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US sanctions economist Hassan Moukalled for 'facilitating Hezbollah activities'

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Tuesday designated several individuals and associated entities accused of “facilitating financial activities for Hezbollah.”

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Twitter faces lawsuits over unpaid rent for US HQ, UK office

More landlords are taking Twitter to court over unpaid rent at the social media company's headquarters in San Francisco and its British offices — the latest legal headaches for billionaire owner Elon Musk, who has been trying to slash expenses.

Twitter is facing a lawsuit over allegations it failed to pay rent for its head office, according to California court documents. The owner of its premises in central London, meanwhile, said it's taking the company to court over rental debt.

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US futures slip the day after tech-powered Wall Street rally

Wall Street stumbled before the bell on Tuesday following a rally the previous day, driven by heavy buying of tech shares as investors bet the Federal Reserve will trim its rate hikes as it makes headway in tamping down inflation.

Futures for the benchmark S&P 500 and futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average each slipped about 0.3% early Tuesday.

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Crypto firms acted like banks, then collapsed like dominoes

Over the past few years, a number of companies have attempted to act as the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank, promising lucrative returns to customers who deposited their bitcoin or other digital assets.

In a span of less than 12 months, nearly all of the biggest of those companies have failed spectacularly. Last week, Genesis filed Chapter 11, joining Voyager Digital, Celsius and BlockFi on the list of companies that have either filed for bankruptcy protection or gone out of business.

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Wall Street modestly higher ahead of more corporate earnings

Markets were slightly higher on Wall Street ahead of the bell Monday as investors prepare for another big slate of corporate earnings.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrials and futures for the S&P 500 were both up less than 0.2%.

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Senior UK Conservatives under fire over tax, finances

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak opened an investigation Monday into allegations that the chairman of the governing Conservative Party settled a multimillion-dollar unpaid tax bill while he was in charge of the country's Treasury.

It's one of multiple stories about secret loans and unpaid taxes causing discomfort for Sunak, who has faced scrutiny of his own personal wealth and family tax arrangements.

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Why Macron, French unions at odds over pensions

The French government is presenting a bill on Monday that foresees broad changes to the pension system that will notably push back the legal retirement age from 62 to 64.

Unions aren't happy, and more than 1 million people took to the streets last week to reject the measure. More strikes and protest action are planned Jan. 31, and probably beyond.

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Lights out in Pakistan as energy-saving move backfires

Much of Pakistan was left without power for several hours on Monday morning as an energy-saving measure by the government backfired. The outage spread panic and raised questions about the cash-strapped government's handling of the country's economic crisis.

Electricity was turned off across Pakistan during low usage hours overnight to conserve fuel across the country, officials said, leaving technicians unable to boot up the system all at once after daybreak.

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Iraqi PM replaces Central Bank governor over currency drop

Iraq's prime minister on Monday replaced the governor of the country's Central Bank following a weekslong plunge of the Iraqi dinar, the state news agency reported.

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani made the move after the governor, Mustafa Ghaleb Mukheef, told him he no longer wishes to stay in the job, the Iraqi News Agency said. Mukheef, who was in the post since 2020, was replaced by Muhsen al-Allaq, a former central bank governor, the agency added.

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European investigators to quiz Salameh next month

European investigators will question Lebanon's central bank chief Riad Salameh next month as part of a probe into his and his brother's affairs, a judicial official told AFP.

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