logo
Monday, April 28, 2025

Monday, April 28, 2025

National News26-04-2025

Time. Topic
10:00 Minister of Labor, Mohammad Haidar, chairs a meeting at his office in the Ministry to continue discussions about the Wage Index Committee on ways to improve salaries and wages for workers in the private sector
10:30. A session of the Committee on Public Health, Labor, and Social Affairs, chaired by MP Bilal Abdullah, will be held at the office building, 5th floor, Room 515
12:00.
Members of the French Senate — Étienne Blanc, Loïc Hervé, and Gisèle Jourda — will hold a meeting with the Lebanese Parliamentary Friendship Committee with the French Senate, chaired by MP Michel Moussa, and the Lebanese Parliamentary Friendship Committee with the French National Assembly, chaired by MP Simon Abi Ramia.
The meeting will be attended by the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Committee, MP Fadi Alameh, and will take place at the Human Rights Committee Hall, within the Office Building of Members of Parliament, 2nd Floor, Room 201
==============

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Israel says delayed Iran's presumed nuclear program by two years
Israel says delayed Iran's presumed nuclear program by two years

Nahar Net

time4 hours ago

  • Nahar Net

Israel says delayed Iran's presumed nuclear program by two years

by Naharnet Newsdesk 21 June 2025, 12:47 Israel claimed on Saturday it has already set back Iran's presumed nuclear program by at least two years, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Tehran has a "maximum" of two weeks to avoid possible American air strikes. Trump has been mulling whether to involve the United States in Israel's bombing campaign, indicating in his latest comments that he could take a decision before the two week deadline he set this week. Israel said Saturday its air force had launched fresh air strikes against missile storage and launch sites in central Iran, as it kept up a wave of attacks it says are aimed at preventing its rival from developing nuclear weapons -- an ambition Tehran has denied. "According to the assessment we hear, we already delayed for at least two or three years the possibility for them to have a nuclear bomb," Israel's foreign minister Gideon Saar said in an interview published Saturday. Saar said Israel's week-long onslaught would continue. "We will do everything that we can do there in order to remove this threat," he told German newspaper Bild. Top diplomats from Britain, France and Germany met their Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday and urged him to resume talks with the United States that had been derailed by Israel's attacks. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said "we invited the Iranian minister to consider negotiations with all sides, including the United States, without awaiting the cessation of strikes, which we also hope for." But Araghchi told NBC News after the meeting that "we're not prepared to negotiate with them (the United States) anymore, as long as the aggression continues." Trump was dismissive of European diplomacy efforts, telling reporters, "Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this." Trump also said he's unlikely to ask Israel to stop its attacks to get Iran back to the table. "If somebody's winning, it's a little bit harder to do," he said. Any U.S. involvement would likely feature powerful bunker-busting bombs that no other country possesses to destroy an underground uranium enrichment facility in Fordo. On the streets of Tehran, many shops were closed and normally busting markets largely abandoned on Friday. - 450 missiles - A U.S.-based NGO, the Human Rights Activists News Agency, said on Friday based on its sources and media reports that at least 657 people have been killed in Iran, including 263 civilians. Iran has not updated its tolls since Sunday, when it said that Israeli strikes had killed at least 224 people, including military commanders, nuclear scientists and civilians. Since Israel launched its offensive on June 13, targeting nuclear and military sites but also hitting residential areas, Iran has responded with barrages which Israeli authorities say have killed at least 25 people. A hospital in the Israeli port of Haifa reported 19 wounded, including one person in a serious condition, after the latest Iranian salvo. Israel's National Public Diplomacy Directorate said more than 450 missiles have been fired at the country so far, along with about 400 drones. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they had targeted military sites and air force bases. - 'Madness' - Western powers have repeatedly expressed concerns about the rapid expansion of Iran's nuclear program, questioning in particular the country's accelerated uranium enrichment. The International Atomic Energy Agency said that Iran is the only country without nuclear weapons to enrich uranium to 60 percent. However, it added that there was no evidence it had all the components to make a functioning nuclear warhead. The agency's chief Rafael Grossi told CNN it was "pure speculation" to say how long it would take Iran to develop weapons. Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the conflict was at a "perilous moment" and it was "hugely important that we don't see regional escalation". Araghchi arrived in Istanbul on Saturday according to the Tasnim news agency, for a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss the Iran-Israel conflict. Switzerland announced it was temporarily closing its embassy in Tehran, adding that it would continue to fulfil its role representing US interests in Iran.

Tariff threats, wars will slow but not collapse global luxury sales in 2025
Tariff threats, wars will slow but not collapse global luxury sales in 2025

Nahar Net

timea day ago

  • Nahar Net

Tariff threats, wars will slow but not collapse global luxury sales in 2025

by Naharnet Newsdesk 20 June 2025, 15:14 Global sales of personal luxury goods are "slowing down but not collapsing," according to a Bain & Co. consultancy study released Thursday. Personal luxury goods sales that eroded to 364 billion euros ($419 billion) in 2024 are projected to slide by another 2% to 5% this year, the study said, citing threats of U.S. tariffs and geopolitical tensions triggering economic slowdowns. "Still, to be positive in a difficult moment — with three wars, economies slowing down, inequality at a maximum ever — it's not a market in collapse,'' said Bain partner and co-author of the study Claudia D'Arpizio. "It is slowing down but not collapsing." Alongside external headwinds, luxury brands have alienated consumers with an ongoing creativity crisis and sharp price increases, Bain said. Buyers have also been turned off by recent investigations in Italy that revealed that sweatshop conditions in subcontractors making luxury handbags. Sales are slipping sharply in powerhouse markets the United States and China, the study showed. In the U.S., market volatility due to tariffs has discouraged consumer confidence. China has recorded six quarters of contraction on low consumer confidence. The Middle East, Latin America and Southeast Asia are recording growth. Europe is mostly flat, the study showed. This has created a sharp divergence between brands that continue with strong creative and earnings growth, such as the Prada Group, which posted a 13% first-quarter jump in revenue to 1.34 billion euros, and brands like Gucci, where revenue was down 24% to 1.6 billion euros in the same period. Gucci owner Kering last week hired Italian automotive executive Luca De Meo, the former CEO of Renault, to mount a turnaround. The decision comes as three of its brands — Gucci, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta — are launching new creative directors. Kering's stock surged 12% on news of the appointment. D'Arpizio underlined his track record, returning French carmaker Renault to profitability and previous roles as marketing director at Volkswagen and Fiat. "All of these factors resonate well together in a market like luxury when you are in a phase where growth is still the name of the game, but you also need to make the company more nimble in terms of costs, and turn around some of the brands,'' she said. Brands are also making changes to minimize the impact of possible U.S. tariffs. These include shipping directly from production sites and not warehouses and reducing stock in stores. With aesthetic changes afoot "stuffing the channels doesn't make a lot of sense,'' D'Arpizio said. Still, many of the headwinds buffering the sector are out of companies' control. "Many of these (negative) aspects are not going to change soon. What can change is more clarity on the tariffs, but I don't think we will stop the wars or the political instability in a few months,'' she said, adding that luxury consumer confidence is tied more closely to stock market trends than geopolitics. President of Italian luxury brand association Altagamma Matteo Lunelli underlined hat the sector recorded overall growth of 28% from 2019-2024, "placing us well above pre-pandemic levels." While luxury spending is sensitive to global turmoil, it is historically quick to rebound, powered by new markets and pent-up demand. The 2008-2009 financial crisis plummeted sales of luxury apparel, handbags and footwear from 161 billion euros to 147 billion euros over two years. The market more than recovered the losses in 2010 as it rebounded by 14%, with an acceleration in the Chinese market. Similarly, after sales plunged by 21% during the pandemic, pent-up spending powered sales to new records.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store