut funding. “OCHA currently has a workforce of around 2,600 staff in over 60 countries. The funding shortfall means we are looking to regroup to an organization of around 2,100 staff in fewer locations,” Fletcher wrote in a note to staff on Thursday. OCHA works to mobilise aid, share information,…

GAZA/CAIRO: Hundreds of thousands of Gaza City residents have lost their only source of clean water in the past week after supplies from Israel’s water utility were cut by the Israeli army’s renewed offensive, municipal authorities in the territory said. Many now have to walk, sometimes for miles, to get a small water fill after the Israeli military’s bombardment and ground offensive in the Gaza City’s eastern Shejaia neighbourhood damaged the pipeline operated by state-owned Mekorot. “Since morning, I have been waiting for water,” said 42-year-old Gaza woman Faten Nassar. “There are no stations and no trucks coming. There is…

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that a pre-dawn Israeli air strike on Friday killed 10 members of the same family, including seven children, in the southern city of Khan Yunis. “Ten people, including seven children, were brought to the hospital as martyrs following an Israeli air strike that targeted the al-Farra family home in central Khan Yunis,” agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP. When contacted by AFP about the strike, the Israeli military said it was looking into the attack. Witnesses reported continuous and intensive Israeli tank fire in Khan Yunis. The civil defence agency also reported two…

SANTO DOMINGO: Recovery efforts wrapped up in the capital of the Dominican Republic after a roof collapse at a nightclub during a concert killed at least 221 people, authorities said on Thursday. As families continue to mourn their loved ones, the cause of the catastrophe and the exact number of people who attended the fateful event have not yet been determined by authorities. The sudden collapse at the Jet Set club in Santo Domingo after midnight on Tuesday marred a concert by merengue singer Rubby Perez where politicians, athletes and other prominent local figures had gathered. “Today the search, rescue…