Free Republic

Russian President Vladimir Putin phoned Iran's new interim president on Monday as Moscow made clear its desire to preserve and build on its deepening relationship with Tehran despite the sudden death of President Ebrahim Raisi. The Kremlin said Putin expressed his condolences to interim president Mohammad Mokhber and to the whole Iranian people over Raisi's death in a helicopter crash, describing Raisi as a "reliable partner who made an invaluable personal contribution" to bilateral relations. "Both sides emphasised their mutual desire to further consistently strengthen comprehensive Russian-Iranian interaction for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries," the Kremlin...

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was a "true friend" to Russia and was admired both at home and abroad, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a message on Monday, after it was confirmed that Raisi died in a helicopter crash a day earlier. Raisi "was rightly highly respected by his compatriots and enjoyed great prestige abroad," Putin said in a condolence message to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that was released by the Kremlin. "As a true friend of Russia, he made an invaluable personal contribution to the development of good neighbourly relations between our countries and made great efforts...

In a conversation with the First Vice President, the special assistant to the Russian President stated that, by Putin's order, two advanced aircrafts with special helicopters and 50 professional mountain rescue personnel will be dispatched to Tabriz, Iranian media reported on Sunday overnight.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a “hard landing” on Sunday, Iranian state television reported, without immediately elaborating. Raisi was traveling in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province. State TV said the incident happened near Jolfa, a city on the border with with the nation of Azerbaijan, some 600 kilometers (375 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran.

Iranian media report that a helicopter carrying President Ebrahim Raisi encountered an accident in East Azerbaijan Province and some of his companions in the helicopter "managed to make contact with the center." Meanwhile, IRIB News Agency wrote, "Rescue teams are continuing their efforts to reach the crash site."

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi has been involved in a helicopter crash hours after posing for pictures with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and rescuers are frantically trying to reach the site. The aircraft was traveling in Iran's East Azerbaijan province near Jolfa, around 375 miles northwest of Tehran, when it suffered a 'hard landing', according to Iranian state television. Rescuers were attempting to reach the site, but had been hampered by the poor weather conditions in the area. There had been heavy rain and fog reported with some wind. The helicopter was one of a convoy of three and foreign minister...

In a deja vu moment, the Federal Reserve’s swift rate cuts raise unsettling parallels with the inflationary misstep of the 1970s. Back then, premature optimism led to soaring inflation after initial rate reductions. Today, historical cues point to rising unemployment during rate-cut cycles, contradicting the Fed’s sanguine predictions. The specter of a challenging economic future looms large, emphasizing the importance of cautious policy navigation.

Consumer prices surged again last month — they’re now up 8.3% over last year. But what do you expect? President Joe Biden and Congress have done zilch to stem the tide and instead have kept fueling it. That’s left the job to the Federal Reserve, which will now have to risk a painful “hard landing” recession to rein in runaway inflation. Last month Biden boasted that the economy had “0% inflation” in July, though prices were up 8.5% over a year earlier, near the worst in 40 years. He and his supporters tried to pretend the crisis was over, or...

General conditions index drops 42 points to negative 31.3 — the second largest decline on record The numbers: The New York Fed’s Empire State business conditions index, a gauge of manufacturing activity in the state, plummeted 42.4 points to negative 31.3 in August, the regional Fed bank said Monday. This is the second largest monthly decline on record and among the lowest levels in the survey’s history, the regional Fed bank said. Economists had expected a reading of 5.0, according to a survey by The Wall Street Journal. Any reading below zero indicates deteriorating conditions. Key details: The index for...

The home builder confidence index fell to 49 in August for the eighth straight month. Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal expected the number to be 54. The numbers: The National Association of Home Builders’ monthly confidence index fell 6 points to 49 in August, the trade group said Monday. The August reading of 49 is the first time since May 2020 that the index fell below a break-even measure of 50. One year ago, the index stood at 75. In January this year, the index was at 83. The decline was the eighth straight month in August. Economists...

Two weeks after Deutsche Bank became the first “credible” Wall Street bank to officially make a US recession in late 2023 its base case (here, of course, we exclude such uber bears as BofA’s Michael Hartnett or SocGen’s Albert Edwards, who have pitched recessionary scenarios explicitly different from the banks’ bullish “base cases”), the bank is out with a new, even more bearish view in its latest “House View” note, in which the bank explains that not only is a recession assured but that inflation expectations “will likely move significantly higher, ultimately leading to an even more aggressive tightening and...

Mining has been a boom-bust industry throughout its history. The reason is the long development process of a mining asset. When demand pushes up prices for minerals, supplies take time to respond. Hence, prices can go very high in the initial phase of a demand boom. The eye-popping profitability draws all kinds of people into speculating for new mines, massively increasing the supply capacity years down the road. When the demand boom cools and prices decline, supply capacity keeps rising rapidly, which throws the industry into a depression with severe repercussions for its financiers. A decade ago, some Australian investors...

Sept. 29, 2011, 6:19 p.m. EDT China hard-landing fears hit high-end retailers The tumble came amid growing fears of a hard economic landing in China, which has emerged as a key driver of the world’s economy in the wake of the global financial crisis. The concerns circle around the possibility that China could face a sharp slowdown in exports in coming months, aggravating the headwinds facing the Asian country and dampening the nation’s demand for premium brands such as Louis Vuitton and Tiffany. “Fears of a hard landing in China have once again intensified. While our base case remains a...

China risks hard landing as global woes spread China's carefully-managed soft landing is turning harder by the day, threatening to deflate the torrid credit bubble of the past three years. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, In Dalian 6:23PM BST 15 Sep 2011 "There is a large potential risk," said Zhu Min, the deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund and a former Chinese official. Mr Zhu said China had doubled the loan ratio from below 100pc of GDP before the Lehman crisis to roughly 200pc today. The danger is that this excess could start to unwind just as the...

Black Hawk crashes in Afghanistan; all soldiers survive KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Thirteen soldiers, including two battalion commanders, had a lucky escape this morning when they survived a crash that destroyed their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during a combat operation in Oruzgan Province. Nobody was killed and only three soldiers were hurt, none seriously, when the command and control helicopter crashed during an attempted landing. The aircraft was part of Task Force Storm, based at this airfield, one of several helicopters supporting a special operations mission to clear Taliban fighters from a collection of remote villages. Military rules preclude naming...

Commodities euphoria may signal bubble April 26, 2005 Goldman Sachs analysts sent crude oil prices soaring when they said March 30 that the price could eventually reach US$105 (HK$819) a barrel. To Larry Berman, chief technical strategist at CIBC World Markets, it had the whiff of late 1998, when analyst Henry Blodget forecast Amazon.com shares would hit US$400 a share. They did - and then tumbled 80 percent over two years, signaling the end of the technology bubble. A forecast like Goldman's ``does typically mark the euphoria that's seen at market extremes,'' Berman said. After a two-year surge in commodities...

Greenspan, IMF diverge a bit on China But caution and fears of hard landing are the same By Lisa Twaronite, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 6:55 AM ET Aug. 26, 2004 TOKYO (CBS.MW) - When it comes to the success of China\\\'s steps to slow down its booming economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and the International Monetary Fund are reading from different pages. But while the tone of their short-term assessment of China\\\'s policies to date may differ, both certainly share the same fears about the long-term outcome of those policies. Growth in Asia has \\\"braked sharply\\\" in recent months, as...