The Federal Reserve continues to expect to raise interest rates gradually. The Fed has raised interest rates seven times since it began a tightening cycle back in December 2015 and last lifted its benchmark lending rate by a quarter percentage point in mid June. Chairman Jerome Powell also previously said that sustained high tariffs on products and services could hurt ...

UNITED NATIONS, New York – Crumbling infrastructure after decades of conflict, rising temperatures, and desertification are threatening the security of Iraq today, the country’s water minister said at the United Nations this week. “The rise in temperatures and war on terrorism that displaced millions of people to areas without any services have had a severe impact on the people,” Minister ...

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) began a manual recount of ballots from the contested May 12 national election in the provinces of Duhok and Nineveh on Saturday morning. “The vote recount in Duhok takes place in the hall of the College of Agriculture at Duhok University. In addition to the ballots of the people of ...

A number of prominent political figures and members of the Iraqi parliament have spoken out against the US’ military presence in the country, with a senior adviser to Iraqi cleric Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr slamming it as an “occupation of the country.” The US is planning to open a new military airbase in Iraq near the town of al-Qa’im in Anbar Province, the local news outlet ...

Egypt is making progress with economic reforms and is “open for business,” the country’s minister of investment and international cooperation told CNBC Thursday. “We’re repositioning Egypt as a global investment destination so we’ve moved forwards with comprehensive improvements in the business environment,” Sahar Nasr, told CNBC’s “Capital Connection.” The drive to open up the business sector to foreign investment included ...

Australia’s biggest telecom operator is cutting 8,000 jobs in a dramatic bid to bring down costs. Telstra (TLSYY) said in a statement Wednesday that it will slash employee and contractor roles as part of plans to reduce costs by 2.5 billion Australian dollars ($1.8 billion) by 2022. It will also sell off assets to pare down debt. The company, which has 32,000 employees, said ...

Egypt’s shrinking freshwater “Pharaonic Sea” has residents in its nearly 50 surrounding fishing villages worried. The thin 10-square kilometre stretch of water just north of the capital was once part of the Nile River, but shrivelling shorelines have left it separated from the country’s main water source for nearly 50 years. Since then, inhabitants in the surrounding villages have referred ...

ST. PETERSBURG: Egypt arrived in Russia with Mohamed Salah and some high expectations. The team, playing at the World Cup for the first time since 1990, was sure it had the ability to grind out results, even with Salah still recovering from a shoulder injury. But after two matches, the Egyptians were eliminated. “I always say that behind a player ...

Italy’s interior minister has sparked a new migration crisis in the Mediterranean by barring two rescue boats from bringing refugees to shore, a week after the Aquarius was prevented from docking. “Two other ships with the flag of Netherlands, Lifeline and Seefuchs, have arrived off the coast of Libya, waiting for their load of human beings abandoned by the smugglers,” Matteo ...

When Private Caomhán Seoige was sent out to observation post 6.22 Delta in the so-called ‘Iron Triangle’ in South Lebanon, the Aran Islander was just days away from returning home after his six months’ UN tour of duty. Private Hugh Doherty who accompanied him at that isolated spot, was just five days into his first overseas posting with the Defence Forces, part ...