Iraq Financial News

Washington | Binance Holdings and CEO Changpeng Zhao have pleaded guilty to criminal charges for anti-money laundering and US sanctions violations, including allowing transactions with Hamas and other terrorist groups, under a sweeping deal with the Justice department designed to keep the company operating.

Edelweiss Mutual Fund MD & CEO Radhika Gupta has once again reiterated her concerns regarding investments in cryptocurrency noting the risks associated with investing in a sector that isn't well-regulated while hoping that the examples of Binance and FTX will be a strong reminder for people. In a post on X, Radhika Gupta wrote, “For years, when asked about crypto, I have had a single answer - what is not well regulated is not investment worthy.

U.S. fighter aircraft struck two Hezbollah operations centers in Iraq in response to attacks on U.S. bases that have escalated alongside Israel's operations against Hamas in Gaza, two defense officials said. They said attacks on U.S.

militants in Iraq and Syria have long battled with U.S. and coalition forces, launching sporadic attacks against bases in the region where troops are deployed to fight Islamic State group insurgents. But since Oct. 17, as civilian deaths in Israel's war against Hamas began to skyrocket, there has been a dramatic spike in attacks by Iran's proxies, operating under the umbrella name of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. While most of the more than five dozen attacks have been largely ineffective, at least 60 U.S. personnel have reported minor injuries. Most often those have been traumatic brain injuries from the explosions, and all troops have returned to duty, according to the Pentagon. In response to the attacks, the U.S. has walked a delicate line. The U.S. military has struck back just three times as the Biden administration balances efforts to deter the militants without triggering a broader Middle East conflict. A look at the attacks and the U.S. response:

India has signed contracts to export about 500,000 metric tons of new season basmati rice to cash in on robust demand from top buyers in Europe and the Middle East, traders said on Wednesday. India annually exports more than 4 million tons of basmati — a premium long-grain variety famed for its aroma — to Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States, among others. Europe is another big market for the rice. After imposing a ban on non-basmati white rice exports in June to stabilize domestic prices, India set a floor price, or minimum export price (MEP), of $1,200 a ton for overseas sales of basmati in August. However, as the floor price hampered exports of the premium variety and saddled farmers with large stocks of new-season rice, the government last month cut the floor price for basmati exports to $950 per ton. Trade came to a standstill after the August decision, but the lowering of the floor price has breathed new life into basmati rice trade, the traders said. «There's been a great deal of interest in India's new basmati rice crop and so far we have signed export contracts for around 500,000 tonnes,» said Prem Garg, president of the Indian Rice Exporters Federation. «Normally we start getting orders for the new crop in September and October but the MEP of $1,200 a metric ton made it difficult for us to sign any deals,» he said. Indian traders have signed basmati export deals between $1,000 and $1,500 a metric ton, two exporters including Garg said. Turkey, Iraq and Saudi Arabia are top buyers of the rice so far this year, aid Vijay Setia, a leading exporter from Haryana, a top basmati rice producing state in the north. «Despite the MEP of $950 a metric ton, it looks like

By Catarina Demony

Oil prices inched up on Tuesday after an OPEC report said market fundamentals remained strong and due to concerns supplies might be disrupted as the U.S. cracks down on Russian oil exports. Brent crude futures rose 33 cents, or 0.4%, to $82.85 a barrel by 0113 GMT. U.S.

Here is an outline of the pipeline dispute: WHAT IS THE LATEST? On a visit to Erbil on Sunday, Iraqi oil minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani said he expects to reach an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and foreign oil companies to resume oil production from the Kurdish region's oilfields within three days, signalling a potential restart soon. Turkey had said last month the pipeline was ready to begin operations, but Iraq maintained it had received no official notification over the pipeline and a senior energy adviser told Reuters Baghdad was waiting to iron out «lingering financial and technical issues» ahead of any restart. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? While Iraq, OPEC's second-largest oil producer, exports about 85% of its crude via ports in the south, the northern route via Turkey still accounts for about 0.5% of global oil supply. WHAT PROMPTED THE SHUTDOWN? Supplies of 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) were halted on March 25 after an International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration ruling. The ICC ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages of about $1.5 billion for unauthorised exports by the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) between 2014 and 2018. KRG exports flow through a KRG pipeline to Fish-Khabur on the northern Iraqi border, where the oil enters Turkey and is pumped to the port of Ceyhan on its Mediterranean coast. Iraq's federal government says state-owned marketer SOMO is the only party authorised to manage crude exports via Ceyhan.

By Paul Carsten

By Phil Stewart and Suleiman Al-Khalidi

Oil prices eased on Monday, reversing their rally on Friday, as renewed concerns over waning demand in the United States and China dented market sentiment. Brent crude futures for January were down 35 cents, or 0.4%, at $81.08 a barrel at 0051 GMT, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures for December were at $76.82, down 35 cents, or 0.5%. Both benchmarks gained nearly 2% last Friday as Iraq voiced support for oil cuts by OPEC+, but lost about 4% for the week, notching their third weekly losses for the first time since May.

By Md Manzer Hussain

Investing.com — This isn’t how the Saudis imagined it would be. There’s also no certainty after this that it’ll play out the way they want it to be.

Lupin on Friday said it has tied up with Amman Pharma to market a biosimilar product in the Middle East region. The company has inked a licensing pact for the commercialisation and marketing of Ranibizumab, a biosimilar of Lucentis, in various countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq and Lebanon.

Iraq may have helped keep America from being dragged deeper into a widening Middle East conflict. The drone, which was launched at the Erbil air base by an Iranian-backed militia before sunrise on Oct. 26, penetrated U.S. air defenses and crashed into the second floor of the barracks housing American troops at about 5 a.m, according to two U.S.

Iran and its proxies from turning the Israel-Hamas fighting into a regional war, but the repeated attacks and strikes in response risk a conflict between Washington and Tehran. "US military forces conducted a self-defense strike on a facility in eastern Syria used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups.

The Queen's Dragoon Guards Regiment as their colonel in chief on Wednesday. Earlier in the year, King Charles appointed Kate with the additional royal titles of commodore-in-chief of the Fleet Air Arm and the royal honorary air commodore of Royal Air Force Coningsby. The regiment, known as The Welsh Cavalry, holds a distinguished place in the British Army's Royal Armoured Corps and stands as the senior regiment of the British Army's lineage. Originating in 1959 from the merger of two dragoon guards units, the regiment boasts a storied history, having played active roles in various conflicts, including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. During her visit, Princess Kate engaged with the regiment's senior officers and had the opportunity to observe service operations. Clad in full camouflage attire, she tested her hand at driving an armored vehicle, drone, and high mobility weapons platform. In addition to her interactions with personnel and their families, Kate commemorated the sacrifice of members lost in active service, just ahead of the Commonwealth's Remembrance Day.

ALSO READ: Who is Shahnawaz, NIA's most-wanted and suspected ISIS terrorist? “After a 24-hour-long search operation, he was nabbed," the release said. Durg police handed over Wajihuddin to the UP ATS and further court-related procedure was being carried out, it said.

Islamic State group attacks killed at least 30 pro-government forces and soldiers in the Syrian desert, a war monitor said Wednesday, in one of the deadliest such assaults this year. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there had been «30 dead, four of them soldiers and 26 from the National Defence Forces, in simultaneous attacks carried out by the Islamic State group on Wednesday morning on checkpoints and military positions» in the Syrian desert. The attacks took place in locations between Raqa, Homs and Deir Ezzor, added the Observatory, which has a vast network of sources on the ground. Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman warned the toll could rise, citing an unspecified number of wounded, some in serious condition. IS proclaimed a «caliphate» in June 2014 across swathes of Syria and Iraq and launched a reign of terror. It was defeated territorially in Syria in 2019 but its remnants continue to carry out deadly hit-and-run attacks and ambushes, particularly from desert hideouts. Syria's war broke out after President Bashar al-Assad's government crushed peaceful pro-democracy protests in 2011.

step back from immediate escalation. Yet amid the bloody struggle in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, a broader and potentially more dangerous rivalry with Iran is growing. Having abandoned the Trump-era approach of “maximum pressure" on Iran, in recent months the Biden administration had sought quietly to reduce tensions.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid an unannounced visit to Iraq on Sunday, as he tours the Middle East attempting to tamp down tensions after war erupted between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas last month.