IMF lowers global growth forecast for 2026 to 3.1 pct

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered its global economic growth forecasts for 2026 to 3.1 percent in the World Economic Outlook (WEO) report published on Tuesday, while keeping its projection for 2027 at 3.2 percent.

This marks a deceleration from the estimated 3.4 percent growth achieved in 2025. Before the outbreak of the Middle East conflict, the bottom-up forecasts for global growth would have been 3.4 percent in 2026 and 3.2 percent in 2027.

Given the difficulty of making real-time projections based on a consistent set of assumptions amid the conflict, this edition of the report presents a "reference forecast" instead of the traditional baseline. The forecast incorporates the impact of the war and assumes that it will be limited in duration, intensity and scope, with disruptions fading by mid-2026.

Under the reference forecast, global headline inflation is expected to increase to 4.4 percent in 2026 and decline to 3.7 percent in 2027.

Trump says talks with Iran could begin in Pakistan "over next two days"

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that talks with Iran could resume in Pakistan within the next two days, according to media reports.

"Something could be happening over the next two days, and we're more inclined to go there (Pakistan)," Trump told a New York Post reporter.

"It's more likely, you know why? Because the field marshal is doing a great job," Trump said, referring to Pakistani Field Marshal General Asim Munir, the country's chief of army staff, who attended the previous talks between the U.S. and Iranian negotiators on Saturday.

Washington has proposed a 20-year suspension of Iran's nuclear activities and Iran, for its part, has countered with a proposal to suspend its nuclear program for up to five years during their stalled talks in Pakistan on Saturday, according to a report from The New York Times on Monday.

Israel seeks Hezbollah disarmament, Lebanon calls for ceasefire in talks in U.S.

Israel and Lebanon laid out different expectations on a peace deal during talks here on Tuesday, with Israel insisting on Hezbollah's disarmament and Lebanon calling for a ceasefire and concrete measures to ease the severe humanitarian crisis resulting from the ongoing conflict, according to a statement from the U.S. State Department.

All sides agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue, said the statement.

The meeting marked the first major high-level engagement between the governments of Israel and Lebanon since 1993, it said.

In the statement, the U.S. administration reaffirmed Israel's "right to defend itself" from Hezbollah's continued attacks, suggesting that the Israeli strikes on Lebanon and its ground invasion in the country's south will likely continue.

At least 16 injured in school shooting in Türkiye, attacker committing suicide

At least 16 people, mostly students, were injured in a school shooting in southeast Türkiye on Tuesday as a former student entered with a shotgun and opened fire randomly before committing suicide, local media reported.

The incident occurred in the morning at the Ahmet Koyuncu Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School in the Siverek district in the southeastern province of Sanliurfa.

Sanliurfa Governor Hasan Sildak said that the gunman, born in 2007, had previously studied at the school before transferring to an open high school program. He had no criminal record and fired randomly in the corridor with a pump-action shotgun. His body had been removed from the school and sent to the morgue at the Sanliurfa Forensic Medicine Institute for an autopsy.

Among the injured were 10 students, four teachers, a cafeteria worker, and a police officer, Sildak said. Most of them were treated at a local hospital, while five seriously injured victims were transferred to a hospital in the provincial capital, he added.

Italy suspending renewal of defense agreement with Israel: PM

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Tuesday she was suspending the country's defense agreement with Israel, which involves the exchange of military equipment and technology research, media reports said.

The Italian news agency ANSA reported that Meloni made the remarks to the press while attending an event in Verona. "We have decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defense agreement with Israel in consideration of the current situation," she said.

The report said Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto had informed Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz of Italy's request to suspend the agreement.

Meloni also called on the international community to continue efforts to advance peace talks, stabilize the situation, and ensure the resumption of key supplies, including energy.■