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WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump said he discussed opening up North Sea oil during a conversation with ​British Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Friday, as well as ‌touching on the conflicts in Iran and Ukraine "very lightly." "They're opening up the North Sea oil," Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for a campaign trip to ​Florida ahead of the November 3 midterm US elections. "I've been after ​them to do that for two years... Andy is getting ⁠it done." On Wednesday, Trump praised Britain's approval of the Jackdaw North Sea gas field,  a decision that ended years of legal and political wrangling, though ​British officials said a decision about the bigger Rosebank oilfield was yet to be made. Burnham's office said in a statement that the two leaders agreed the Jackdaw approval would ​bring "significant benefits" to Britain. They also welcomed continued cooperation between Brit...

Oct 23 (Reuters) - The United States is expected to remove 50% tariffs on some Canadian agricultural and forestry products in ​a bid to help Maine Senator Susan Collins and other Republicans ‌from northern US states in the upcoming midterm elections, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar. The reductions could be balanced out by raising levies on ​other Canadian goods, the report said, adding that a proclamation altering ​the tariffs could come as early as Friday. A White House ⁠official told the Journal that any tariff announcements would come directly from ​the administration and that any preliminary reporting is speculation. The White House didn't immediately ​respond to a Reuters request for comment. Senator Collins, in a statement issued shortly after the WSJ report, said that nine categories of products, including blueberry, potato, apple, and ​seaweed producers, will be exempted from U.S. tariffs on Canada. The Commerce Dep...

Tehran, Iran – When the latest iPhone 18 lineup was released by Apple in the United States on September 18, it only took a couple of days for the new models to go on sale in downtown Tehran. That is despite Apple not having a physical presence in Iran due to years of international sanctions, and the ongoing months-long US naval blockade  of Iran’s southern ports, through which the bulk of the country’s imports previously entered. " These things can’t stop a mobile phone seller,” a phone and accessories trader in Tehran’s Charsou Mall, a major electronics hub, told Al Jazeera, asking to remain anonymous for security reasons. But he explained that the process of bringing in phones has become much more complicated, time-consuming and costly, due to both external pressures and domestic conditions imposed by the Iranian government. Many  electronics manufactured internationally are imported into Iran via Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, but the nearly eight-month-lon...

LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Russian diesel cargoes are returning to their ​traditional destinations after the US suspended sanctions and secured the lifting of an export ban, with at least two tankers ‌signalling trips to Turkey and Brazil in recent days, according to shipping data from Kpler and LSEG. Russia lifted its self-imposed ban on October 9 on diesel exports, introduced to tackle domestic shortages triggered by Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries, after striking a deal  with US President Donald Trump to supply diesel to global markets. The deal ​included a temporary lifting of US sanctions on Russian fuel supply, though EU and UK embargoes on Russian fuel imports remain ​in force. Trump has set his sights on trying to calm diesel prices ahead of the midterm elections  on ⁠November 3. Diesel is a key fuel used in industry, agriculture and transportation. Usually the world's second-largest exporter of diesel after the United States, ​Russia had already redu...

WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he hoped for a positive outcome from US envoy Steve Witkoff meeting in Russi  on Wednesday and that he supports talks between the ‌leaders of Kyiv, Washington and Moscow. Zelenskiy said in an interview with Fox News that his talks with Witkoff in Oslo a day earlier were productive and that Ukraine ​was ready for diplomacy. He thanked the US for restoring intelligence ​sharing and said he hoped the limitations on Starlink and ⁠Starshield satellite services would end soon. "I hope that ... in -- I don't know, some ​hours -- we will have some result, God bless, positive," he said of Witkoff's meeting ​with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Zelenskiy said it was important to have a freeze in the fighting and move to diplomacy and toward an agreement that includes security guarantees, praising Trump's ​call for ceasefires. "It's important to negotiate trilateral...

HAVANA, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez accused the United States on Wednesday of threatening member states of the United ​Nations with sanctions should they side with Cuba in next week's annual ‌UN vote on a resolution calling for an end to a US embargo on the island. "The US State Department is exerting unprecedented pressure — at times in a personal and brazen manner by ​the secretary of state himself — to get UN member states to change their ​votes," Rodriguez said. Tensions between the two nations are soaring ahead of ⁠the vote on the non-binding resolution, which has passed in favor of Cuba in ​the UN General Assembly by wide margins every year since 1992. Rodriguez told reporters at ​a press conference in Havana that US officials had threatened to deny visas and impose trade and economic sanctions on UN members that side with Cuba at the United Nations. “These methods of pressure ​include the threat of imposing punitive tariffs...

New Delhi, India — United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has arrived in India for a two-day visit, during which he is set to tour the Jamnagar refinery complex in Gujarat, owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, a major player in global oil markets. Reliance’s crude refinery in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state is the world’s largest single-site refinery. In many ways, Reliance Industries’ businesses sit at the crossroads of the ongoing global energy crisis. The conglomerate is central to Washington’s efforts to punish Russian energy buyers, while also trying to contain oil prices amid the war on Iran, on top of rising diesel costs in the US, where a crucial midterm election looms. Reliance has also only recently committed to a major investment in the US, which President Donald Trump’s administration has cited as an example of its successes in luring global capital. Rubio is skipping the capital, New Delhi, at a time when the US-India bilat...

BANIYAS, Syria Oct 20 (Reuters) - US bank J.P. Morgan ‌helped Syria to issue its first letter of credit in more than a decade, a senior Syrian energy official told Reuters, allowing the country to execute a commercial agreement ​this month for fuel products from Saudi Aramco The move marks a ​step towards restoring Syria's access to international banking channels after the ⁠ousting of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad nearly two years ago. Syria's new ​leadership has prioritised the rebuilding of the country's political and financial ties after ​years of isolation. The US lifted sweeping sanctions on the country last year and removed Syria's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism last August. The Central Bank of Syria said ​in a statement on October 11 that it had issued its first letter ​of credit in 14 years through a major US financial institution to back a deal ‌with ⁠Aramco, but did not name the bank. Mohammad Qawja, executive director of fin...

Al-Nassr have entered a new phase of investment activity. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund has opened talks with a consortium led by American firm "RedBird Capital", owners of AC Milan, over a 70% stake in "Al-Alami".  The potential deal could be worth around one billion Saudi riyals, according to the Saudi newspaper " Arriyadiyah ".  The targeted stake is valued at roughly 267 million dollars. Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, captain of the first team, could keep a stake of up to 20%, making him a potential co-owner alongside the investment consortium. The negotiations remain in their early stages, though, and the final terms are yet to be settled. RedBird Capital have held at least two meetings with the Public Investment Fund to discuss the acquisition, the report says. But a source close to the fund described the American company's interest as still early, warning that the talks may not end in an agreement. Multiple...