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Iraq Sizzles as Blackouts Hit

When the mercury soared to 52 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit) this week in Iraq, Ali Karrar placed his baby for a couple of minutes in the fridge.

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Suez Chief Signs Compensation Deal with Megaship Owner

Egypt's Suez Canal Authority chief on Wednesday signed a final compensation deal with the Japanese owners of the megaship MV Ever Given which blocked the critical maritime artery in March.

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Nissan CEO Tells Court Ghosn Had Too Much Power

Nissan Chief Executive Makoto Uchida told a Japanese court on Wednesday that the company's former chairman, Carlos Ghosn, had held too much power, failed to listen to others, and stayed on for too long.

Uchida said Wednesday that those were factors that led to financial misconduct charges for Ghosn. He was testifying as a witness for Nissan Motor Co., which as a corporate entity is standing trial on charges of having falsified securities reports in under-reporting Ghosn's compensation. It does not contest the charges.

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Lebanon Outages Force Asthma Patient to Plug in at Mosque

An asthma patient in Lebanon was forced to plug in his oxygen concentrator at a mosque Wednesday, its imam said, as growing power cuts cripple life in the crisis-wracked country.

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WTI Oil Price Hits 2014 Peak after OPEC+ Talks Fail

New York oil rose to near a seven-year pinnacle on Tuesday after OPEC+ crude producers failed to agree on lifting output, despite demand soaring along with the global economic recovery, sparking fresh inflationary fears.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for August delivery hit $76.98 per barrel, a level last seen in November 2014.

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OPEC+ Postpones Meeting to End Oil Output Impasse, No New Date Set

After failing last week to agree on crude oil output levels, the 23 members of the OPEC+ group of producers called off a meeting planned on Monday to overcome the impasse, a source close to the alliance told AFP. 

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OPEC+ Impasse Deepens Amid Rare Saudi, UAE Spat

Saudi Arabia is engaged in a rare public spat with its Emirati allies over a critical oil output deal, escalating tensions ahead of another meeting of the OPEC+ alliance on Monday.

The United Arab Emirates has bitterly opposed a proposed deal by the alliance of oil producing countries to raise production, causing a stalemate that could derail efforts to curb rising crude prices amid a fragile post-pandemic recovery.

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Al-Braks: Ships to Unload Today, BDL Policy Still Ambiguous

Member of the Syndicate of Station Owners, George al-Braks, confirmed on Monday that "the indications point to an agreement to unload the cargo of (gasoline) ships parked at the Lebanese shores today.”

He assured that gasoline will be distributed, which will lead to an “increase in the number of stations that will operate normally, and a decrease in the queues that we have been seeing in the streets lately."

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Mired in Crises, Lebanon Hopes Summer Arrivals Bring Relief

In a village in Lebanon's scenic Chouf Mountains, 69-year-old Chafik Mershad pulls out a massive rectangular guestbook and reads out despairingly the date when he hosted his last visitor: Nov. 16, 2019.

A month earlier, anti-government protests had exploded across the country over taxes and a deteriorating currency crisis. Amid such uncertainty, few people visited his guesthouse. Then came the coronavirus and subsequent government-imposed lockdowns. The guesthouse officially closed its doors in February 2020. A year and a half later, he still has no plans to reopen amid the country's current financial meltdown.

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Lebanese Hospitals Say Lives at Risk Due to Electricity Crisis

Hospitals in Lebanon are warning that worsening power cuts and fuel shortages are gravely impacting the health sector.

Asharq al-Awsat newspaper has quoted the head of the private hospital syndicate Suleiman Haroun as saying that hospitals had enough fuel stocks to operate generators for just two days, instead of two weeks.

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