Author: ALJAZEERA

US penalties target Iran’s ‘oil network’ as Donald Trump pledges to bring back ‘maximum pressure’ against Tehran.Washington, DC – The United States has imposed the first batch of sanctions against Iran since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, as the president pushes to reimpose “maximum pressure” on Tehran. The US Treasury announced the sanctions on Thursday, saying that they are aimed at Iran’s “oil network”. The measures targeted firms, ships and individuals affiliated with companies already sanctioned by the US. Under former President Joe Biden, the US routinely issued such penalties to enforce existing sanctions. “The Iranian regime remains…

Bangkok, Thailand – At the end of January, Cambodia’s Khmer HIV/AIDS NGO Alliance was unexpectedly informed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that all funding for its tuberculosis programme had been put on hold for 90 days. KHANA, as the NGO is more commonly known, detects about 10,000 tuberculosis (TB) cases each year, providing preventive treatment to some 10,000 close contacts and medical care for some 300 rural patients, according to executive director, Choub Sok Chamreun. With funding drying up, many rural Cambodians will soon lose care, Chamreun said. “Within the suspension period, these people will have a…

Reserve Bank of India announces first rate cut in nearly five years as world’s most populous nation faces slowdown.India’s central bank has cut its benchmark interest rate for the first time in nearly five years as officials try to reverse slowing economic growth in the world’s most populous country. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday that it had lowered the repo rate, which the central bank lends to commercial banks, by 0.25 percent to 6.25 percent. The RBI last cut the key interest rate in May 2020, after which it rolled out a series of hikes aimed…

A major trade war between the United States and Canada has been averted after US President Donald Trump agreed to hold off on imposing a 25 percent tariff for 30 days. But anger has erupted in Canada, with people calling for a boycott of US products, and some even calling to stop the export of oil to the country’s southern neighbour. However, blocking crude oil flow to the US could inflict an enormous economic cost on Canada, which pumps nearly all of its crude oil to the US via a network of pipelines. Moreover, it would take some time for…

Announcement comes as US President Donald Trump confirms he is considering eliminating the aid agency.The administration of United States President Donald Trump has ordered nearly all directly-hired staff of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to be placed on leave as part of the Republican’s drive to radically shrink the government. USAID said on Tuesday that all direct hire personnel would be put on leave from Friday, apart from “designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs”. USAID personnel posted overseas will be recalled from their postings within 30 days, the agency said in a…

Billionaire Elon Musk is tightening his control over broad swaths of the United States government at extraordinary speed, prompting growing alarm from Democrats and constitutional scholars. In the two weeks since US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Musk, the head of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has upended the federal bureaucracy, prompting questions about the scope of his authority and warnings of a constitutional crisis, or even a coup. Acting without oversight of the US Congress, Musk’s lieutenants have brought the work of the US’s main foreign aid agency to a halt, flagged millions of government employees for redundancy,…

United States President Donald Trump has reiterated his threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico from Saturday. The White House confirmed on Friday that tariffs of 25 percent on Mexico and Canada — and 10 percent on China — will go into effect by the weekend. “The February 1 deadline that President Trump put into place at a statement several weeks ago continues,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, later adding: “These are promises made, promises kept by the president.” The White House also denied an earlier report from the Reuters news agency saying the tariffs…

Buenos Aires, Argentina – It is December in the capital of Buenos Aires, and the summertime temperatures have soared to 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit). The sun beats relentlessly on the corrugated metal roofs of Villa Fiorito, a working-class neighbourhood south of Argentina’s capital city. Teenagers in flip-flops ride their motorbikes through the dirt streets. Other kids look for shady spots to rest and rinse their feet with a garden hose. Carla G, who requested anonymity, is one of the neighbourhood teenagers. At age 18, she is nearing the end of high school. One of her favourite pastimes was playing…

An official at the Meta-owned platform says it detected attempts by Paragon to hack its users’ accounts.An official at Meta’s popular WhatsApp chat service has said Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions targeted 90 of its users, including journalists and members of civil society. The official told the Reuters news agency on Friday that WhatsApp had sent Paragon a cease-and-desist letter following the hack. The official declined to say who, specifically, was targeted but confirmed that WhatsApp is referring targets to the Canadian internet watchdog group Citizen Lab. He declined to say how WhatsApp ascertained that Paragon was responsible for the…

National Transportation Safety Board says it will ‘leave no stone unturned’ in probe of midair collision.Investigators in the United States have located the black boxes from the American Airlines jet that crashed into a US Army helicopter near Washington, DC, killing all 67 people on board. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Friday said it recovered the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the Bombardier CRJ700 jet that collided with a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter over Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. “The recorders are at the NTSB labs for evaluation,” the agency said in a post on…