Iran Fires Barrage of Missiles at Israel
"Balance of Power: Late Edition" focuses on the intersection of politics and global business. On today's show, Wendy Sherman, Former Deputy Secretary of State discusses the trading of missile strikes between Israel and Iran. She goes into what is to be expected in the coming days, Simone Ledeen, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East discusses Israel's strikes on Iran and how Israel's defense is utilizing drone operations, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, (D) Florida says Israel has a right to defend itself after Iran launched retaliatory strikes at Tel Aviv. (Source: Bloomberg)
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Ukraine warns against drop in aid due to Israel-Iran escalation
Ukraine said on Saturday it hoped the military escalation between Israel and Iran would not lead to a drop in aid to Kyiv, at a time when European support is stalling without US engagement. Israel unleashed large-scale attacks on Iran on Friday, targeting nuclear and military facilities, high-ranking generals and atomic scientists. Iran in return launched barrages of drones and missile at Israel. The escalation sparked international calls for restraint as fears of broader conflict grow. In Kyiv it also sparked anxiety about future supplies of military aid, fearing Washington might relocate more resources to beef up the defence of its close ally Israel. "We would like to see aid to Ukraine not decrease because of this," President Volodymyr Zelensky said. "Last time, this was a factor that slowed down aid to Ukraine." The Ukrainian leader warned that Europe's support was already stalling without Washington's engagement. "Europe has not yet decided for itself what it will do with Ukraine if America is not there," he said. The return to the White House of US President Donald Trump has upended the West's provision of aid to Kyiv. It has left Europe scrambling to work out how it can fill any gap in supplies if Trump decides to pull US military, financial and intelligence support. Zelensky urged the United States to "shift tone" in its dialogue with Russia, saying it was "too warm" and would not help to end the war. Trump has sought rapprochement with Moscow and held three phone calls with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin so far this year. He has stunned NATO allies with the stark change in policy from that of the previous US administration, which aborted almost all contacts with Moscow after Russia invaded Ukraine. The Israeli attacks on Iran also drove oil prices up, which Zelensky said would benefit Russia. "The attacks led to a sharp rise in oil prices. This is bad for us," he added, reiterating a call for the West to introduce price caps on Russian oil exports. The Ukrainian leader said he hoped to raise the issue of price caps at a possible meeting with Trump in the near future. He added, however, that the Israeli strikes might prove favourable for Kyiv if they lead to a drop in Iranian supplies of military equipment to Russia, which has relied heavily on Iranian-made attack drones. - More soldiers return home - Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners on Saturday, the fourth such swap this week, under agreements clinched in Istanbul earlier this month. Kyiv also said it had stopped Russian advances in the northeastern Sumy region. The deals to hand over killed soldiers and exchange captured ones are the only agreements to have come out of two rounds of peace talks in Istanbul. Russia has rejected calls to halt its three-year invasion. It has demanded Ukraine cede even more territory and renounce Western military support if it wants peace. Since Russia invaded in February 2022, the war has forced millions of people to flee their homes as towns and cities across eastern Ukraine have been flattened by heavy bombardments. As part of the Istanbul agreements, Kyiv also said it had received another 1,200 unidentified bodies from Russia. It said Moscow had said they were those of "Ukrainian citizens, including military personnel" Ukraine did not say whether it returned any bodies to Russia. Meanwhile, Russia intensified its offensive along the front line, especially in the northeastern Sumy region, where it seeks to establish a "buffer zone". This zone is designed, ostensibly, to protect the Russian border region of Kursk, previously partly occupied by Ukraine. Zelensky said Russia's advance on Sumy was stopped and that Kyiv's forces had managed to retake one village. He said 53,000 men Russian soldiers were involved in the Sumy operation. bur-asy/gil
Yahoo
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Nuclear threat wasn't the only reason Israel attacked Iran
Why did Israel attack Iran? Certainly, it was worried about the threat of a nuclear weapon being developed. But it's also becoming clearer that there was a second reason - that this is about laying the ground for regime change in Tehran. Follow latest: Because, hours after his country launched its first, surprise attack, the message from Benjamin Netanyahu couldn't be clearer - Iranians, he said, should overthrow their "evil and oppressive regime". He said Israel's attack would "pave the way for you to achieve your freedom". On the one hand, he would say that, wouldn't he? The Iranian government does not recognise the legitimacy of the Israeli state and has called for its destruction, while funding proxy groups that have attacked - including Hamas, Lebanese Hezbollah, and the Houthis in Yemen. But perhaps this time there is more than just wishful thinking. Although it's very hard to gauge the level of opposition in Iran, it seems likely the majority of the population of 90 million are at least disenchanted with the regime. Living standards have fallen and supplies are running short. While tens of billions of dollars have been spent on a nuclear programme, electricity is being rationed and cooking gas is running low. Priority is being given to those who are close to the regime, notably the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a branch of the Iranian army that is fiercely loyal to the ruling regime. The IRGC are crucial in propping up Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's 86-year-old supreme leader. Not only do they offer military power, but also domestic surveillance, intimidation and secret policing in order to stifle dissent. So for any opposition to emerge, let alone flourish, the IRGC would need to be degraded - and that is precisely what Israel has done, targeting its senior leaders as well as regular army, so far, has been left alone. Israel's gamble is that a majority of the rest of the military harbour the same dislike of the IRGC as the wider population. It was no coincidence that Netanyahu quoted the expression "woman, life, freedom", which was a rallying call during the 2022 protests in Iran - eventually suppressed by the IRGC. It is very hard to believe that a coherent, public opposition movement will burst into life any time soon. Iranians are well aware their regime will respond with brutality against any attempted uprising. Instead, dissidents seem to be biding their time and waiting to see if Israel continues its assaults, and whether they can sense genuine signs that the regime is starting to struggle to maintain control. If the cracks emerge, then regime change - or at least an attempt - is possible. Possible, but not certain. "They will do anything to stay in power, and when other uprisings have happened, they've been successfully suppressed," one Middle East diplomat tells me. "And there is no unifying leader ready to step in. Even if there is regime change, it could be a military takeover rather than a popular uprising." Read more: And that leaves one final question - if Khamenei did feel his grip on power was failing, might he still have the time, desire and power to resort to final, desperate military actions? The truth is, we don't know. At the moment, the Middle East is a region full of unanswerable, high-risk questions.
Yahoo
an hour ago
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The Weekend: Iran-Israel conflict sends oil price soaring as markets reel
It's been a week of big international headlines, mostly bad. On Friday the world woke up to news that Israel had launched a co-ordinated assault on Iranian nuclear sites and military facilities, killing two of the country's most senior commanders in the process. The attacks – the first of many to come according to Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu – sparked an immediate retaliation from Iran. Oil prices shot up as traders pondered the possibility of Iran disrupting the flow of crude through the Strait of Hormuz or striking its Gulf neighbours' oilfields as it has done in the past. Unsurprisingly, gold prices benefited too, while stock markets didn't fare so well. A day earlier, a London-bound aeroplane came down barely a minute after take-off in Ahmedabad, India, killing all but one of the 242 passengers on board. The tragedy is a major setback for Boeing (BA), maker of the 787 Dreamliner involved, whose shares had been on a tear this year as its new boss tried to turn things around after a string of safety-related incidents. The plane maker's stock price took an immediate hit, falling almost 5%. Closer to home, finance minister Rachel Reeves delivered her eagerly awaited spending review, promising to put Britain on the path to "national renewal". Healthcare and defence were at the heart of the plan, with the NHS getting a £29 billion annual boost and the defence budget set to rise to 2.6% of GDP from the current 2.3%. There was an ambitious commitment of £39 billion to social housing, a £14.2bn investment pledged to the Sizewell C nuclear plant and a host of transport and infrastructure projects in cities outside London. But the optimistic tone of the announcements was undermined somewhat the very next day when official figures revealed the UK economy had shrunk by 3% in April, far more than the contraction expected by analysts. Reeves admitted it was a blow, as the government banks on spurring economic growth to fund its bold spending plans. Let's take a closer look at these and other stories from an eventful few days. Boeing stock slumps after deadly Air India plane crash It was reportedly the first deadly crash involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner since its launch 14 years ago. Boeing's shares had gained more than 20% this year on the heels of a massive company turnaround following a brutal 2024 sparked by a "door plug" incident on an Alaska Airlines (ALK) flight. Five years prior to that the plane maker had suffered a serious crisis when two fatal crashes exposed critical flaws in the 737 Max 8 jet's software, leading to a 20-month global grounding of the aircraft. UK economy shrinks by 0.3% in April The shock reading for April came a day after chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled a raft of pledges in the government spending review. The biggest contributor to the fall in GDP was a 0.4% drop in services output, while production output slumped 0.6%. The contraction came as an increase in employer national insurance contributions and the national minimum wage, which were announced in the autumn budget, came into place in early April. Professor Joe Nellis, economic adviser to accountancy and advisory firm MHA, said: "This is not an ideal scenario for the chancellor. The sustainability of her spending promises is critically dependent on changing this — kickstarting the economy to grow GDP and collect more revenue through tax receipts. "Without this, the chancellor may be forced into unwanted – and unpopular – tax increases in the autumn budget to keep public finances on track." Oil prices surge as Israel strikes Iran Iran has threatened to hit US assets in the region as part of its retaliation, even as secretary of state Marco Rubio warned against such a move. Rubio claims Israel took "unilateral action" and the US was not involved in Friday morning's strikes. Iran is the third-largest oil producer within the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), trailing only Saudi Arabia and Iraq, with output exceeding 3 million barrels per day. 'We can probably expect a temporary slowdown in oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz,' Ed Hirs, senior fellow at the University of Houston, said in an interview with Yahoo Finance. Tehran has repeatedly threatened to block the strait, a vital chokepoint through which as many as 20 million barrels of oil pass each day. Gold hits nearly two-month high as Israel attack spurs demand Gold prices shot up as the massive escalation of Middle East conflict spurred demand for traditional safe-haven assets. "Gold surged past resistance around $3,400 on news of the airstrikes, and further upside could be in-store should the escalation continue," said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade. The rally has been further underpinned by growing expectations of monetary policy easing in the US. Recent data showing elevated jobless claims and muted producer price inflation have increased speculation that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates, making non-yielding assets such as gold more attractive to investors. The UK's rental boom is over Rental price growth has slowed significantly, according to the latest figures from Zoopla, with the average rents for new lets agreed 2.8% higher in April than the same time a year ago. That's less than half of the average rental growth in April 2024, which stood at 6.4%, and the lowest growth in nearly four years. The slowdown is a result of weaker rental demand and growing affordability pressures, rather than an increase in supply, Zoopla said. The chancellor is determined that Wednesday's spending review won't come with a tax sting in the tail. Unfortunately, that pledge is resting on some very fine margins. If the government achieves the growth it wants and a potential funding gap emerges, taxes are likely to be in the frame. Columnist Sarah Coles, a personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, examined the possibilities: Why Rachel Reeves' spending review may lead to tax rises Recent industry studies put the cost of a "moderate" retirement at £31,700 per year and a "comfortable" retirement at an eye-popping £43,900 per year. But before you throw your hands up in despair, take time to think about what you want or need from your post-career years – is it lots of travelling or something more sedate? You may find that what you need differs massively from these figures: How far will your pension go as retirement costs soar? Find more personal finance gems here UK inflation and interest rates will be the main focus in terms of economic data. Markets will be watching Wednesday's UK inflation reading for any signs of a cool off after April's jump to 3.5%, later revised to 3.4% due to an error in car tax data. The higher-than-expected figure was driven mainly by large increases in household bills. With that in mind, the Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates on hold at 4.25% on Thursday as it tries to keep price increases in check. The US Federal Reserve is due to announce its next interest rate decision next week too. The Fed is expected to keep rates on hold once again at its meeting on Wednesday, maintaining the 4.25%-4.50% range. On the company earnings front, investors will be keeping an eye on the latest results from US-listed consultancy firm Accenture (ACN), given the company narrowed its revenue growth guidance for the year and warned of the impact of federal spending cuts in its previous quarterly update. On the London market, Berkeley (BKG.L) is due to report, with focus expected to be on whether the housebuilder has any updates cash return plans. Premier Inn-owner Whitbread is another FTSE 100 (^FTSE) company due to update on its performance, following a slower start to year for its UK business. The Beach Boys frontman, widely regarded as a genius, left a gaping hole in the rock royalty family this week when he passed away at the age of 82. The troubled songwriter, who formed the band with his brothers, cousin and a friend in 1961, will always be remembered for his ability to craft sublime melodies, his innate gift for soaring harmonies and his relentless drive for studio perfection. The Beach Boys' 1966 Pet Sounds is frequently cited as one of the greatest albums ever made. Here's one of the best songs ever made, from that very album. Farewell Brian! Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
