Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi will visit Washington on Monday to deepen strategic ties with the United States, with oil and gas deals expected to be signed as part of a broader push for economic, trade and investment cooperation.
Iraq has been seeking to balance its ties with neighbouring Iran and the US as military escalation between the two rivals continues.
“The agreements to be signed will include several memorandums of understanding in the oil and gas sector as Iraq prepares to bring in various US companies that will provide momentum to increase oil production capacity,” government spokesperson Haider al-Aboudi said.
Iraq’s state news agency, citing al-Aboudi, said the planned oil and gas agreements would also seek to create alternative export outlets to reduce Iraq’s exposure to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iraq, like other Gulf oil producers, has suffered a drop in oil revenue due to the effective closure of the vital shipping route during the US-Iran war.
Al-Aboudi said strengthening Iraq’s armed forces would also be among the issues discussed in Washington.
Relations between Iraq and the US have at times been strained over the presence of US troops in Iraq, Baghdad’s ties with Iran, and US pressure on Iraq to curb the influence of armed groups.
However, after being nominated for the premiership in April, Ali al-Zaidi received congratulations from US President Donald Trump, who said he hoped for closer cooperation between Baghdad and Washington.
Munich [Germany], July 12 (ANI): The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) has released its weekly brief, highlighting concerns over repression, surveillance, Beijing's growing influence abroad, and China's treatment of Uyghurs.
Vice President Zumretay Arkin appeared on Al Jazeera's Inside Story on July 3, where she said that China's Ethnic Unity and Progress Law would further erode the cultural identities of ethnic minorities by compelling them to embrace a Chinese national identity.
Arkin also expressed concern over Article 63 of the law, arguing that its extraterritorial provisions could enable Beijing to increase transnational repression against overseas activists and diaspora communities.
The debate over China's human rights record continued after Al Jazeera published an article on July 6 examining six genocides the United Nations has been accused of failing to prevent. The report included the persecution of Uyghurs since 2016 alongside atrocities in Rwanda, Srebrenica, Sudan, Gaza and against the Rohingya.
The article questioned whether upcoming UN discussions on genocide prevention would lead to meaningful action after repeated failures to halt mass atrocities.
The same day, Arkin published an opinion piece in the Canadian newspaper La Presse, reflecting on the 2009 Urumqi unrest. She argued that conditions for Uyghurs have worsened over the past 17 years and warned that China's new law, combined with expanding propaganda efforts, poses growing challenges for Uyghurs living abroad.
On July 8, Rushan Abbas, Executive Director of Campaign for Uyghurs, wrote in Fox News that Beijing's policies extend beyond Xinjiang and threaten democratic societies. She argued that the same authoritarian model used against Uyghurs, Tibetans and Southern Mongolians also poses risks to Taiwan and other free societies.
The WUC also welcomed recent international efforts aimed at combating forced labour. It praised Canada's proposed Bill C-35, the United Kingdom's commitment to banning imports produced through forced labour, and new European Union guidelines implementing regulations prohibiting products made with forced labour from entering the EU market. (ANI)
India and Russia must de-dollarize to boost bilateral trade as the countries roll out mechanisms to achieve the targeted US$100 billion in mutual trade by 2030, according to Zlata Antusheva, Moscow’s trade representative to India.
She stated that “Russia is developing a mechanism to expand payments and settlements in local currencies with partner countries such as India. It is extremely important to create an independent system with the use of local currencies. Most of the payments between Russia and India are now made in local currencies.”
Antusheva said that three Russian banks – Sberbank, Gazprom Bank, and VTB Bank – have operations in India. Alfa Bank, the biggest private bank in Russia, is likely to set up shop in the country soon, saying that ultimately “Our main goal is to de-dollarize and to focus on the development of our own currencies, of course, after some time, not only at the bilateral level but also at the regional level, at the BRICS level.”
The BRICS are responsible for about 24% of all global trade, while Russia and China have essentially eliminated the use of Western currencies in their bilateral trade.
Moscow is seeking to create a more useful mechanism to make life easier for businesses, Antusheva said, citing Sberbank, where businesses can now make a financial transaction in only 10 minutes. She also stressed the need for sovereign infrastructure to ensure technology independence, aligning with India’s self-reliance policy.
She added that an India-Russia AI Cybersecurity Center of Excellence is also in progress, stating that “it can connect the AI ecosystem between the two countries and then take it to the other BRICS nations.”
Summary
By Felicity Bradstock - Jul 11, 2026, 10:00 AM CDT
With Europe facing more frequent and hotter heatwaves, the uptake of air conditioning systems has soared across the region in recent years. This trend is driving energy demand and making it more difficult for countries to reduce reliance on fossil fuels in favour of renewable alternatives. Several countries across Europe have made ambitious green transition pledges, which is why many governments, companies, and researchers are exploring alternative, less carbon-intensive methods for cooling.
Researchers have been investigating alternative cooling methods for years to reduce dependence on energy-hungry air conditioners. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) highlighted this need in its publication, the Global Cooling Watch Report 2023: Keeping it chill. In the report, the UNEP forecast that the global installed capacity of cooling equipment would triple by 2050, more than doubling electricity consumption.
Air conditioners and refrigerators have both indirect emissions from electricity consumption and direct emissions from the release of refrigerant gases, most of which are much more potent at warming the planet than carbon dioxide. To encourage a shift away from air conditioners, the UNEP launched its Nature for Cool Cities Challenge in 2023 as part of the Cool Coalition, a global network of over 80 partners aiming to drive the transition to efficient, climate-friendly cooling.
Urban planning can significantly affect the impact higher temperatures can have on a town or city. One of the obvious ways to make new buildings cooler is to design and build them using innovative designs, techniques, and materials. For example, a building can incorporate bricks and other materials designed to absorb heat during the day and radiate it at night. Painting roofs white can also help reflect sunlight and keep buildings cooler.
In Cambodia, the UNEP is working with partners to test passive cooling measures, such as insulation, shading, and targeted roof design, to assess their impact on heating and cooling in construction and to shape national building regulations and urban planning standards. Meanwhile, in South Korea, Seoul’s government dismantled a 10-lane road and a raised four-lane motorway to revitalise the Cheonggyecheon Stream, thereby reducing the heat island effect the city endures, with temperatures along the stream registering between 3.3°C and 5.9°C lower than on a nearby parallel road.
In Paris, the government has established “cooling islands”, where water, vegetation, and shading structures help provide spaces that are several degrees cooler than surrounding areas. These areas include parks, pools, and some buildings. In Paris, the number of cooling islands increased from 800 in 2019 to over 1,400 in 2026. In Marseille, the government has announced plans to plant more trees across the city, which will provide shade and improve cooling through a natural process known as evapotranspiration, in which trees absorb water and emit it through their leaves while moisture from the soil evaporates.
In the Netherlands, some cities, such as Rotterdam, are installing green roofs to reduce temperatures in their buildings, while Utrecht is greening its bus stop rooftops. Meanwhile, in the Spanish city of Barcelona, the government is using an artificial intelligence ventilation control system to monitor air quality and temperature to help reduce temperatures.
In addition to shifting urban planning decisions to prepare for hotter temperatures, governments and private companies are increasingly using technology to improve cooling methods. District cooling is a method used in several cities to distribute chilled water to multiple buildings via an underground network. The method uses less energy than individual air-conditioning systems and can be powered by local sources, such as seawater or river water.
The European Commission’s Energy Efficiency Directive requires cities with over 45,000 inhabitants to establish local heating and cooling plans to tackle rising temperatures. Euroheat & Power’s 2025 District Heating and Cooling Market Outlook showed that demand for district cooling (DC) is rising, with DC infrastructure in Europe expanding by over 3 per cent in 2023.
Paris is home to one of the world’s largest DC networks. The 120-km system was developed in the 1990s and consists of underground pipes that transport chilled water to museums, offices, hospitals, schools, and other public buildings. The system distributes cold water from the Seine River to buildings through one pipe and transports warm water back via a second pipe.
Heat pumps, which have become increasingly popular in the European market in recent years, are another source of cooling. Air-to-air heat pumps, rather than air-to-water pumps, consist of an outdoor unit connected to one or more indoor fans. They warm the air inside a building and can also transfer warm air from inside to outside. These types of systems are becoming increasingly affordable as demand increases.
Air conditioning systems still dominate the cooling market due to the lack of availability or higher cost of alternative systems. However, the market is expected to expand significantly in the coming decades as consumers seek energy-efficient cooling alternatives. Meanwhile, governments can help to tackle higher temperatures by improving urban planning, updating building standards, and, where possible, installing district cooling systems.
By the end of 1973, Richard Nixon was already beset by Watergate. The nation was shaken and calling for him to resign. That November, he sat down in front of cameras and addressed the country from the White House, not about the scandal primarily, but about something just as pressing: the fuel crisis. The Middle East was embroiled in a conflict between Egypt, Syria, and Israel, called the Yom Kippur War. In October, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) decided to stop shipping oil to nations that supported Israel, causing severe shortages in the U.S. Gas prices soared, and inflation ran out of control. Drivers would sit in lines at gas stations for hours, just to find the station had run out. It got to the point where many gas stations had to start rationing. According to the CEO of Chevron, that kind of fuel crisis might be on the horizon for us, but luckily, there's a lot we can learn from the past.
Americans got through the '70s oil crisis by driving less, owning smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, using less electricity, and throwing on sweaters while turning down the heat that winter. They endured — even though the shortage was caused by public policies and wars that were out of their control. It wasn't fair, but it was necessary, just as some sacrifice may be needed from us today. That said, permanent solutions, such as developing other energy sources, have to come from the government and big business.
https://www.jalopnik.com/2212267/what-1970s-oil-crisis-teaches-us-about-fuel-shortages/
HAVANA: Cuba worked to revive its electrical grid Saturday after a second nationwide blackout in less than a week, with repairs hampered by a fuel shortage caused by a US blockade, authorities said.
The Caribbean island is reeling from its worst economic crisis in decades — one made worse by the fuel blockade imposed by US President Donald Trump in January as part of a pressure campaign aimed at ending six decades of communist rule.
About 12 percent of households in Havana, a city of 1.7 million, had power as of Saturday night, up from seven percent at midday, according to the state UNE electricity utility.
“Restoration is proceeding gradually, as conditions allow,” it said on X.
It was the fourth nationwide blackout in less than six months and the ninth since late 2024 for the island nation which has a population of 9.6 million.
The grid failed Friday afternoon, two days after authorities reconnected the system following a nationwide outage on Monday.
Cuban residents vented their frustration at the power situation.
“What can I do? I can’t do anything, just adapt to continue living in this country unfortunately, that’s it, I can’t do anything else,” Eneyda Gomez, a 71-year-old retiree, told AFP.
“We’re already living under an almost unbearable amount of stress .....the population can’t take any more,” said Pedro Martinez, 63, who added he sees no “solutions in the medium or short term.”
President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a social media post on Saturday the situation was “very complex due to the genocidal oil blockade” imposed by Washington.
Washington authorized in January the arrival of only one Russian tanker — carrying 100,000 tons of crude — which came in March. Those reserves have since been exhausted.
Cuba’s electrical grid suffers from frequent total or partial blackouts due to aging infrastructure and fuel shortages.
The utility company said the fuel shortage also complicates restoration work, as it prevents the use of backup generators powered by imported diesel.
Iraq's prime minister will visit Washington on Monday to deepen strategic ties with the United States, with oil and gas deals expected to be signed as part of a broader push for economic, trade and investment cooperation.
Iraq has been seeking to balance its ties with neighboring Iran and the US as military escalation between the two rivals continues.
"The agreements to be signed will include several memorandums of understanding in the oil and gas sector as Iraq prepares to bring in various US companies that will provide momentum to increase oil production capacity," government spokesperson Haider al-Aboudi said.
Alternative export outlets to reduce Iraq's exposure to disruptions
Iraq's state news agency, citing al-Aboudi, said the planned oil and gas agreements would also seek to create alternative export outlets to reduce Iraq's exposure to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iraq, like other Gulf oil producers, has suffered a drop in oil revenue due to the effective closure of the vital shipping route during the US-Iran war.
A drone view shows oil tankers loading crude oil at the Basra Oil Terminal in Iraqi territorial waters, off the coast of Basra, Iraq, August 5, 2025. REUTERS/Mohammed Aty (credit: REUTERS/Mohammed Aty)
Al-Aboudi said strengthening Iraq's armed forces would also be among the issues discussed in Washington.
Relations between Iraq and the US have at times been strained over the presence of US troops in Iraq, Baghdad's ties with Iran, and US pressure on Iraq to curb the influence of Iran-backed armed groups.
POSCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE:PKX) is one of the stocks set to explode in the next 2 years. On June 11, Anson Resources Limited signed a definitive Demonstration Plant Agreement with POSCO Holdings to build and operate a Direct Lithium Extraction/DLE facility at the Green River Lithium Project in the Paradox Basin, Utah, USA. POSCO will lead the project at its own expense, taking full responsibility for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the facility to validate its proprietary DLE technology on a continuous industrial scale.
As part of the collaboration, POSCO will extract lithium from brines supplied by Anson, utilizing the site's existing infrastructure. In connection with this partnership, POSCO will pay Anson a facilitation fee of approximately $5.2 million. The company plans to begin operating the demonstration plant in 2027, with the project expected to conclude in 2028.
POSCO (PKX), Anson Resources Partner for DLE Demonstration Plant in Utah
Photo by the blowup on Unsplash
This initiative highlights POSCO Holdings Inc.'s (NYSE:PKX) active role in advancing lithium extraction technology within the US market. While the demonstration plant is non-commercial, the agreement establishes a framework for both parties to discuss further commercial collaboration and potential joint investment opportunities in the Green River project as they work to de-risk the technical process.
POSCO Holdings Inc. (NYSE:PKX) is a South Korean steelmaking and industrial company. It produces and sells steel products such as hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and stainless steel, which are used in automotive, construction, shipbuilding, and machinery industries. The company also operates in energy, chemicals, and materials businesses, including lithium and nickel for batteries.
While we acknowledge the potential of PKX as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/posco-pkx-anson-resources-partner-075934937.html
By Neils Christensen
Published:
Jul 07, 2026 - 9:40 PM
(Kitco News) - As many analysts expected, central banks used gold’s further selloff last month to tactically increase their official gold reserves, with the People’s Bank of China continuing to dominate the market.
According to updated reserve data, China’s central bank bought 15 tonnes of gold last month, its largest purchase so far this year. The purchase also marks the 20th consecutive month the PBOC has increased its official gold reserves.
In a social media post, Krishan Gopaul, Senior Analyst for EMEA at the World Gold Council, noted that China’s official reserves have increased by just over 40 tonnes so far this year, bringing total holdings to 2,346 tonnes.
China’s increased activity came as the gold market experienced a significant technical breakdown, with prices falling below their 200-day moving average at around $4,500 an ounce. The selling momentum eventually pushed gold prices below $4,000 an ounce.
Although gold continues to struggle to attract consistent bullish momentum, analysts said the market appears to be building a solid floor around $4,000 an ounce. They added that persistent central bank demand is providing critical support for the precious metal.
“Central banks certainly will be buying and probably buying more now that price has eased,” said Nitesh Shah, Head of Commodities and Macroeconomic Research at WisdomTree, in a recent interview with Kitco News.
While China is seen as the dominant player in the gold market, its central bank is not the most active buyer.
In a separate social media post, Gopaul noted that the Central Bank of Uzbekistan added another 9 tonnes to its official reserves in June.
“This lifts its YTD net purchases to 41 tonnes - making it the second largest buyer based on available data,” he said.
The National Bank of Poland has not yet published its updated reserve data. However, the central bank continues to lead all official buyers. As of May, it had increased its official gold reserves by 64 tonnes.
Central bank gold demand has been volatile in recent months as some nations have been forced to monetize their gold reserves to support their currencies and navigate the global energy crisis created by the war in Iran.
However, analysts said that, with the worst of the crisis over, they expect official-sector demand to strengthen during the second half of the year.
In a recent interview with Kitco News, Jerry Prior, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Portfolio Manager at the KraneShares Mount Lucas Managed Futures Index Strategy ETF (NYSE: KMLM), said the reasons central banks are increasing their gold reserves haven't changed.
"There's a long-term de-dollarization theme that is structural, and I think it'll be persistent,” he said. “If countries are producing more oil and income starts flowing again... we don't see that capital going into the Treasury market. We see it going back into the gold market."
Ecopro (086520) Group said on the 12th that it is estimated to secure enough nickel for electric vehicles to produce a total of 1.5 million cars through its investment in an Indonesian nickel smelter. This is equivalent to the entire domestic auto sales volume in Korea, including both electric vehicles and internal combustion engine cars combined.
According to Ecopro Group, Ecopro BM held an investor relations (IR) briefing for domestic and overseas institutional investors from the 3rd to the 10th of this month. Through the briefing, Ecopro BM explained the outline and background of the rights offering currently underway, along with the purpose of the fundraising and specific plans for its use.
Specifically, amid the Indonesian government's restrictions on licensing new nickel smelters, the company plans to acquire a stake in the BNSI smelter through preemptive investment via the rights offering, thereby maximizing its ability to respond to extraterritorial regulations.
The nickel produced at the BNSI smelter is classified as "Non-PFE" (Non-Prohibited Foreign Entity) raw material that meets the Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) guideline standards. In other words, it can qualify for electric vehicle tax credits while avoiding the Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) regulations under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Ecopro Group is expanding its nickel supply chain with its second-phase investment in the BNSI smelter, following its first-phase investment in the IMIP industrial complex in Indonesia.
Over the past four years, Ecopro Group invested about 800 billion won in the first phase to secure 29,000 tons of nickel annually. It then invested 1.5 trillion won in the second phase to secure an additional 36,000 tons annually, giving it supply rights to a total of 65,000 tons of nickel. This is enough volume to produce approximately 1.5 million electric vehicles.
Meanwhile, Ecopro BM will hold a shareholders' meeting for general shareholders on the 16th of this month. At the meeting, Ecopro BM plans to explain the background of the rights offering and provide details on the purpose and use of the fundraising, including the localization of the Indonesian nickel supply chain.
Marula Mining Advances Ops with Manganese Sales This Month, Copper Graphite Ramp-Up
Marula Mining CEO Jason Brewer joins StockBox for a comprehensive operational update, discussing the company’s ongoing audit process, funding strategy, and the progress being made across its portfolio of manganese, copper, graphite, lithium and tungsten projects.
Jason explains why he has stepped back from several other mining ventures to focus entirely on Marula Mining and outlines his confidence in the company’s ability to deliver production, sales and revenue generation across multiple operations during the second half of 2026.
https://www.share-talk.com/marula-mining-advances-ops-with-manganese-sales-this-month/
