(BBC News) The world's largest economy expanded at an annual rate of 3.3% over the three months to December, the Commerce Department said.
That was down from 4.9% in the prior quarter, but much faster than the 2% many analysts had expected.
For 2023, the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5%, up from 1.9% in 2022.
The figures cap a year that has been characterized by unexpected economic resilience, as the U.S. central bank raised borrowing...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has said it will announce on Friday whether it will order emergency measures against Israel after South Africa filed a case accusing Israel of genocide in its assault on Gaza.
The United Nations’ top court said in a statement on Wednesday that the 17-judge panel will announce its response to South Africa’s requests in court on January 26 at 12:00 GMT.
South Africa Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor will...
(BBC News) A federal judge has ruled that Canada's use of emergency powers to end the anti-government Freedom Convoy protests two years ago was "unreasonable" and unjustified.
In a decision on Tuesday, Judge Richard Mosley also said it violated Canada's rights charter.
The federal government said it will appeal the decision.
The Emergencies Act bestows the government with added powers in times of crisis.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked it on February 14, 2022, three weeks into protests that gridlocked...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) Russia’s parliament has begun considering a bill that would give the state the power to seize the property of those convicted of defamation of the security forces.
“The State Duma has introduced amendments to the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes on the confiscation of property for public calls for activities directed against the security of the state, for discrediting the army and a number of other articles,” a statement by the State Duma,...
(BBC News) The US and UK have conducted a fresh series of joint air strikes against eight Houthi targets in Yemen, the Pentagon said.
The strikes targeted an underground storage site and Houthi missile and surveillance capability, it said.
The Iran-backed Houthis have been targeting ships they say are linked to Israel and the West that travel through the important Red Sea trade route.
The US and UK said they are trying to protect the "free flow...
(BBC News) Iran's president said an air strike on the Syrian capital that killed five senior members of Iran's security forces will not go unanswered.
Ebrahim Raisi said Israel was to blame for the attack, which also killed a number of Syrian forces.
Israel has not commented. For years, it has carried out strikes on Iranian-linked targets in Syria.
Such strikes have intensified since the Israel-Gaza war began following Hamas's October 7 attacks on Israel.
In a statement...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) Pakistan and Iran have agreed to “de-escalate” tensions after an exchange of missile and drone attacks this week raised fears of further instability in the region, Islamabad said.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani and the foreign minister of Iran, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, spoke via phone on Friday, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The two foreign ministers agreed that working level cooperation and close coordination on counter terrorism and other aspects...
(BBC News) A Japanese robot has successfully touched down on the Moon, but problems with its solar power system mean the mission may live for just a few hours.
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) put itself gently on the lunar surface near an equatorial crater.
The feat made the Asian nation only the fifth country to soft-land on Earth's natural satellite, after the US, the Soviet Union, China, and India.
Engineers are now battling to...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) The U.S. has been Israel’s top financial and diplomatic backer with military aid in the billions of dollars and frequent vetoes at the UN Security Council to shield the Israeli government from international accountability for its actions in the Palestinian territories.
That support will persist even as Netanyahu explicitly rebuffs U.S. calls for establishing a Palestinian state, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller has suggested.
“Our support for Israel remains ironclad. But...
(Al Jazeera Media Network) Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the air attacks in Pakistan that killed two children this week targeted an “Iranian terrorist group”.
“On Pakistan, none of the nationals of the friendly and brotherly country of Pakistan were targeted by Iranian missiles and drones,” Abdollahian said on Wednesday.
“The so-called Jaish al-Adl group, which is an Iranian terrorist group, was targeted,” he added.
Amir-Abdollahian said the attack on “Pakistan’s soil” was in response to...
