By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) – An increasing number of countries are repatriating gold reserves as protection against the sort of sanctions imposed by the West on Russia, according to an Invesco survey of central bank and sovereign wealth funds published on Monday. The financial market rout last year caused widespread losses for sovereign money…
By Ezgi Erkoyun and Kanishka Singh ISTANBUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden expressed a desire to see Sweden join NATO “as soon as possible” in a phone call with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in which they discussed Sweden’s bid to become a member of the Western alliance, the White House said on Sunday. Turkey, along…
(Reuters) – The foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey spoke by telephone on Sunday, a day after Ankara angered Moscow by sending five Ukrainian commanders home with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in what Russia called a violation of a prisoner exchange agreement. The Russian and Turkish foreign ministries said Sergei Lavrov and Hakan Fidan discussed the…
By Steven Scheer JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday summoned his attorney-general to explain the police’s handling of resurgent demonstrations against his plan to overhaul the justice system, as the reform bill edges ahead. The bill that would limit “reasonableness” as a standard of judicial review – and which critics argue would…
By Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. assistant secretary of State for African affairs, Molly Phee, will travel to Addis Ababa on Monday and Tuesday to meet with African leaders and Sudanese civilians on how to end the conflict in Sudan, the State Department said on Sunday. Diplomatic efforts to halt fighting between Sudan’s…
By Steve Holland and Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Israel and Saudi Arabia are a long way from a normalization agreement that would involve a defense treaty and a civilian nuclear program from the United States, U.S. President Joe Biden said in a CNN interview broadcast on Sunday. U.S. officials have been negotiating in a bid…
VIENNA (Reuters) – Saudi National Bank wanted to increase its stake in Credit Suisse to around 40% from 9.88%, but was prevented from doing so by Swiss regulator FINMA, Blick newspaper reported on Sunday. With Switzerland’s second-largest bank on the edge of collapse, UBS agreed to buy Credit Suisse for a knockdown price of three…
ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey is taking measures to re-establish fiscal discipline and control the level of the budget deficit, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Sunday. The budget deficit for the first five months of the year was 263.6 billion lira ($10.12 billion), compared to 124.6 billion lira a year ago due to increased spending…
By Rami Amichay TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Israel’s business hub Tel Aviv saw the biggest anti-government protest in weeks on Saturday against a renewed push by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition to overhaul the justice system. Tens of thousands demonstrated across the country, with the rally in Tel Aviv drawing crowds far larger than…
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Paraguay’s president-elect, Santiago Pena, will visit Taiwan this week and meet “great friend” President Tsai Ing-wen, he said on Sunday, shoring up a relationship at a time China is working to entice the island’s dwindling allies. Paraguay is the last South American country with formal relations with Taiwan. The island, claimed by…