Reporting from Doha for FRANCE 24, Hoda Abdel-Hamid explains that Iran’s demands regarding the control over the Strait of Hormuz and the departure of US combat troops from the region are unlikely to be acceptable to Gulf countries. Keywords for this article Source link
April 8 : Emerging and developing economies in Europe and Central Asia face a sharp slowdown this year under a scenario of a large but temporary rise in energy prices from the conflict in the Middle East, the World Bank said on Wednesday. The Iran war, which broke out in late February, has hit global oil supplies and sent prices soaring, lifting companies’ costs and hitting people at the fuel pump. Tehran and Washington agreed a two-week ceasefire late on Tuesday. In an updated outlook, the World Bank said the conflict posed a substantial risk to the global economy, including developing and emerging countries in Europe and Central Asia. The region includes nearly two dozen countries from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia to European Union members Poland and Romania, Albania and Serbia in the Balkans, and Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. While energy exporters are likely to benefit temporarily from rising commodity prices, most countries are energy importers and likely to face increased fiscal and current account pressure. As a whole, growth across the region …
Fears of fuel shortages have been sparked recently as the number of tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz was reduced to a trickle amid threats from Iran, which experts say effectively controls the waterway. Now some of those concerns are coming to fruition with several countries experiencing shortages. Normally, about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies flow through the strait but since the start of the US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February shipping has almost come to a standstill. Money blog: Interest rate on many student loans to be capped Image: Cargo ships in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz in March. Pic: Reuters Iranian retaliatory attacks have forced vessels to stay put, causing petrostate storage facilities to fill and some production to cease. More than 20 million barrels of oil and petroleum liquids per day normally transit the Strait of Hormuz, but daily traffic is reportedly down by about 95%. However, some ships linked to Pakistan, China and India are being allowed through by Iran. But the impacts …
In the letter, the ministers argued Brussels should do as it did following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, when it authorized the imposition of a temporary “solidarity contribution” on energy companies to “mitigate the direct economic effects of the soaring energy prices for public authorities’ budgets, final customers and companies.” The 2022 measure imposed a minimum tax of 33 percent on all oil and gas company profits that exceeded the average recorded during the previous four years by more than 20 percent. In addition to proposing a similar framework, the ministers requested the Commission determine if it can also tax profits that multinational oil companies earn abroad. Oil and gas companies are making huge profits off the supply crisis provoked by the conflict in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which some 20 percent of the oil and natural gas that powers the global economy runs. French oil giant TotalEnergies is reported to have made $1 billion in profits after acquiring dozens of Middle Eastern crude cargoes during the first …
EU citizenship: Which countries are issuing the most passports to non-EU nationals? Source link
An asylum seeker with a canceled appointment to enter the United States waits to speak to a Mexican immigration official as he reviews the CBP One app at the El Chaparral border crossing port in Tijuana, Mexico, in January 2025. Carlos Moreno/NurPhoto via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Carlos Moreno/NurPhoto via Getty Images The Homeland Security Department has lifted its total ban on reviewing asylum applications, though the pause remains in effect for about 40 countries. The Trump administration in November paused the processing of some 4 million asylum applications filed to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that oversees the processing of applications for visas, naturalizations and asylum. The pause came as a part of a slew of restrictions on immigration after an Afghan national shot two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 26, 2025. One of the Guard members died the next day from her injuries. At the time, the Trump administration called the move a national security necessity. Then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said the pause was indefinite while …
Other coastal states, including Finland, Sweden, Estonia and Belgium, have intercepted suspected shadow fleet vessels in the Baltic and North Seas. This has “in some cases, forced the Kremlin to adapt by reflagging shadow-fleet tankers … while occasionally deploying military escorts,” Charlie Edwards, a senior fellow for strategy and national security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, wrote in a recent article. But high-profile boardings like that of the Boracay only stop a fraction of shadow fleet vessels cruising off European coasts. “Few European capitals can sustain a high-tempo posture for long, leaving random boardings looking potentially escalatory without being strategically decisive,” Edwards noted. Governments across Europe are seeking to firm up their authority. Last week, the U.K. granted British forces new powers to board and detain sanctioned vessels. The Netherlands is mulling legal changes to target ships carrying false flags. The current legislation is “unclear,” said Fred Soons, a professor in international law at Utrecht University. The EU, which has banned hundreds of suspected shadow fleet vessels from its ports, is also pushing a …
The international financial institution said it was stepping up support, especially to the most vulnerable economies. Source link
Ever since Australia banned its young people from social media, governments across the globe have been considering following suit. It comes amid mounting concerns over the impact of social media on children’s health and safety. It’s been four months since under-16s in Australia were banned from using platforms including Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram. While only one other country has since implemented a straight blanket ban, many have taken steps to regulate online platforms. Here is a summary of which countries already have rules in place for social media, as well as those proposing a stricter ban. Australia Australia’s landmark law came into force on 10 December 2025. It forced 10 major social media platforms to block young people under 16 or face fines of up to AU$49.5m (£25m). Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant said the restrictions “aim to protect young Australians from pressures and risks that users can be exposed to while logged in to social media accounts”. She added: “These come from design features that encourage them to spend more time on …
For two decades, aspiring EU members wanted to join the bloc to get richer. Now, that’s changing. With conflicts raging at Europe’s doorstep and NATO shaky under Donald Trump, even rich countries want to join the bloc, hoping it’ll help them feel safer. Zoya and Nick unpack this shift on today’s episode. Also on the show, we trace Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s political journey from a liberal dissident to MAGA darling. As the leader continues to antagonize the EU, we ask what options the bloc has to minimize his influence in European political decision-making if he’s reelected in the upcoming election. Finally: Russia is recruiting informants to spy on dissidents abroad. POLITICO got its hands on a cache of text messages and recordings between two intelligence agents and a student blackmailed into spying for the Kremlin. We discuss what the correspondence tells us about Moscow’s efforts to infiltrate opposition groups in Europe. Send any questions or comments to us on our WhatsApp: +32 491 05 06 29. Source link
