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Scores of journalists, diplomats and Russia watchers have descended onto Istanbul on Thursday amid expectations that officials from Russia and Ukraine – two countries locked in a bloody conflict for more than a decade – could meet face to face for the first time in three years. Little is known about what could happen on Thursday after the Kremlin shot down the speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin could travel to Turkey himself. Delegations from both Russia and Ukraine are currently in Turkey, although whether they’ll meet is uncertain. Here is what we do – and don’t – know: Timings…

CNN  —  Apartment owners at a luxury New York skyscraper are suing the building’s developers over a “far-reaching fraud” in which they allegedly hid structurally significant defects — including “thousands” of severe cracks on the tower’s facade. The condo board at 432 Park Avenue, a super-skinny high-rise on Manhattan’s Billionaire’s Row, claims that real estate firm CIM Group failed to disclose the extent of damage that has resulted in flooding and impacted the value of their multimillion-dollar properties. Filed at the state court in New York in late April, the lawsuit also names architecture and engineering companies involved in the…

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – 2025/04/16: An APEC 2025 large-scale promotional video and a statue of King Sejong the Great are seen at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul. Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesAn intergovernmental grouping of 21 economies including the United States and China warned Thursday that their collective growth risks a sharp slowdown, as tariff tensions and policy uncertainty weigh on investment and trade.The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forecasts growth to drop to 2.6% in 2025, from 3.6% in the prior year.”From tariff hikes and retaliatory measures to the suspension of trade facilitation procedures and the proliferation of…

Critical minerals such as cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese can be found in potato-sized nodules at the bottom of the seafloor.Pallava Bagla | Corbis News | Getty ImagesU.S. President Donald Trump’s critical minerals drive looks set to pave the way for a gold rush on the ocean floor.Seeking to counter China’s mineral dominance, the Trump administration in April signed a sweeping executive order to fast-track deep-sea mining within U.S. and international waters.The move is designed to help private companies access billions of tons of potato-sized rocks known as polymetallic nodules, which are rich in strategically important minerals.The U.S. National Oceanic…

Vials move along a conveyor at the Novo Nordisk A/S production facilities in Hillerod, Denmark, on Monday, June 12, 2023. The success of Novo’s bestsellers Ozempic and Wegovy, drugs that help people lose significant amounts of weight, has created something of a gold rush in the pharma industry with about 40 companies developing products that will intensify competition. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesDenmark’s economic growth, which economists say is due to an “exceptional surge” in pharmaceutical exports, is expected to weaken this year — but the looming threat of U.S. tariffs on the pharma industry won’t be much of a…

European stock markets closed higher on ThursdayShaking off a negative start, European stock markets pulled into the green on Thursday afternoon to close broadly higher, with the regional Stoxx 600 index up 0.56%.Frankfurt’s DAX jumped 0.72%, despite divergence in some of its big-name stocks. Defense firm Hensoldt rose 8.3% amid wider sector gains, after Germany’s new defense minister said he backed Donald Trump’s call for NATO members to commit 5% of their GDP to security spending.Steel glowing red travels through the rolling mill at the Thyssenkrupp steel plant on April 9, 2025 in Duisburg, Germany. Sean Gallup | Getty Images…

A version of this story appeared in CNN’s What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. CNN  —  On Capitol Hill, a growing number of lawmakers from both parties support banning themselves from holding stock while in office. But as for the White House – the president’s initials are literally a stock ticker. The fact that President Donald Trump has a family business, currently run by his son Eric, almost feels normal at this point, but the potential gift of a 747 by Qatar for him to use as Air Force One has renewed…

Asia is set to see a travel boom, and countries in the region are gearing up to exploit this surge in demand.Singapore’s Changi Airport on Wednesday broke ground on its fifth terminal, which is expected to be operational in the mid-2030s.The new terminal, which sits on a plot of land 1,080 hectares large, will almost double the size of Changi Airport’s existing area.This will allow the airport to handle 140 million passengers per year from its current capacity of 90 million passengers. Changi, which was most recently awarded Skytrax’s “World’s Best Airport” in 2025 for the 13th time, welcomed 67.7…

Walmart on Thursday fell just short of quarterly sales estimates, as even the world’s largest retailer said it would feel the pinch of higher tariffs. Even so, the Arkansas-based discounter beat quarterly earnings expectations and stuck by its full-year forecast, which calls for sales to grow 3% to 4% and adjusted earnings of $2.50 to $2.60 per share for the fiscal year. That cautious profit outlook had disappointed Wall Street in February. Wall Street was also underwhelmed by the results Thursday, as shares closed slightly lower.Walmart also marked a milestone: It posted its first profitable quarter for its e-commerce business both…

Shao Chun Chen moved to Chiang Mai, Thailand, in late 2024.Courtesy of Shao Chun ChenShao Chun Chen used to work more than 40 hours a week in his corporate career in Singapore. Now, he has a three-hour-a-week job that sustains his and his family’s life in Thailand.The 39-year-old grew up in Singapore and spent most of his life in the city-state before moving to Chiang Mai, Thailand, with his wife in November 2024. Today, he “supercommutes” from Thailand to Singapore, flying over 1,200 miles once a week to work as an adjunct lecturer at the National University of Singapore.He says…