The operation resulted in the confiscation of 200,000 Captagon tablets and more than 30 kilos of narcotics, including cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, marijuana, hashish, and synthetic substances known as spice.

According to UAE police, the network sought to transport the narcotics across a border region in Ras Al Khaimah with the intention of distributing them throughout the nation.

Iraq’s General Directorate for Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances, the UAE’s National Drug Enforcement Authority (NDEA), and Ras Al Khaimah Police were all engaged in the operation, which was judicially coordinated by the UAE’s Federal Public Prosecution.

Iraqi and Emirati officials shared intelligence, which helped them identify the network, thwart the smuggling effort, and arrest individuals involved.

The operation demonstrates Iraq and the UAE’s continuous security collaboration in the fight against worldwide narcotics trafficking and organized crime.

The post Iraq and UAE dismantle drug smuggling network, arrest 20 suspects appeared first on Iraqi News.

Fulham teenager Josh King is also handed his first call-up ahead of Nations League games against Croatia and Spain later this month.

Tuchel said Palmer “misses too many opportunities” to impress at international level after pulling out of England’s last squad due to injury.

The Chelsea star, who was not included for the World Cup, has been left out as Tuchel takes the chance to look at younger options with a place in the quarter-finals of the Nations League almost guaranteed

Jobe Bellingham has been rewarded for a strong start to his second season at Borussia Dortmund, where Jude also played for three seasons before moving to Real Madrid.

King has impressed despite Fulham’s struggles in the Premier League, while Liverpool’s 18-year-old winger Rio Ngumoha is also included.

England are second in group A3 after four games, with three wins and a defeat, against Spain at Wembley.

The Three Lions host Croatia, who they beat 7-0 last month, on Thursday before travelling to take on Spain with just one point needed to qualify for the knockout rounds in March.

Newly-crowned Ballon d’Or winner Harry Kane is set to surpass Peter Shilton as England’s most capped male player after moving level with the former goalkeeper on 125 appearances against the Czech Republic last time out.

Squad in full:

Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford (Everton), Jason Steele (Brighton), James Trafford (Leeds)

Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Real Madrid/ESP), Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton), Marc Guehi (Manchester City), Lewis Hall (Newcastle), Ezri Konsa, Ben White (both Arsenal), Djed Spence (Inter Milan/ITA), Jarell Quansah (Bayer Leverkusen/GER)

Midfielders: Elliot Anderson (Manchester City), Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid/ESP), Jobe Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund/GER), James Garner (Everton), Josh King (Fulham), Myles Lewis-Skelly, Declan Rice, Eberechi Eze (all Arsenal)

Forwards: Harry Kane (Bayern Munich/GER), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Leeds), Anthony Gordon (Barcelona/ESP), Rio Ngumoha (Liverpool), Morgan Rogers (Chelsea), Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest)

The post Jude’s brother Jobe Bellingham gets England call-up appeared first on Iraqi News.

Auto sector production jumped around 17 percent from a month earlier following a sluggish period caused largely by factory holidays and plant maintenance over the summer.

It was nevertheless some rare good news from an industry that has been hard hit by fierce Chinese competition, falling demand and rising costs.

This helped lift overall industrial production by 0.7 percent for the month, said statistics agency Destatis, above analyst expectations of a far smaller increase. 

The economy ministry said the data “helped offset the declines in industrial production seen in the middle of the year,” caused by factors like higher energy costs linked to the Middle East war and low water levels on rivers.

Germany’s economy is struggling to pull itself out of long decline driven by weakening demand for its exports, Chinese competition and a range of deep-rooted problems. 

But the manufacturing powerhouse is expected to notch up its fastest growth for several years in 2026, in large part due to a public spending blitz on defence and infrastructure. 

September’s factory data was also helped by the pharmaceutical sector, which registered eight percent growth.

But there were falls in the construction sector and  in manufacturing of machinery and equipment, Destatis said.

Despite September’s positive data, Dirk Schumacher, chief economist at German public lender KfW, cautioned that the economy continued to face headwinds.

“There remains a long list of risk factors that could bring the industrial recovery to an end before it has even really got going,” he said. 

“The nervousness in the financial markets regarding the further expansion of AI infrastructure is just one example of this.”

sr/fz/js

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On Tuesday, Amir Moqaddam, Deputy Head of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, stated that Iraq, China, India, and Qatar had been given exemptions, enabling their vessels to pass the strait.

The exemption is especially important for Iraq, which depends significantly on oil exports for government income and has had enormous difficulty since the Strait of Hormuz was essentially blocked with the commencement of the US-Israel war with Iran in February 2026.

According to maritime analytics company Kpler, Iraq’s crude oil exports via the strait surged from 1.69 million barrels per day in August to 2.65 million barrels per day in October, showing that export volumes had recovered despite the continuing violence.

Iran had earlier issued an exception for Iraqi vessels in April, citing Iraq as a neighboring nation with strong relations to Tehran. The most recent statement maintains that agreement.

While Iran intends to collect transit fees from some nations, it is unclear if Iraqi vessels would be obliged to pay.

The exception might bring significant relief to Iraq’s oil industry, allowing it to continue export profits while reducing economic pressures.

However, there is still concern about maritime security in the area, since the US maintains a separate naval embargo targeting boats entering or departing Iranian ports.

Although the Iranian exception permits Iraqi ships to pass through Tehran’s limitations, it does not guarantee safe passage in light of ongoing military tensions and assaults on commercial boats in the Gulf.

The post Iran exempts Iraq from Strait of Hormuz restrictions as oil exports rise appeared first on Iraqi News.

In August, buzzy Chinese startup Unitree, whose walking, dancing humanoids are often used by AI researchers trying to make robots act autonomously, went public.

Its shares skyrocketed on its Shanghai debut in August — but almost three months later they are down 40 percent from their peak that day.

Chinese chipmakers Moore Threads and MetaX — touted as challengers to US behemoth Nvidia — have both plunged by around 50 percent over the past six months.

Similar steep falls can be seen across Shanghai’s tech-focused Star50 index, China’s answer to Wall Street’s Nasdaq, which is down only around six percent over the same period.

Volatility on Wall Street hasn’t helped — the Nasdaq plunged 5.5 percent on Thursday — with fears that the vast sums spent on AI infrastructure will not translate into big profits.

However, the Chinese government is taking steps.

Officials this week reactivated liquidity-injection tools aimed at encouraging share purchases while boosting the trading volume of state-backed investment funds, according to local media reports.

On Tuesday, net capital inflows into nine exchange-traded funds (ETFs), commonly used by Beijing to prop up the market, reached 120 billion yuan ($18 billion) — a near-record, according to Bloomberg data, targeting tech stocks in particular.

The Financial Times also reported this week that Chinese regulators had told banks to halt company listings in an attempt to boost market liquidity.

“Chinese technology shares have been under significant pressure, with investors concerned about weak domestic demand, intense competition and disappointing earnings,” said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Markets.

However, now “fresh policy support, lower valuations and hopes of improving sentiment are encouraging investors to revisit a sector that has struggled for much of the year”, she added.

– Packed to the rafters –

Overall, tech investors in China remain optimistic, said Ajin Jin, partner at Shanghai-based investment firm Kunquan.

“In both Beijing and Shanghai, weekly roadshows are still taking place, and every single one is packed to the rafters, with people even sitting in the aisles,” he said.

Li Daxiao, one of China’s most prominent investment gurus, also said “the burgeoning development of the industry is unstoppable” and should be clearly distinguished from “share price fluctuations”.

“Technology shares have been affected by external risks and have fallen in tandem with their counterparts in the US, Japan and South Korea,” he told AFP.

Stephen Inness of SPI Asset Management said that “a state-backed effort would add to steps taken by China last month to stabilise its equity market”.

However, he warned the measures “have so far proved insufficient against the backdrop of a weak domestic economy and doubts over AI earnings”.

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The franchise allows players to act out gangster fantasies — shooting up bars, crashing cars — in fictional renderings of US cities where the soundtrack piped through in-game radio is almost as important as the cutting-edge visuals.

GTA VI, which comes 13 years after its predecessor, is expected to break sales records when it lands on November 19 thanks in part to a monumental marketing campaign that kicked off in late 2023 with the first official trailer.

“It is going to be the biggest entertainment launch of all time,” Chris Dring of The Game Business outlet told AFP.

The previous edition, GTA V, is still the second-biggest selling game ever — it took just three days to rack up $1 billion in sales, two days less than the movie “Avengers: Endgame”.

The budget of GTA VI has reportedly ballooned to over $1 billion — far higher than any other game or film — and projections have it on track to make several billion in its first week, which would smash all records for any cultural product.

– ‘Top creators’ –

‘GTA VI’ has two main protagonists, former drug-runner Jason and newly released ex-con Lucia, who try to survive in Vice City, a reimagining of Miami.

Lucia is the first playable woman character in a main edition of the almost 30-year history of a franchise.

During the 1990s and 2000s the game’s graphic depictions of sex, violence and misogyny became notorious — tabloid media outrage boosting the title’s notoriety and helping sales to skyrocket.

Rockstar Games has spent eight years developing the sixth edition, a process beset by difficulties including the leak of development footage and code for the game online in 2022.

But expectations are sky-high.

“They’ve spent a long time on this game, but they are probably the top game entertainment creators in the world,” said Dring.

Analysts expect the game to have an impact on the entire video game sector, including on console sales and accessories.

Several other studios delayed the release of new games to avoid being caught in the hype cycle around GTA VI.

Analysis firm Sensor Tower said the game had already generated around $750 million from pre-sales.

Surveys suggested almost one-third of the 49 million people who use PS5 and Xbox Series consoles in the United States intended to buy the game.

“The purchase intent that we’re seeing on ‘Grand Theft Auto’ is far away above any other game we’ve ever tracked,” said Mat Piscatella of consultancy Circana.

“For me, it’s the game of the decade,” Jocelin Lebeau, 39, a gamer who works for the French military, told AFP at a recent event in Paris. “I’m ready to buy it sight unseen.”

The post ‘Grand Theft Auto’ set for blockbuster return after 13 years appeared first on Iraqi News.

United’s dramatic win in the Champions League gave the coach breathing space but he remains under intense pressure ahead of the international break.

Elsewhere in the Premier League, Manchester City will be seeking to avoid a rare third straight league defeat when they face Nottingham Forest as they try to keep pace with leaders Arsenal.

AFP Sport looks at three talking points ahead of the action:

Carrick’s last chance?

When Manchester United’s players trudged off at half-time against Roma on Tuesday, 2-0 down and seemingly out of ideas, Michael Carrick’s fate appeared to be sealed.

Instead, his underperforming team somehow turned things around, with Matheus Cunha scoring two late goals in a 3-2 win at a feverish Old Trafford.

It ended a run of nine games without a victory — United’s longest winless run since the 1988/89 season.

Defender Diogo Dalot said he hopes the Roma result can kickstart their season.

“Nights like this can change momentum, can change seasons, and I think this win is going to give us confidence for the next games,” he said.

But the brutal reality is that United could be bottom of the Premier League when they kick off on Sunday if results go against them.

Whatever the outcome, the international break will give the club’s hierarchy an opportunity to consider their long-term options.

Villa’s Spanish manager, Unai Emery, was tipped as a potential candidate for the Old Trafford hot seat but reports suggest he is close to signing a new deal with the Birmingham club.

Two-way title race?

Manchester City know that even if they keep pace with Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, it might ultimately all be in vain.

The Etihad club are still waiting to discover their fate after being found guilty of more than 100 breaches of Premier League financial rules — with a huge points deduction one potential punishment.

Arsenal appear to be the only other serious contender for the title, having the happy knack of winning even when below par.

On paper, both clubs face a straightforward task this weekend, though City’s trip to Nottingham Forest could be trickier than it looks.

Opta’s “expected points” table, which orders the Premier League based on expected goals for and against, has Oliver Glasner’s team in third — a remarkable 16 places higher than they are in the real table.

Arsenal, who host struggling Hull, have won 18 of their past 19 Premier League games against promoted sides.

Things looking up for Spurs

The doom and gloom around Tottenham has lifted after a three-game winning streak in the Premier League under manager Roberto De Zerbi.

Less than three weeks ago Spurs, without a single win, propped up the division. They are now comfortably placed in mid-table.

Defender Archie Gray credits the spirit of the squad for the turnaround, which has the club just four points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.

“We all get on really well and you can see that out there on the pitch,” he told SpursPlay. “Even with the celebration(s), all the subs are running to the players and they are little things that mean so much to us. That’s the most important thing and why we’ve been improving.”

Daniel Farke’s Leeds are winless in their past five Premier League games and have scored just twice during that run, slipping to 12th in the table.

Fixtures (1500 GMT unless stated)

Friday

Everton v Coventry (2000)

Saturday

Leeds v Tottenham (1230), Arsenal v Hull, Fulham v Newcastle, Nottingham Forest v Manchester City (1730)

Sunday

Brighton v Brentford, Crystal Palace v Liverpool, Ipswich v Bournemouth, Sunderland v Chelsea (all 1400), Manchester United v Aston Villa (1630)

The post Carrick fights for Man Utd job ahead of international break appeared first on Iraqi News.

Neither is now advertising the state of the two countries’ alliance.

A week after an inconclusive election for Netanyahu, Americans overwhelmingly rejected Trump and chose a Congress led by Democrats who want a tougher approach to Israel, whether on Iran, Gaza or settler violence in the occupied West Bank.

The back-to-back elections look to many observers like a turning point, with Israel no longer able to take for granted the cover of the world’s most powerful country.

“This is a new era. The confluence of the Gaza war and the war with Iran have really changed how mainstream Americans — not people particularly concerned with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — see Israel,” said Yael Sternhell, an expert on the United States at Tel Aviv University.

Vice President JD Vance, assessing why his Republicans fared poorly, listed four ways to bring voters back, including ending the Iran war and changing “our relationship with Israel”.

Trump did not disagree. Just as voting was underway Tuesday, Trump said he had agreed with Netanyahu to end the $3.8 billion in annual US military aid to Israel by the end of this year, explicitly tying the decision to the US political mood.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister who has served on and off for nearly two decades, had eagerly sought Trump’s endorsement but also acknowledged his country’s growing isolation.

In the final days of the campaign, he suggested Israel turn to cryptocurrencies to circumvent international sanctions he expected would intensify.

Netanyahu has not commented on the US election or Trump’s aid remarks.

Amit Segal, a journalist known for his proximity to Netanyahu, posted that the political situation in the United States marked a “catastrophe” for Israel.

– Can Eisenkot restore the alliance? –

Opposition contender Gadi Eisenkot, who is trying to cobble together a coalition to oust Netanyahu, has cast himself as capable of repairing relations.

In an English-language statement, the former military chief said he believed in “liberal values” and also wanted to work “closely and constructively” with Trump.

Yair Golan, the main left-wing leader inside Eisenkot’s bloc, called for Israel to restore a bipartisan approach destroyed by Netanyahu who he said promoted a “destructive Israeli narrative of eternal war and authoritarian rule”.

Netanyahu boasted in his campaign about standing up to Democratic presidents including Barack Obama, who remains a hero for many Democrats. Netanyahu openly aligned with Republicans a decade ago to attack Obama’s diplomacy on Iran.

“Netanyahu certainly rubs Democrats the wrong way and has made every effort to alienate them,” Sternhell said.

“But Eisenkot can’t just be a nicer man to receive a softer approach from this new Congress,” she added. “He’s going to need new policies.”

She said Eisenkot would likely enjoy Israeli public support for cracking down on extremist settlers, who have attacked Palestinians in the West Bank with virtual impunity.

But Israel has shifted to the right, with wide initial support for the Gaza war.

– Broadening criticism of Israel –

The new Congress will include progressive Democrats such as Abdul El-Sayed, the first Muslim elected to the Senate, who describe the devastation in Gaza as genocide, an assertion rejected by Israel.

Netanyahu “made a bet not only on the Republicans but almost personally on Trump”, said Eli Kowaz, senior policy director of the Economic Cooperation Foundation, an Israeli think tank that backs a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

“These results show that bet had an expiry date,” Kowaz said. “Also, for the first time, really, I think there’s a realisation that it isn’t only about the Democrats. It’s a problem with the relationship with America.”

Without US assistance, Israel still has its own major arms industry and retains a clear edge fighting non-state actors such as Hamas and Hezbollah, said Ehud Eilam, a former researcher for the Israeli defence ministry.

But he said Israel would need to rely more on cheaper artillery or non-sophisticated bombs, further increasing risks of civilian casualties that have enraged international opinion.

“Israel can adjust to a new strategic reality of losing much and even all US military aid, but it will be tough for Israel. It will require Israel to consider hard choices such as taking huge loans or raising taxes,” Eilam said.

Kowaz said that Eisenkot, aware of politics in Washington, was trying to show he is interested in regional stability and strategic agreements and not just “an indefinite state of war”.

“He is definitely laying out a different vision for Israel’s relationship with the United States.”

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Trading boards were a sea of red in early business, with Seoul and Tokyo taking the brunt of the selling as traders fled to the hills amid uncertainty about a sector that had pushed stock markets to record highs just five months ago.

While the historic “blue wave” in Tuesday’s vote had been initially welcomed on hopes it could put pressure on President Donald Trump to wind down his war against Iran, fears about the impact on the AI buildout soon came to the fore.

Data centres have faced broad opposition from US voters across the political spectrum, and many midterm winners have pledged to put the brakes on such projects.

Analysts said investors were also spooked by a call from progressive US Senator Bernie Sanders for a national moratorium on their building.

The results compounded already heightened fears about the hundreds of billions firms had pumped into the sector and when they would see a return, while the recent spike in borrowing costs also fuelled concerns about their financial position.

The eye-watering rally in many companies’ valuations had also caused unease on trading floors.

Michael Hewson at MCH Market Insights said investors were selling up because of “concerns that we might see greater opposition to AI buildout plans, with the results in Texas prompting concerns that politicians in the state might target Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX due to his support for Trump”.

New York’s Nasdaq plunged 5.5 percent in its worst day — percentage-wise — since April last year when Trump unveiled his wide-ranging global tariffs. The S&P 500 tanked more than four percent and the Dow more than three percent.

Bloomberg said the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index had collapsed around 16 percent this week, putting it on course for its worst run since April last year.

Trump blamed the collapse on the Democrats, writing on Truth Social: “The Stock Market crashed today because the Dumocrats had a big Tuesday — So sad to see, you only have yourselves to blame! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

The heavy selling continued in Asia.

Seoul plunged almost nine percent at one point, with chip giant SK hynix off 10 percent while rival Samsung was eight percent down.

The Kospi more than doubled between the end of December and mid-June, when it hit a record, and has since then lost almost 50 percent.

Tokyo dived seven percent as Kioxia and SoftBank gave back more than 10 percent, with Advantest more than eight percent lower.

TSMC’s seven-percent drop dragged Taipei’s Taiex around eight percent lower.

Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney and Singapore were all down more than one percent, with Wellington and Manila also in the red.

“The blood is in the streets, folks,” said Neil Wilson at Saxo Markets.

“The fear is a total momentum unwind as Democrats pace the frontier and kibosh data centre buildout… this looks totally overdone but the nature of sell-everything of this market means we need to look for some stability first.”

The mood was also dampened by a fresh lift in oil prices, extending Thursday’s gains after plunging on the midterm results amid hopes for an end to the Iran war.

Traders were keeping eyes on developments in the crisis after US and Iranian leaders had indicated progress earlier in the week.

US jobs data is also due later in the day, following broadly positive readings earlier in the week.

– Key figures at around 0200 GMT –

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 6.0 percent at 57,400.92

Seoul – Kospi: DOWN 6.1 percent at 5055.15

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.5 percent at 24,436.40

Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 1.3 percent at 3,643.51

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.5 percent at $90.96 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.7 percent at $99.02 per barrel

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1215 from $1.1222 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3453 from $1.3454

Dollar/yen: UP at 157.85 yen from 157.83 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.37 pence from 83.41 pence

New York – Dow: DOWN 3.4 percent at 51,523.06 (close)

London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.4 percent at 10,782.66 (close)

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“AI company CEOs should be called to testify under oath,” Greg Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said on Tuesday.

Senator Ed Markey, for his part, warned tech executives they would need to “plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we’ll be printing.”

It is a cold shower for tech bosses who rallied behind Trump after his 2024 win, with Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and others front and center at his January 2025 inauguration.

Musk went furthest, spending more than $250 million to help elect Trump and then taking charge of his DOGE cost-cutting drive. He poured nearly half a billion dollars more into backing Republicans in the midterms.

Once they take control of both chambers on January 3, Democrats will control the committees that can compel an executive to testify or hand over internal documents under threat of prosecution.

In 2020, the heads of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google were called to answer for their market dominance.

Musk, OpenAI’s Sam Altman or Nvidia’s Jensen Huang — one of Trump’s closest advisers on AI — could now face the same ordeal.

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, elected senator for Michigan despite more than $5 million spent against him by America PAC, the political committee funded by Musk, wants to go further.

He is calling for a “full-on pause” in the development of the most powerful AI systems and a US-China treaty to “pause and ban superintelligence,” meaning AI that would surpass human intelligence.

To pass legislation, however, lawmakers will need to rally a party divided on the issue and overcome the veto of Trump, who remains president until January 2029.

No major tech boss had commented on the election as of Thursday except Musk, who joked: “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.”

Parts of the industry had begun distancing themselves from Republicans before the vote.

The main pro-AI political fund, financed by OpenAI president Greg Brockman and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz — one of whose cofounders backed Trump in 2024 — received no new donations from April through the end of September, as public distrust of AI grew.

Meta has hired former Democratic staffers in recent months to represent it in Congress, according to Axios.

– ‘Shapeshifters’ –

Criticism is also coming from the Republican side.

“Voters are primed to reward whichever political party delivers on holding Big Tech accountable,” Daniel Cochrane, a senior fellow at the conservative Institute for Family Studies, told AFP.

“In this election, concerns about AI’s social and economic impacts shifted votes,” he said, pointing to data centers as well as AI’s effects on jobs and children.

According to an NBC News exit poll, AI and data centers were “a crucial or a major factor” for 56 percent of voters in their choice for Congress.

“Let’s not confuse an anti-Trump wave with an anti-tech mandate,” said Adam Kovacevich, CEO of Chamber of Progress, an influential centrist coalition funded by major tech companies.

“There’s only one thing that sinks the US economy, it’s the AI trade,” and “the only way to sink the AI trade is to sink the data centers,” Chamath Palihapitiya warned during an election-night livestream of the All-In podcast, which he co-hosts with other prominent pro-Trump Silicon Valley investors.

Even market analyst Dan Ives, known for his bullish outlook on tech growth, now estimates that 10 percent of the 800 to 1,000 new data centers planned in the United States “will not happen.”

“The tech bros are shapeshifters,” said Cochrane, who expects Zuckerberg “to have another mea culpa” before an “aggressive Dem congress.” 

“Ultimately, the tech bros are for the tech bros,” he said.

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