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South Korea is looking to reach a trade agreement with the U.S.

In advance of ministerial-level consultations scheduled for next week and the ending of the U.S. tariff pause on August 1, the South Korean Presidential Office announced on Saturday that it would seek to craft a mutually acceptable trade package with the United States. The statement goes on to explain that the package would incorporate cooperation in the shipbuilding area, which is of utmost interest to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, as he discussed it with South Korea's Minister of Industry, Kim Jung-Kwan, on Friday. The meeting on Friday was a follow-up, reiterating the commitment to reaching a trade deal by August 1, which Lutnick and Kim had arrived at the day before, after the joint meeting by the finance ministers and top trade envoys was postponed from Friday. Under an unintended tariff on 25%, South Korea is rushing to seam a trade agreement from Washington, as National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac visited the U.S. last week for high-level talks and th...

UK-India Free Trade and Investment Agreement Signed in Modi's Presence.

The United Kingdom and India have signed a trade agreement aimed at reducing tariffs on goods ranging from textiles to whisky, cars, and spices, and to provide businesses with increased market access. Terming the agreement a "landmark moment" for both countries, Starmer hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for talks at Chequers, the country estate northwest of London, where UK and Indian trade ministers Jonathan Reynolds and Piyush Goyal formally signed the trade agreement. In May, Starmer and Modi announced that they had reached a free trade agreement after three years of stop-start negotiations, with both sides rushing to seal an agreement in the wake of the tariff turmoil unleashed by United States President Donald Trump. The deal now has to be ratified by the UK Parliament. "This is not the extent or the limit of our collaboration with India," Starmer said. "We have unique bonds of history, of family, and of culture, and we want to strengthen our rela...

Uber to Invest $300m in Lucid EVs in Robotaxi Deal.

Under their rob taxi agreement, Uber will invest $300 million into electric-car manufacturer Lucid, with plans to launch rob taxi services late next year in at least one big US city. The new partnership was just announced on Thursday. From 2026 and for over six years, Uber will buy and deploy a fleet of more than 20,000 Lucid Gravity SUVs fitted with AV technology from startup Nuro, according to a statement from the three companies. This renewed agreement puts the revival of plans and fundraising for driverless cabs into perspective. The first wave of autonomous driving investment ultimately yielded only a handful of vehicles, whereas Tesla has launched its rob taxi pilot in Austin, and Waymo, the driverless taxi arm of Alphabet, is now expanding its operations. Under the announced deal, Uber will invest hundreds of millions of dollars into Lucid and Nuro, which provide self-driving technology to car manufacturers, the joint statement said. Of that sum, $300 million will go to Luc...

The first prominent national crypto legislation in the US.

Officially described as the US's first law to address the nation's cryptocurrency matters, it is, therefore, entering a significant moment. A still-cited major statute for that formerly fringe business with those sectors emerged after the long-lingering debates on congressional regulation, and $20 million was dumped into the 2020 polls for selected candidates, including Donald Trump. This law sets up a framework for regulating so-called stable coins, a type of cryptocurrency that has asset backing considered reliable, e.g., the dollar. It would be signed into law by Trump on Friday after getting House approval on Thursday, alongside the Senate's approval last month. Known as the Genius Act, it is one of three Trump-supporting bills on cryptocurrencies moving through Washington. The president once called crypto a scam, but his mood shifted after the sector stood behind him, and he became an active participant himself, having business ties involving firms like World Liberty ...

Israel reportedly rejected a deal that would have secured the release of all prisoners in Gaza.

The spokesperson of Hamas's military wing said Israel refused a ceasefire that would see the release of all captives currently being held in Gaza, and that the group is ready for a long war if there is no deal. Having long held the position of spokesperson for the Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida said in a nearly 20-minute prerecorded statement released on Friday that the group had in recent months offered a "comprehensive deal," releasing all captives at once, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right ministers rejected. "It has become clear to us that the government of the criminal Netanyahu has no real interest in the captives because they are soldiers," he said, while pointing out that Hamas was interested in a deal that guarantees the end of the war, withdrawal of Israeli forces, and entry of humanitarian aid for the Palestinians under siege. If Israel pulls out of this round of indirect talks being held in Qatar, said Abu Obeida, Hamas w...

Discuss the winds of change in the market, as the stock exchange reacts to the Trump administration's tariff threat against the European Union and Mexico.

The major European indices suffered heavy losses on Monday as EU ministers met to discuss their reaction to Trump’s alliance to start levying a 30% tariff against the bloc’s goods from August 1. Germany’s DAX was down almost 0.9 percent by 08:30 GMT, while the CAC 40, IBEX 35, and FTSE MIB were down from 0.7 to 0.8 percent. The STOXX 600 index declined about 0.5 percent. UK’s FTSE 100 would try to hold the rally, up by 0.2 percent. Asia markets remained broadly tentative with Japan’s Nikkei 225 retreating by about 0.3 percent while the Hang Seng dipped by the same amount. Off-hours US futures fell early Monday, with those for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite index plunging by over half a percent. Markets are jittery with the August 1 deadline looming for US trade partners to strike trade deals with the other side. No agreements have been announced by the Trump administration aside from the UK, China, and Vietnam, despite the long negotiations. If Brussels and Washington cannot ...

Linda Yaccarino Announces Resignation From Elon Musk's X.

In a surprising move, the CEO of X, Linda Yaccarino announced her resignation just a few months after the social media platform became the property of the billionaire's AI startup xAI. In a statement on the platform Wednesday, the former NBCUniversal advertising chief said she had "decided to step down as CEO of X" after what she characterized as "two incredible years" at the help of one major transformation. Yaccarino's resignation from the social media company will only add to the turbulence in Musk's sprawling business including plummeting sales at his electric car company, Tesla, and AI-related controversies. Musk is also engaged in a war of words with United States President Donald Trump. She gave no details as to why. X and Yaccarino did not respond to requests for comment. The resignation came a day after Grok, the AI chatbot created by xAI, made posts on the platform mentioning Adolf Hitler. Posts were deleted after the worsening public backlas...

Donald Trump threatens to impose new tariffs on six countries, including Iraq and the Philippines.

US President Donald Trump has issued a new round of tariff letters to the six countries of Algeria, Brunei, Iraq, Libya, Moldova, and the Philippines. The letters were sent out on Wednesday. They propose tariff levels of 30 percent on Algeria and Iraq, 25 percent on Brunei, Libya, and Moldova, and 20 percent on the Philippines—the highest among the trading partners announced this Wednesday. Implementation of the tariffs is slated for August 1. The letters went up on Truth Social a few days after the expiration of the 90-day negotiating period in which the baseline levy had been 10 percent. Trump is letting the countries bargain more before his August 1 deadline but is insisting that no extensions will be made for any countries that receive letters. The US reports a trade inequality with six countries. According to the Census Bureau, last year the US had a trade imbalance in goods of 1.4 billion dollars with Algeria, 5.9 billion with Iraq, 900 million with Libya, 4.9 billion with the P...

Former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has started providing advice as a senior adviser to Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs, with its senior department already crowded with a multitude of policymaking luminaries, now has the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom added as a senior advisor, a move that combines uncertainty regarding geopolitical and regulatory matters. Named on Tuesday was the appointment of Sunak by the investment bank. Sunak, who remains a member of Parliament, representing a seat in northern England under the Conservative Party, was a Goldman analyst in the early 2000s before transitioning to work for several hedge funds. In his former career in financial service and the wealth of his wife, at a time when her father was a co-founder of Indian IT services company Infosys, Sunak became the richest-ever British prime minister, thus rendering him susceptible to criticism that he "cannot understand" most voters in the UK. He has stayed out of the limelight since resigning as leader of the Conservative Party following its worst electoral defeat in over a century in...