The International Monetary Fund (IMF) declared the start of the application process for the position of managing director. Candidates may be nominated by members of the Fund's Executive Board or Board of Governors, per the rules. Applications will be accepted starting on March 14 and ending on April 3; the procedure will be kept confidential.  Following the applications review, a...

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) forecast that by the end of 2023, the combined debt of OECD member countries stood at $54 trillion, an increase of $30 trillion from just 15 years back, in 2008. The researchers expect that the amount will increase even further in 2024, reaching $56 trillion. Over half of the debt (around $30 trillion) is owed by the US. China and...

According to NASA's director Bill Nelson, the US Congress approved an 8.5% reduction in the agency's current year budget on Monday. Speaking at a presentation on the agency's development possibilities under the new budget, he said that NASA will receive money in the amount of $24.9 billion instead of the requested $27.2 billion. The cuts affected planetary research projects, which include those...

Four of the twelve and a half submarine communications cables that link Europe, Asia, and Africa were severed I the Red Sea, according to Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications Limited. The links under question, which according to HGC account for 25% of traffic in the region, are Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1), Europe India Gateway, Seacom, and TGN. The impacted routes are crucial for data...

Fitch confirmed the United States' foreign currency issuer default ratings of "AA+" for both the short and long term. The agency released a press release stating that the prognosis is "stable". "F1+" short-term ratings were confirmed. According to estimates by Fitch experts, the state budget deficit in 2023 will be 8.8% of GDP, a substantial increase from the previous year's 3.7% deficit at...

Nigeria has demanded that cryptocurrency exchange Binance pay $10 billion in damages in relation to the manipulation of the value of the naira (NGN), reports the BBC citing the Nigerian government. The government claims that Binance's speculative activities with the naira affected the rise of foreign currencies in Nigeria, resulting in an almost 70% decline in the value of the national currency...

India's statistics ministry released a study stating that the country's GDP increased by 8.4% year over year during the third fiscal quarter (October–December). The rate of growth surged to a peak after six quarters. Revisions to the figures indicate that the GDP grew by 8.1% during the second fiscal quarter. The average projection among experts surveyed by Trading Economics was a 6.6% increase...

More than 50,000 Central Asians entered the US illegally in 2023, according to Montana Senator Steve Daines, who made this claim at a news conference, citing a "high-ranking official". According to Mr. Daines, officials were worried about the migrant flow and thought that some of them might be "part of sleeper cells for a terrorist attack on the US". A non-profit organization that monitors asylum...

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, stated that the European Union must work on the future of the European security architecture "in all its dimensions, with all the necessary speed and political will". "The threat of war may not be immediate, but it is not impossible either," she stated. "It's important to remember that the hazards are real and we need to be ready for...