Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The first river taxi trips were launched in Baghdad as part of a government project to relieve traffic jams, where statistics indicate that there are more than eight million cars inside the capital, Baghdad.

The river taxi might be the most effective way to avoid traffic congestion. The Iraqi government started to carry out this project as one of the solutions to relieve traffic jams inside the Iraqi capital.

A fleet of environmentally friendly boats was provided by the Iraqi Ministry of Transport to inaugurate the first phase of the project.

The currently available river taxis include boats that can accommodate 40, 30 or 10 people and enjoy international safety standards.

The river taxi operates from morning until evening with two stations back and forth from the Al-Kadhimiya area to Al-Mutanabbi and vice versa, which is the busiest route during official working hours for employees and university students.

Additionally, the project is also a beautiful way to boost tourism because tourists will get to know the old neighborhoods of Baghdad.

According to the latest official statistics of the General Traffic Directorate, there are eight million cars in Baghdad alone, which exceeds the capacity of the capitals streets.

The river taxi is not only a way to avoid traffic jams but also a source to attract tourists at affordable prices.

The post Iraq launches river taxi to ease traffic in Baghdad appeared first on Iraqi News.

Al-Majar al-Kabir Thousands of dead fish have washed ashore in southeast Iraq, prompting an official investigation into the wildlife disaster that officials said Monday may be linked to drought conditions.

An AFP photographer saw thousands of small fish washed up on the banks of the Amshan river in Majar al-Kabir, an area in Maysan province that borders Iran.

The region is home to fabled marshes in the floodplain of the Tigris river, already suffering from the effects of global warming.

Iraqs agriculture ministry on Sunday announced it was forming a committee to look into the causes of the fish deaths, according to state news agency INA.

Environmental campaigner Ahmed Saleh Neema said a rise in temperatures leading to increased evaporation, coupled with reduced water flow contributed to a lack of oxygen and high salinity in the river.

Largely arid Iraq is ranked by the United Nations as one of the worlds five countries most impacted by some effects of climate change.

It endures blistering summer heat and frequent dust storms. Declining rain over the past four years as well as upstream dams have reduced the flow of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers where ancient civilisations flourished.

Khodr Abbas Salman, a Maysan province official overseeing its marshes for the Iraqi environment ministry, told AFP that according to terrain analyses we have conducted, the level of oxygen (in the water) is zero, in addition to a rise in salinity levels.

He joined a mission on Monday to inspect the deaths of tonnes of fish, he said, noting the Amshans waters are home to nine species.

The fish keep dying even now, he said.

Samples from both the fish and the water will be analysed to determine if there is any presence of chemical substances, Salman added.

But the high salinity levels may be enough to cause considerable damage.

The water can no longer be used for agriculture. It would scourge the land if farmers use it for irrigation, Salman said.

He warned of further risks of pollution in the water and surrounding lands the more animals die.

Any dead animal rots which raises the level of pollution, he said. The waters toxicity might increase and infiltrate the land too.

In a similar phenomenon in 2018, fishermen in the central province of Babylon found dead carp in their thousands, but an investigation failed to discern what had caused it.

The post Iraqs Agriculture Ministry to investigate fish deaths appeared first on Iraqi News.

Hong Kong Asian markets struggled for direction on Tuesday as investors weighed signs of a slowing US economy against hopes the Federal Reserves interest rate hiking cycle could be nearing its end.

Data showing a sharp drop in the central banks preferred gauge of inflation for May fuelled a rally across equities in New York last week and Asia on Monday.

The readings followed a series of indicators suggesting the economy remained in rude health, putting pressure on the Fed to keep tightening monetary policy.

Bank boss Jerome Powell has warned more hikes are in the pipeline owing to still-elevated inflation and the strong labour market, though analysts question whether it will follow through with that.

However, while traders take the view that bad news is good news as it gives the bank room to hold rates, the possibility of a contraction was keeping the optimism in check.

On Monday, a closely watched survey of US factory activity showed the sector shrank again in June and hit its lowest level since May 2020.

The reading from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) also indicates the ongoing contraction in the sector is picking up pace.

Wall Street limped to a positive close with business thinned by traders winding down for the July 4 holiday but Asia was unable to maintain Mondays momentum

Hong Kong and Shanghai edged up, along with Wellington, Taipei and Jakarta, though Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore, Seoul and Manila dipped.

However, Jim Bianco, president and founder of Bianco Research, warned that while inflation was still falling, the Fed should be on alert as it could begin to climb again after getting to as low as three percent still above the banks two percent target.

If the inflation rate bottoms at three and starts drifting higher, the Feds going to find this unacceptable, and that two rate hikes that we have priced in for the rest of the year will happen, if not three, he told Bloomberg Television.

Oil prices edged up on Tuesday, a day after dropping more than one percent as an initial rally sparked by Saudi Arabia and Russias announcement of further output cuts faded away.

While the cuts will mean tighter supplies, rising interest rates and the lingering threat of recession are weighing on demand expectations.

It was not too surprising that Saudi Arabia decided to roll over its additional, voluntary cuts, Warren Patterson, at ING Groep NV, said.

Fundamentals are not having as much influence on price direction as one would expect. Instead, the uncertain macro outlook is what the market is focused on.

Investors are keeping tabs on China-US relations after Beijing on Monday imposed export controls on two rare metals essential for the manufacture of semiconductors, citing security concerns.

The move comes...

Washington Russia on Monday granted the United States consular access to jailed Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich after a more than two-month gap, with the US ambassador reporting him in good health.

The State Department said Ambassador Lynne Tracey met Gershkovich at the Lefortovo prison in Moscow, only her second such meeting with him since he was arrested on March 29 during a reporting trip in the Urals.

Ambassador Tracy reports that Mr. Gershkovich is in good health and remains strong, despite his circumstances, a State Department spokesperson said.

Gershkovich, who previously worked for AFP, is the first Western journalist arrested and accused of espionage by Moscow since the Soviet era, amid a sharp deterioration of relations over the Ukraine war.

The United States, The Wall Street Journal and Gershkovich strongly deny he was a spy.

The State Department said it would keep pressing for Gershkovichs release and, until then, for consistent consular access. 

Russia had denied requests for further visits after the ambassadors April meeting, drawing protests from Washington that Russia was violating protocol.

Russia indicated it was retaliating for the United States not issuing visas for Russian state-affiliated media who sought to visit New York during a trip to the United Nations by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking last week at the Council on Foreign Relations, voiced concern about Russias denial of consular access to Gershkovich and said the United States was pushing virtually every day.

At the same time, we are continuing to explore ways to bring him home, as well as Paul Whelan, a former US Marine jailed for more than four years, Blinken said.

Tracy last saw Whelan in May. He is imprisoned in Mordovia, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) southeast of Moscow, a region notorious for harsh prisons. 

A Moscow court on June 22 rejected an appeal to free Gershkovich. Tracy attended the hearing and said the United States was extremely disappointed.

The United States has sharply curtailed high-level contact with Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 but has made contact to arrange two prisoner swaps.

In December, Russia freed basketball star Brittney Griner, who was arrested over traces of cannabis, in return for the release of Viktor Bout, imprisoned in the United States over weapons smuggling.

The post US ambassador says jailed journalist in Russia in good health appeared first on Iraqi News.

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) In a staggering scene, thousands of fish floated in the Al-Ezz River in the southeastern Iraqi governorate of Maysan due to water scarcity and the high level of salinity.

Social media activists shared videos of fish deaths with angry comments about the situation in their areas because of water scarcity.

The local authorities in Maysan announced on Saturday that they had monitored the deaths of fish in the Al-Ezz River, warning of serious diseases at the same time.

An Iraqi official told Al-Arabiya News that the reason behind the deaths of fish is the significant shortage of water in the area, adding that agriculture almost disappeared during the summer season due to the same reason.

Iraq has been suffering from a severe water crisis for several years, but it reached its peak in the past two years and reached dangerous levels during the current year as many rivers, tributaries and marshes dried up.

The water levels in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers have declined to less than a meter in some areas, and people can cross rivers on foot in some other areas of Iraq.

According to the United Nations, Iraq has become one of the five countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change because of the continuous rise in temperatures and the increasing water shortages every year.

The post Thousands of dead fish in Maysan shock Iraqis appeared first on Iraqi News.

Amman Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Jordans top diplomat Ayman Safadi met Monday in Damascus and discussed war refugees and a crackdown on cross-border drug smuggling, Ammans foreign ministry said.

Safadis visit comes at a time of increasing regional engagement with the Assad regime, peaking with Damascuss return to the Arab League after years of isolation since Syrias war began in 2011.

The meeting focused on the issue of refugee returns and the necessary measures to facilitate the voluntary return of Syrian refugees from Jordan, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Assad and Safadi also discussed humanitarian, security and political steps towards a comprehensive solution to Syrias crisis, it added.

Syria was suspended from the Arab League in 2011 over Assads brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests which spiralled into a conflict that has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions.

In May, the pan-Arab body readmitted Damascus, despite no political settlement to the conflict in sight.

Arab states hope to find a solution for the millions of Syrian refugees living in neighbouring countries, including 1.3 million in Jordan.

Several Arab countries are also seeking increased security cooperation with Syria, which has turned into a narco-state with a roaring illegal trade in the stimulant drug captagon.

The Jordanian statement said Safadi discussed with Assad the dangers posed by drug smuggling across the Syrian border into the kingdom, and the need for cooperation to confront it.

During his visit, Jordans foreign minister also met with his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad.

The two discussed a joint committee to combat drug smuggling that would meet in Amman as soon as possible, the Jordanian foreign ministry said.

Jordanian security forces have tightened border controls in recent years and occasionally announce thwarted drugs and weapons smuggling attempts from Syria.

The post Jordan foreign minister, Assad discuss Syria refugees, drug smuggling appeared first on Iraqi News.

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fuad Hussein, held talks with the Managing Director of Engineering and Design in the Middle East and Africa at Serco, Phil Malem, to settle disputes and develop the civil aviation sector in Iraq, according to a statement cited by the state news agency (INA).

The spokesperson of the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Al-Sahaf, clarified in the statement that Hussein settled outstanding disagreements between Serco and the concerned Iraqi authorities.

Officials from both sides discussed Sercos upcoming mechanism in Iraq and ways to promote the Iraqi civil aviation sector, according to the statement.

Serco provides airport operations, facility management, and air navigation services that, combined with those of other regions, make Serco the largest non-government operator of civilian air traffic control in the world.

Serco brings decades of safe and efficient air traffic control services and credentials in air traffic safety training not matched by any other non-government entity.

The post Iraq settles disputes with Serco to promote civil aviation appeared first on Iraqi News.

Riyadh Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is the latest star name to make the move to Saudi Arabia after signing a deal to become head coach of Al-Ettifaq.

The 43-year-old has been out of the game since being sacked by Aston Villa in October.

Gerrard had previously said he had turned down an offer to head to the Gulf state, but has now been lured by the riches on offer.

Where legends are found. Were thrilled to announce Steven Gerrard is our new head coach, the club said in a post on Twitter.

Al-Ettifaq finished seventh out of 16 clubs in the Saudi Pro League last season.

Backed by the nations sovereign wealth fund, the Saudi Pro League is luring big names from the major European leagues with the promise of huge salaries.

Cristiano Ronaldos move to Al Nassr in January started the trend.

His former Real Madrid teammate Karim Benzema and French World Cup winner NGolo Kante of Chelsea have recently joined Al-Ittihad.

Former Tottenham manager Nuno Espirito Santo and ex-Benfica Jorge Jesus are among the coaches to head to Saudi.

Since retiring from a glittering playing career, Gerrard did have success during his spell in charge of Scottish giants Rangers, where he won the clubs only league title in the past 12 years in 2020/21.

The post Gerrard joins Saudi influx to take charge of Al-Ettifaq appeared first on Iraqi News.

Dubai The oil-rich United Arab Emirates said it would triple renewable energy production as part of a raft of environmental initiatives announced on Monday, months before it hosts UN climate talks.

The UAE, one of the worlds biggest exporters of emissions-producing crude oil, also unveiled national strategies on hydrogen and electric cars.

Few details were revealed about the new policies, announced five months before the COP28 talks in Dubai where nearly 200 nations will wrestle with how to tackle global warming and its impacts.

Ministers approved an updated national energy strategy that aims to triple the contribution of renewable energy over the next seven years, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubais ruler, said after a cabinet meeting.

Up to 200 billion dirhams ($54 billion) will be invested over the same period to meet growing electricity demand, he said in a statement. 

Another initiative aims to consolidate the countrys position as a producer and exporter of low-emission hydrogen over the next eight years by developing supply chains and infrastructure, and setting up a research and development centre, Sheikh Mohammed said.   

The UAE, a desert nation of about 10 million people, most of them expatriates, will also build a national network of charging stations as part of a national policy for electric vehicles.

Chinese-based WeRide will receive the countrys first national licence for self-driving cars, the statement added.

The UAEs hosting of the November-December COP negotiations has been criticised by climate activists who question whether one of the worlds biggest oil producers should have such a key role in the fight against global warming.

The Gulf monarchy argues that oil remains indispensable to the global economy and is pushing the merits of carbon capture the process of removing carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, as fuel is burned, or from the air.

In 2021, ahead of COP26 in Glasgow, the UAE said it was targeting net zero domestic carbon emissions by 2050 a calculation that does not include pollution from exported oil.

The post COP28 host UAE pledges to triple renewables appeared first on Iraqi News.

London The family of a jailed British-Egyptian activist on Monday held a vigil outside the foreign ministry in London to highlight a call by 100 British lawmakers for fresh approaches to secure his release.

The pro-democracy and rights campaigner Alaa Abdel Fattah is serving a five-year prison sentence for spreading false news by sharing a Facebook post about police brutality.

He was a key figure in the 2011 revolt that topped Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak, and was given British citizenship in 2022 through his British-born mother.

The lawmakers voiced concern about the lack of progress despite Prime Minister Rishi Sunak raising the case directly with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi during the COP27 climate summit in November last year.

Private lobbying of the Egyptian government even at the highest levels is yet to deliver results. This calls for fresh approaches, the lawmakers from the lower and upper house of the UK parliament say in a letter to Foreign Secretary James Cleverly which was submitted on Monday.

French President Emmanuel Macron also took up the 41-year-olds case with Sisi and US President Joe Biden raised human rights issues.

Abdel Fattahs sister, Mona Seif, told AFP the family wanted to see the British government make his case a top priority.

We are asking them to shift gear. They have been using this approach of soft diplomacy and raising Alaas case for over a year-and-a-half now and they havent received anything in return, she said.

Rights groups say there are more than 60,000 prisoners of conscience who have been jailed in Egypt under the rule of President Al-Sisi.

Sisi deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, before being elected the following year.

Hunger strike

At the time of the climate meet in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Abdel Fattah had been on hunger strike for seven months.

On the day the conference opened he had begun refusing water too.

The British lawmakers want the UK to take the lead on a joint statement on Egypt at the UN Human Rights Council and to update the UKs travel advice to align it with the United States.

The US government warns that US citizenship does not provide protection from detention or arrest in Egypt and that those detained may be subject to prolonged interrogations and extended detention.

Abdel Attahs sister Mona added that she believed a joint statement on Egypt at the UN Human Rights Council would almost certainly be effective in persuading the Egyptian government to move on the case.

We know that a lot of countries would be willing to join in on a statement but it needs to be led by the UK government because they have a higher stake, they h...

London Wimbledon will celebrate Roger Federers achievements at the All England Club with a special ceremony on Centre Court on the second day of the championships on Tuesday.

The Swiss eight-time champion, who announced his retirement last September, will visit the scene of some of his greatest triumphs and be honoured before the start of play.

Im pleased to say that Roger will be with us tomorrow and we will have a special celebratory moment on Centre Court before play starts just to honour him as the man holding the most gentlemens singles titles here at Wimbledon, All England Club chief executive Sally Bolton said on Monday.

She added: Well have a moment just to celebrate his achievements and to say thank you for all the memories.

Federer, 41, has mostly stayed away from tennis since bowing out in emotional scenes at the Laver Cup in London but was similarly honoured at the grass-court event in Halle, Germany last month.

Bolton revealed that Serena Williams, 41, who bowed out a few weeks earlier at the US Open, had also been invited to Wimbledon but was unable to travel.

We invited Serena similarly this year but as youll know shes pregnant so understandably couldnt travel, said Bolton. 

We of course wish her lots of luck with the remainder of her pregnancy and we hope maybe we might see her next year.

Novak Djokovic is the hot favourite to equal Federers mens record of eight singles titles at Wimbledon this year and secure his 24th Grand Slam title.

The post Wimbledon to celebrate Federer career on Centre Court appeared first on Iraqi News.

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The Federal Intelligence and Investigations Agency (FIIA) announced on Monday the arrest of six dangerous terrorists in Nineveh governorate in northern Iraq.

The FIIA indicated that the terrorists that have been arrested previously joined different terrorist groups belonging to ISIS and were receiving money for their participation in terrorist operations, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).

Iraq announced in late 2017 the liberation of all its territories from the grip of ISIS, but the authorities are constantly launching security operations to pursue remnants of the terrorist group that carry out attacks from time to time in the country.

The Iraqi security forces wage battles in several Iraqi governorates, including Nineveh, Kirkuk, Diyala, Salah Al-Din, Anbar, and the outskirts of Baghdad, to eliminate the remaining members of the ISIS group, following the elimination of the terrorist group, which occupied large areas in Iraq and Syria for years.

The Iraqi authorities have confirmed more than once that the security forces are trying to eliminate remnants of terrorist organizations in the country and tighten restrictions on firearms.

The post Iraqi security arrests 6 ISIS terrorists appeared first on Iraqi News.

Riyadh Saudi Arabia announced on Monday it was extending a voluntary oil production cut of one million barrels per day, in a bid to prop up slumping prices. 

The cut which first took effect for July will continue in August and can be extended, the official Saudi Press Agency reported, citing an energy ministry source.

The post Saudi extends oil cut of 1 mn barrels per day appeared first on Iraqi News.

Hong Kong Data showing inflation easing further boosted eqiuty markets Monday, fuelled by hopes central banks could be nearing the end of their interest rate hiking cycle.

All three main indexes on Wall Street rallied Friday with Apple ending above the $3 trillion capitalisation mark for the first time on the report, setting up a positive start to the week for Asian investors.

News that the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index the Federal Reserves favoured gauge had dropped sharply provided some relief for traders after a series of forecast-beating indicators suggested the economy remained in rude health.

A strong read on economic growth and a fall in jobless claims had fanned expectations the Fed would have to keep hiking borrowing costs in order to get a grip on prices.

The PCE figure came along with news that eurozone inflation had also eased, thanks to a drop in energy costs.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq chalked up big gains to end a strong first half of the year, even after a series of rate hikes as well as a regional banking crisis.

Among the best performers were tech firms, and Fridays close saw Apple become the first firm to end above $3 trillion market capitalisation.

Markets are already pricing in further rate hikes this month from the Federal Reserve, as well as the ECB, followed by the Bank of England in August, said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

The bigger question is what comes after these. One suspects we may not see many more after these hikes.

The strong performance in New York filtered through to Asia, where tech was also a big winner.

Hong Kong jumped two percent while Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul and Taipei were each up at least one percent. 

There were also healthy advances in Sydney, Singapore, Mumbai, Jakarta, Bangkok and Manila.

Tokyo was also boosted after news that the Bank of Japans closely watched Tankan survey of confidence among the countrys largest manufacturers rose for the first time in seven quarters.

London, Paris and Frankfurt opened on a positive note.

However, analysts warned that the PCE figure was welcomed on trading floors but Fed officials would not likely be swayed by one reading, and the bank is tipped to resume hiking this month after pausing in June.

Whilst the data is seemingly travelling in the right direction (lower inflation), it is too soon for the Fed to ring the bell and claim a job well done, said National Australia Banks Rodrigo Catril.

This week sees the release of US jobs creation as well as a visit to China by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

She is expected to talk about the importance for both sides to responsibly manage our relationship, communicate directly about areas of concern, and work together to address global challenges...

Avdiivka Viktor Grozdov was in a hole. 

Wearing a cap and thick glasses, the Ukrainian pensioner was lying at the bottom of a shell crater, trying to pick himself up and gather the food that had spilled out of his shopping bags.

In the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, battered by shelling since 2014, Grozdov had strayed into the crater while returning from a grocery store in April this year.

An AFP team pulled him out, found his shopping and saw him on his way back home.

This week journalists tracked him down again, with help from local officials, since the town has almost no communications.

I was walking along the avenue and thought Id quickly walk round the hole where the shell fell or a bomb, I dont know, recalled Grozdov, sitting in his flat near the towns former cinema. 

I stumbled as I stepped and fell in. I tried to get out but the earth was loose and slipping under me, I couldnt get out at all.

Despite having no intact buildings, mains water or electricity, Avdiivka still has 1,719 inhabitants, according to Vitaliy Barabash, the head of the towns military administration. 

Around 60 percent are people aged 65 and over, he told AFP.

A suburb of the city of Donetsk built around a huge coke fuel plant, Avdiivka is eerie and very dangerous.

It gets shelled on average 30 times per day, the towns chief said.

In the last four months or so, there hasnt been a day without aerial or rocket strikes.

Grozdov uses a stick to walk outside and keeps to routes he knows well.

Wont go anywhere

Despite his poor vision adding a further obstacle, Grozdov, a wiry 77-year-old, is determined to stay where his wife and son are buried.

Whatever happens, I wont go anywhere now, he said.

My soul is at home, its not trying to leave. Im not anxious, Ive become calm.

In his flat, all the windows have glass blown out and there is a sheet hung across one. 

The wallpaper is peeling around formal family photographs.

There is a radio set on his bed and bottles of sunflower oil and tinned food in the bath.

Volunteers bring Grozdov water and supplies, and he can cook on a camping stove. 

When shelling starts, Grozdov said he hides in the bathroom and sometimes lies flat on the floor.

He appears to pay no attention to the sound of incoming tank rounds outside.

After his mother was killed when he was a baby, he grew up in a childrens home in Donetsk.

He then worked at Avdiivkas coke plant most of his life.

He hinted at a life of great difficulty his late son was a violent drug addict and hit him in the head, causing him to lose vision in one eye.

On the ground fl...

The Hague An international office to investigate Russia over its invasion of Ukraine opens on Monday in The Hague, in the first step towards a possible tribunal for Moscows leadership.

The International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression (ICPA) features prosecutors from Kyiv, the European Union, the United States and the International Criminal Court (ICC).

It will investigate and gather evidence in a move seen as an interim step before the creation of a special tribunal that could bring Kremlin officials to justice for starting the Ukraine war.

Senior officials will hold a press conference at the ICPA at the headquarters of the EUs judicial agency, Eurojust, scheduled to begin at 11:15 am (0915 GMT), Eurojust said in a statement.

They include Ukrainian prosecutor general Andriy Kostin, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, US Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite and EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders, the statement added.

Calls for a special tribunal on Ukraine have mounted because the ICC, a war crimes court which is also based in The Hague, has no mandate to investigate the broader crime of aggression.

The ICC is probing more specific war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine, and issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March over alleged child deportations.

Kyiv has been pushing for a special tribunal since the discovery of hundreds of bodies after Russian troops withdrew from the town of Bucha near the Ukrainian capital in April 2022.

International support has grown steadily, and the European Commission then announced the creation of the ICPA in February. 

Brussels said the centre had the ultimate aim of prosecuting those responsible for the invasion of Ukraine. 

The involvement of the United States has added weight to the push for a special court, despite the fact that Washington still refuses to join the ICC.

During a visit to The Hague in June, US Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special prosecutor for the crime of the aggression, Jessica Kim, as its representative to the ICPA.

But the complex question of how such a court would work remains unresolved.

Ukraine favours obtaining a resolution from the UN General Assembly.

But some of Kyivs Western backers fear it would lack international backing, arguing instead for a hybrid court with Ukrainian and foreign judges.

The post International office probing Ukraine war opens in The Hague appeared first on Iraqi News.

Hong Kong Data showing inflation easing further boosted Asian markets Monday, fuelled by hopes central banks could be nearing the end of their interest rate hiking cycle.

All three main indexes on Wall Street rallied Friday with Apple ending above the $3 trillion capitalisation mark for the first time on the report, setting up a positive start to the week for Asian investors.

News that the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index the Federal Reserves favoured gauge had dropped sharply provided some relief for traders after a series of forecast-beating indicators suggested the economy remained in rude health.

A strong read on economic growth and a fall in jobless claims had fanned expectations the Fed would have to keep hiking borrowing costs in order to get a grip on prices.

The PCE figure came along with news that eurozone inflation had also eased, thanks to a drop in energy costs.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq chalked up big gains to end a strong first half of the year, even after a series of rate hikes as well as a regional banking crisis.

Among the best performers were tech firms, and Fridays close saw Apple become the first firm to end above $3 trillion market capitalisation.

The strong performance filtered through to Asia, where tech was also a big winner.

Hong Kong and Seoul rose more than one percent, while Shanghai, Sydney, Taipei, Manila and Jakarta were also on the front foot.

Tokyo was also sharply higher as the Bank of Japans closely watched Tankan survey of confidence among the countrys largest manufacturers rose for the first time in seven quarters.

However, analysts warned that the PCE figure was welcomed on trading floors but Fed officials would not likely be swayed by one reading, and the bank is tipped to resume hiking this month after pausing in June.

Whilst the data is seemingly travelling in the right direction (lower inflation), it is too soon for the Fed to ring the bell and claim a job well done, said National Australia Banks Rodrigo Catril.

This week sees the release of US jobs creation as well as a visit to China by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

She is expected to talk about the importance for both sides to responsibly manage our relationship, communicate directly about areas of concern, and work together to address global challenges, the Treasury Department said.

The July 6-9 trip comes just weeks after Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Chinas top leader President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing in June.

Key figures around 0230 GMT

Tokyo Nikkei 225: UP 1.6 percent at 33,704.73 (break)

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index: UP 1.1 percent at 19,117.54

Shanghai Composite: UP 0.6 percent at 3,221.98

Euro/dollar: DOWN at...

Beirut Beirut motorists pull up to a drive-through counter not for fast-food, but to exchange empty bottles and cardboard for cash, a novelty in a country long plagued by garbage crises.

Festering landfills often overflow in crisis-hit Lebanon, waste is burnt illegally at informal dump sites and rubbish floats off the coast in the Mediterranean Sea.

State-run recycling has largely fallen by the wayside in a nation that has been grappling with a three-year-long economic collapse.

The government used to be in charge of this sector and now it is bankrupt, said Pierre Baaklini, 32, founder of Lebanon Waste Management.

Around a year ago he started the first Drive Throw recycling station and opened a second in February in Burj Hammoud, a Beirut suburb known for its proximity to a landfill.

With more than 80 percent of Lebanons population living in poverty, the poorest eke out a meagre living picking through dumpsters for anything they can sell for recycling or scrap.

Baaklini said his customers are generally environmentally conscious and among the minority with sufficient income.

People drive up to the station in their cars, register their details and place bags and boxes of loosely sorted recyclables on the counter. Workers accept everything from cardboard to plastic, glass, metal, e-waste, batteries and even used cooking oil.

A sign lists the prices a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cardboard is worth 2,000 Lebanese pounds (around two cents), while aluminium cans are worth 50,000 pounds a kilogram.

Rony Nashef, 38, handed over bulging bags of plastic, in a country where many rely on bottled water for drinking.

Recycling is definitely a much better solution to Lebanons trash problem, he said.

Incompetence and corruption caused a spectacular waste crisis in Lebanon in 2015, when rivers of garbage filled the streets and ran into the sea, leading to protests by thousands and harming the countrys image.

No viable long-term solution has since been found, and the destruction of two sorting plants in a catastrophic August 2020 explosion at Beirut port worsened the problem.

For the community

Behind the scenes at Drive Throw, the recyclables are sorted carefully, while the plastic is later shredded and cleaned.

The two facilities have taken in a total of 450 tonnes of recyclables, founder Baaklini said, adding that the materials are sold to both local and international clients.

What we are doing here is also about education and awareness-raising, he said, as school students sometimes visit the facility to learn about recycling.

Environmental engineer Ziad Abichaker said recycling had always been neglected by authorities.

Only about 10 percent of Lebanons daily waste load of 5,0...

Washington Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is set to visit Beijing this week, the United States said Sunday, marking the second trip by a cabinet official to China since ties between the worlds top two economies deteriorated earlier this year.

Yellen is expected to discuss with her counterparts the importance for both countries to responsibly manage our relationship, communicate directly about areas of concern, and work together to address global challenges, said the Treasury Department in a statement.

Yellens planned July 6-9 trip comes just weeks after Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Chinas top leader President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing in June.

Blinken was the highest-ranking US official to visit the Chinese capital in nearly five years, and Xi said on the rare trip that he saw headway in the strained relationship between Washington and Beijing.

In Beijing, Yellen will discuss how the United States views its economic relationship with China, a senior Treasury official said Sunday.

She will meet with senior Chinese officials and leading US firms, the American spokesperson said without providing specifics.

While the US seeks to secure its national security interests and protect human rights, actions to this effect are not intended to gain economic advantage over China, the official added.

Washington also looks towards healthy ties with Beijing and does not seek to decouple the economies, while pursuing cooperation on urgent challenges like climate change and debt distress, the American official said.

The United States does not expect significant breakthrough from this initial trip, but it does aim to build longer-term channels of communication with China, the Treasury official added.

Restarting engagement

I think the US government is clearly trying to put some floor under the deterioration of the economic relationship, Edward Alden, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) told AFP, speaking on the Treasury secretarys intentions to visit China.

A Yellen trip could restart a steady pattern of engagement at lower levels, he said, adding that the US has shifted from being ambiguous about how far it was supporting decoupling to explicitly adopting a strategy of derisking instead.

This means focusing on a narrower range of items that have strategic importance, trying to build fences around those items, but otherwise trying to continue to nurture a reasonably robust US-China economic relationship, Alden said.

But observers do not expect a quick resolution to tensions.

President Joe Bidens administration is considering a program to restrict certain US outbound investments involving sensitive technology with key national security implicat...

Los Angeles The latest and likely last installment in the popular Indiana Jones franchise lassoed the competition at the North American box office, industry estimates showed Sunday, but analysts noted the weak debut for the fan favorite.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, starring Harrison Ford in the role the archeologist he first made famous more than 40 years ago, earned about $60 million, according to Exhibitor Relations.

With that, Indy booted animated sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse from the top spot, but analysts said it was a weak start for the fifth Indiana Jones movie. 

Audience ratings are good, while critics reviews are lukewarm, said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.

Gross noted the Disney film is believed to have cost a whopping $295 million to make before marketing, but added that it was likely to make up ground overseas, where it opened with $70 million in sales.

Across the Spider-Verse, the second installment in Sonys inventive animated take on the web-slinging superhero, brought in $11.5 million for second place, bringing its domestic total to nearly $340 million.

Pixars animated immigrant fable Elemental, which was bumped from second to third place, raked in $11.3 million. 

Also from Sony, No Hard Feelings a throwback to the once-ubiquitous raunchy comedy genre, starring Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence brought in $7.5 million for fourth place.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, one of the many spin-offs and sequels dominating theaters this summer, brought in $7 million for fifth place.

Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken debuted this weekend in sixth place, bringing in what Gross called a weak $5.2 million.

The animated offering from Universals Dreamworks follows a shy teenager who discovers she is a descendant of the titular mythic sea creatures.

Rounding out the top 10 were: 

The Little Mermaid ($5.15 million)

The Flash ($5 million)

Asteroid City ($3.8 million)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ($1.8 million)

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