Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger announce their withdrawal from ECOWAS

Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have decided to Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Reuters reported.

According to the news agency, the joint statement to this effect was read out live on Niger’s national television.

British warship repels attack by Houthi drone in Red Sea — ministry of defense

The Diamond destroyer of the Royal Navy shot down a Houthi drone in the Red Sea, the UK Ministry of Defense said.

"Yesterday the crew of HMS Diamond had to once again shoot down a Houthi attack drone illegally targeting the ship," it wrote on its X (formerly known as Twitter) page.

According to the ministry, the drone was downed with the use of a Sea Viper missile system. Neither of the crew members were hurt. The ship was not damaged either.

HMS Diamond was deployed to the region nearly two months ago. Over this period, it has repelled several drone attacks. UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said on January 9 that the Richmond frigate had been commissioned to the Red Sea. On January 24, UK Minister of State in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) Andrew Mitchell said that HMS Richmond would soon replace HMS Diamond in the zone of patrolling.

The fear of war: thousands of Iranians "escape" abroad

It seems that the war in the Gaza Strip and the fear of a regional war is stressing the Iranians and those who can escape from there do so.

According to Sajjad Borbur, a foreign exchange expert and investment consultant in Iran, in his quotes in a newspaper close to the reformist camp, he warns against the continuation of the phenomenon that causes capital to flee the country at a rapid pace. According to him, during the last three months, that is, since the war in Gaza began, 9 billion dollars left Iran. Borbor explained that this amount is the result of the sale of houses, cars and other property that were sold and converted into foreign currency by thousands of Iranians who left the country.

How unusual is this figure, Borbor claims, that in all of last year the capital that left Iran was 10 billion dollars. If this expert is correct, thousands of Iranians fleeing their country is probably another significant factor that leads to a jump in the dollar exchange rate in recent months.

Microsoft, Google, Meta, other tech companies slash more than 21,000 jobs this year

Microsoft said today it is laying off 1,900 employees. It joins dozens of other tech companies, including Google, Amazon, TikTok and Meta, in slashing tech jobs. It's the latest sign that Silicon Valley is still trying to adjust from the boom times of the pandemic. NPR's Bobby Allyn reports.

So far, in 2024, over 75 tech companies have laid off over 21,000 employees.

The tech industry has been shedding jobs for years now. Last year marked one of the worst in recent memory, with some 260,000 techies losing their jobs. This year isn't expected to be anywhere near that total, but the layoffs haven't stopped. The way executives are defending the continuation of job cuts may sound familiar. And no, it's not AI.

The biggest driver of the recent tech layoffs we've been seeing is still companies trying to correct for their overhiring during the pandemic surge given that the high-interest-rate environment and tech downturn have both lasted longer than initially expected.

Estimates that just about 20% of the job losses in tech have been explained away by artificial intelligence, with tech companies trimming and reshuffling staff and investing more in automation. The big focus is on generative AI, which is the next gold rush in Silicon Valley. And while the economy is improving, sticky inflation and still historically high interest rates are dampening the outlook.

Iran seizes oil tanker and crew in Arabian Gulf

🔶️ Iran seized a foreign oil tanker it accused of transporting “smuggled fuel” and detained 14 crew members on Sunday, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

🔶️ It was seized by court order 60 miles off the coast of Bandar-e-Bushehr. The crew on board “of Asian origin” were detained.

🔶️ Tasnim said the ship was from Australia, without providing any further detail.

🔶️ It comes just weeks after the navy boarded a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker once at the centre of a dispute between Washington and Tehran.