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CNN  —  As scattered details of the apparent suicide of Russia’s former transport minister Roman Starovoit trickled in via state media on Monday, one stood out. Near his body, the Kommersant newspaper reported, investigators found a Glock pistol that Starovoit had been given as an award. In October 2023, in his previous job as governor of Russia’s Kursk region, Starovoit was pictured in a local news article being presented with a velvet-boxed firearm from the region’s interior ministry for his role in maintaining security there. Fast forward 21 months and his death came amid reports he may have been doing the exact opposite. Two sources…

CNN  —  Justin Bieber has sprung a surprise on fans – releasing his first new studio album in four years. “SWAG,” the Canadian singer’s seventh studio album, features 21 tracks, including collaborations with rap artist Gunna, gospel singer Dijon, rapper Lil B, comedian Druski, rapper Sexyy Red, musician Cash Cobain and singer-songwriter Eddie Benjamin. The album’s final song, “Forgiveness,” is performed not by Bieber but by pastor and gospel singer Marvin Winans. “Congratulations @lilbieber for making a wild and deeply inspiring record,” Dijon wrote in a post on Instagram Friday in which he shared the album, along with images of…

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The developer of what would be the first new coal mine in Wyoming in decades plans to process the fossil fuel to extract hard-to-get metals that are crucial for tech products and military hardware.Energy Secretary Chris Wright, former West Virginia U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, and Wyoming’s congressional delegation are on the VIP list for a groundbreaking ceremony Friday at the Ramaco Resources, Inc., Brook Mine outside Ranchester in far northern Wyoming.Rare earth elements are a family of 17 metallic elements with unusual properties that make them useful for specific applications. Neodymium and…

The Hofburg palace receives attendees to the July 9-10 OPEC Seminar conference in Vienna.Ruxandra Iordache | CNBCFor centuries, Vienna’s romantic Hofburg palace served as a winter residence of the imperial Habsburg dynasty — this week, though, it welcomed Saudi royalty, energy ministers, top CEOs and a slew of analysts traders and more.Here are some highlights:The palaceSince 1965, Vienna has housed the headquarters of the OPEC Secretariat — the administrative backbone of the 12-member OPEC alliance of oil producers.The Secretariat is led by a secretary-general — currently, former Kuwaiti official Haitham al-Ghais, who took office for his first three-year term in 2022 and has since…

London.Dukas | Universal Images Group | Getty ImagesThe U.K. economy unexpectedly shrank again in May, data showed Friday, failing to shake off the impact of U.S. tariffs and business uncertainty.The latest monthly growth figures from the Office for National Statistics showed U.K. gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 0.1% month-on-month in May. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 0.1% expansion.Weakness was concentrated in production output, down 0.9%, and construction, which fell 0.6%. The figures will come as a blow to Finance Minister Rachel Reeves, who has made rebooting economic growth and reducing the U.K.’s budget deficit her core aims.The latest data follows…

EV sales are denting petrol and diesel consumption in China amid oil hoarding, says IEAChina’s demand for petrol and diesel is falling as electric vehicle sales surge, but the trend is being masked by the country’s massive strategic stockpiling of crude oil, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Friday.The agency noted that Chinese demand for transport fuels has declined for three consecutive months. This coincides with a 50% year-on-year jump in EV sales in the first half of 2025, which is directly “eating into end-user demand,” Toril Bosoni, head of oil industry and markets division at the IEA, told…

Shelf of pharmaceutical products. D3sign | Moment | Getty ImagesThe pharmaceutical industry is scrambling with scenario planning as U.S. President Donald Trump’s 200% tariff proposal threatens to drive up drug prices and rip out corporate profit margins.The president once again warned on Tuesday that long-awaited industry-wide tariffs would be announced “very soon” after the administration launched a so-called 232 investigation into the sector in April.Trump suggested that those levies would not go into effect immediately, but get a grace period of “about a year, year and a half to come in.”Analysts nevertheless warn that such a rate — even with a…

Hong Kong CNN  —  A case in which more than 200 kindergarten students in northwestern China were found to have abnormal blood lead levels is revealing a deep distrust in local government, as members of the public question the findings of an official investigation. Authorities in the city of Tianshui in China’s Gansu province earlier this week said eight people, including the principal of the Heshi Peixin Kindergarten, had been detained after an investigation found 233 students had been exposed to lead after school kitchen staff used inedible paint containing the toxic substance as food coloring. The case initially generated…

CNN  —  Detained for more than 100 days without charge, and with the threat of deportation looming over him, Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil was convinced he would eventually prevail. In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Khalil, who is now back with his young family, describes the months languishing in a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center, and the pain of being denied permission to be present at his son’s birth. “It was a very, very dehumanizing experience, for someone who was not accused of any crime, whatsoever,” said Khalil, a green card holder who had no…

An electric car at a charging station in the Norwegian capital of Oslo on Sept. 25, 2024.Jonathan Nackstrand | Afp | Getty ImagesOSLO, Norway — Tesla continues to find solace in Norway, defying a sustained European slump amid a backlash over CEO Elon Musk’s incendiary political rhetoric.The U.S. electric vehicle maker recorded a 54% year-on-year jump in new car sales in Norway in June, according to data from the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV), fueled by a 115.3% yearly increase in registrations for its revamped Model Y sports utility vehicle.The data backed up a whopping 213% increase in new car sales…