World

A US oil blockade is causing a severe energy crisis in Cuba, as the government has been forced to ration fuel and cut electricity for many hours a day, paralysing life in the communist-ruled island nation of 11 million. Bus stops are empty, and families are turning to wood and coal for cooking, living through near-constant power outages amid an economic crisis worsened by the Trump administration’s steps in recent weeks. President Miguel Diaz-Canel has imposed harsh emergency restrictions – from reduced office hours to fuel sales – in the backdrop of looming threats of regime change from the White House. The Caribbean region has been on edge since the US forces abducted Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro last month and upped the pressure to isolate Havana and strangle its e...

The U.S. Treasury Department has announced that it has intensified operations to identify and track financial flows associated with Iran’s assets being transferred abroad. In a statement released on Sunday, February 8, the department said the Iranian government has been transferring part of its financial resources outside the country in an effort to counter the effects of inflation and circumvent economic pressure. The announcement comes as the atmosphere surrounding negotiations between Tehran and Washington has been assessed as positive, with both sides preparing for a new round of talks. On the same day, Abdolrahim Mousavi, Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, stressed that despite Tehran’s “full defensive readiness,” Iran does not intend to initiate a regional war. He w...

The President’s coercive policies, including his latest threats against Greenland, are prompting some foreign investors to think twice about parking their money with Uncle Sam. t’s been a couple of weeks since Donald Trump and his cohort tried to bully the U.S.’s European allies into submission over Greenland, but the reverberations are still being felt. “There was a real sense that we were witnessing a moment of rupture,” Eswar Prasad, an economist at Cornell University and the Brookings Institution, who was attending the annual World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, when Trump flew in, recounted to me. “One thing that was clear to Europeans was that they can no longer trust the U.S. as a reliable ally on military security, economic security, or any other major matter.”...

According to experts, if the US continues to impose tariffs and political differences with Europe remain, America will also have to face drastic results. It will directly affect trade, industry, the economy, and the global supply chain. Donald Trump has imposed a 10% tariff on eight European nations and has threatened to raise it to 25% from June 1 if a deal on Greenland is not finalised. This move by Trump has created a situation of heightened tension between Europe and the United States. The resolve to acquire Greenland has put US President Donald Trump up against NATO member countries after it announced a 10% tariff on goods from eight European countries, effective February 1, in response to their opposition to Trump’s bid to takeover Greenland. The US President has further thre...

The US economy is poised for stronger performance this year than many economists are projecting, according to Goldman Sachs Research. “Our strongest conviction views for 2026 are our above-consensus GDP growth forecast and our below-consensus inflation forecast,” writes David Mericle, chief US economist, in the team’s report. “The outlook for the labor market is more uncertain—we expect it to stabilize but see the possibility of further softening as the key risk for 2026.” What’s the forecast for US economic growth in 2026? US GDP is projected to expand 2.5% in 2026 (fourth quarter, year over year), versus the consensus economist estimate of 2.1%, according to Goldman Sachs Research. On a full-year basis, the economy is forecast to grow 2.8%. The probability of...