Author: staff

The U.S. and Israel attacks on Iran and subsequent stifling of oil supplies from the Middle East “will redraw the global energy map,” Fatih Birol, chief of the International Energy Agency, said at an event Tuesday. Then he delivered a word of caution: “We are not going back to where we were.”International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said the Iran war is having irreversible impacts on energy policies. | Omar Havana/APThe question of what comes next has dominated the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings in Washington this week. Officials from the U.S. and other nations spoke…

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Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Friday that his country was on the verge of a “new phase” of “permanent agreements”, after the 10-day ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war went into force. In a speech addressing the Lebanese people and hinting at the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group the day after US President Donald Trump announced the truce, Aoun said that his country was no longer “an arena for anyone’s wars”. Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East conflict on 2 March when Tehran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel to avenge the death of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Israel responded by firing…

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For Dr. masharu, it all began with a sudden craving to eat earth. While working as a photographer, the Amsterdam-based academic and artist developed what’s known as geophagia (or geophagy) – the practice of consuming earthen materials like clay or soil. As masharu dug deeper into their desires, a world within a world revealed itself; one where Facebook groups filled with hundreds of members swapped clays to eat, and Japanese restaurants used soil as an ingredient. While commonly linked to certain cultural traditions and rituals, or an eating disorder known as pica, geophagia is, it turns out, far more common…

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Windsor-based businesses expect to be impacted “by a billion dollars,” Poilievre said of the Ontario border city already hard hit by Trump’s tariffs on its auto industry.“There’s no more time to waste, no more jobs we can afford to lose,” Poilievre said, urging Carney to deliver on an election promise he made last year to land a bilateral trade deal to assuage Trump’s tariffs.Federal Conservatives are looking to save face after the Liberals secured a majority government this week, sweeping three by-elections, virtually ensuring the Tories will be stuck in opposition until 2029. Carney ruled out the possibility of an…

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Ukraine struck two oil refineries deep inside Russia and repelled a massive overnight drone bombardment on Saturday. Drones hit the Novokuybyshevsk refinery in Russia’s Samara Oblast in the early hours of Saturday morning, sparking a large fire visible in footage shared on social media. Local residents reported blasts heard across the eastern and northern parts of the city. The facility is a significant node in Russia’s energy infrastructure, processing 8.8 million tonnes of crude per year and producing more than 20 types of commercial products used to support Russian forces. Hours later, a second drone strike hit the Syzran refinery,…

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The speaker of Iran’s parliament issued a direct threat to close the Strait of Hormuz if a U.S. naval blockade continues, marking one of Tehran’s sharpest public warnings since ceasefire negotiations began. “With the continuation of the blockade, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open,” Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote on X just after midnight Friday, in a series of posts that also accused U.S. President Donald Trump of making seven false claims “in one hour.” “They did not win the war with these lies, and they will certainly not get anywhere in negotiations either,” Qalibaf said. The parliament speaker…

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UK opposition leaders have called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign after the government confirmed that an associate of Jeffrey Epstein failed a background security check before becoming envoy to Washington. Starmer has faced repeated questions about his judgment in appointing Peter Mandelson, who was sacked last year only months into the post over his ties to the late convicted US sex offender Epstein. The opposition renewed calls for Starmer’s resignation after an investigation by The Guardian newspaper discovered Mandelson had failed an initial background check — later confirmed by the government. Opposition right-wing Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch…

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Swizz, your Web Summit panel just explored the collision of culture and technology. Your online live performance platform, Verzuz, is the perfect example of this. What excites you the most about how tech is changing the creative game right now? Swizz Beatz: I think the thing that excites me the most is the way that people can reach people.When I first started you had to hand deliver something physically, even selling records was physical. Now someone can have an idea right here in Qatar and instantly people can know about it in New York. So I think the travel of…

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