ISTANBUL

Here is a rundown of all the news you need to start your Thursday, including the US ending an historic 43-day government shutdown with President Donald Trump signing a bill into law after the House of Representatives voted to pass a funding measure, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying Russia remains ready for a summit with the US in Budapest, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging a halt to weapons support for Sudan’s RSF.

TOP STORIES

• Trump signs funding bill, ending historic 43-day US government shutdown

US President Donald Trump signed into law an agreement to fund the government through the end of January, ending a historic shutdown that became the longest in history as it ground many critical government services to a halt.

Trump accused Democrats of having attempted to "extort American taxpayers" during the shutdown, urging voters in next year's midterm elections to "not forget this."

"The extremists in the other party insisted on creating the longest government shutdown in American history, and they did it purely for political reasons," he said at the White House as he signed the spending bill. "This is no way to run a country. I hope we can all agree that the government should never be shut down again."

• Russia still ready for summit in Budapest: Lavrov

Russia remains open to holding a Russian-US summit in Budapest and dialogue between the two sides is ongoing, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, the text of which was published by the Russian news agency TASS.

"We are still ready to hold the second Russian-American summit in Budapest if it really builds on the well-developed results of Alaska. However, the date has not been determined. Russian-American contacts are continuing," he said.

• Rubio urges cutting off weapons support to Sudan’s RSF

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that action is needed to halt weapons support to Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as the humanitarian situation for civilians in the country is deteriorating rapidly.

“I think something needs to be done to cut off the weapons and support that the RSF is getting as they continue with their advances,” Rubio told reporters after a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Niagara, Canada.

He said Washington has been working with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, stressing that “pressure is being applied to the relevant parties.”

NEWS IN BRIEF

• A US judge ordered the release of 615 people detained in an immigration crackdown in Illinois

• 19 bodies were recovered from the site of the Turkish military plane crash, said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

• Hamas is ready for a lasting ceasefire, said Türkiye’s foreign minister

• The Iraqi prime minister’s coalition is leading in parliamentary elections in Baghdad.
• 5 Cambodians were injured in gunfire amid the suspension of a peace pact with Thailand

• Kenya says that over 200 of its nationals have joined Russian forces in the Russia-Ukraine war

• US House Democrats released Epstein emails allegedly referring to President Donald Trump

• Türkiye and Georgia’s presidents discussed a probe into the Turkish military plane crash

• China has agreed to stop fentanyl precursors, said the FBI’s director

• The UN elected a Kenyan law scholar to the International Court of Justice
• South Sudan’s president sacked his vice president

• Iraq’s prime minister said he will start talks to form a new government

• US Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva was sworn in, teeing up a potential vote on the Epstein files

• The Israeli army shelled towns in southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire
• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed a report on the UK halting intelligence sharing over US strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean

• Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand reiterated Canada's call for unrestricted humanitarian access to the Gaza Strip.
  
• Over 400 families fled El-Fasher as the conflict escalated in Sudan’s Darfur
  
• US efforts to reach a political deal in Ukraine are so far 'yielding no results,' said Belgium’s chief of defense
  

• A German court rejected a legal challenge to halt arms exports to Israel

• Syria’s foreign minister began his first official visit to the UK

• South Korea’s prime minister and Qatar’s energy minister discussed cooperation in energy and AI

• The Indian government condemned the "dastardly and cowardly" explosion in the capital New Delhi, which killed 12, branding it a "terrorist" act.

• Dozens of athletes urge UEFA to suspend Israel over human rights violations in Gaza

• Hungary refuses to implement the EU's migration pact

• Türkiye and Egypt vow to boost trade ties

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

• Putin allows sale of Citibank's assets to Russian firm

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved the sale of US-based Citibank's assets in Russia to a company called Renaissance Capital-Financial Consultant.

The Russian government released a signed presidential order authorizing the sale. There were no more specifics regarding the sale in the document.

The order permitted Renaissance Capital-Financial Consultant, a Russian company, to acquire Citibank's assets in the country.

• Anthropic to invest $50B in AI infrastructure in US

US-based artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic announced that it plans to spend $50 billion on AI infrastructure, building data centers starting in Texas and New York.

The data centers will be built with Fluidstack, which is an AI cloud platform that supplies large-scale graphics processing unit (GPU) clusters to clients like Meta, Midjourney and Mistral.

"These facilities are custom-built for Anthropic with a focus on maximizing efficiency for our workloads, enabling continued research and development at the frontier," Anthropic said in a statement.

• Shares of AMD climb more than 8% after CEO calls AI spending 'right gamble'

Shares of chipmaker AMD surged more than 8% after its CEO said increased spending in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector is "the right gamble."

“I don’t think it’s a big gamble,” Lisa Su told CNBC about AI spending. “I think it’s the right gamble.”

Su said that as technology hits an "inflection point" and companies can see the return on their investment, many of AMD's hyperscaler clients have increased their spending in the past 12 months.

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• EU mobilizes $2.3B to fund works on transport corridor linking Zambia, Angola, DR Congo

The EU announced that it has so far mobilized €2 billion ($2.31 billion) to fund the construction of a transport corridor connecting Zambia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Atlantic Ocean.

EU Commissioner for International Partnerships Jozef Sikela made the announcement at the official opening of the EU-Zambia Lobito Corridor Business Forum, which began on Wednesday in Lusaka, the capital of the southern African nation, and drew nearly 1,000 delegates, including government and business leaders and investors.

• At UN climate change conference, Japanese firms promote tech to restore barren farmland

Japanese companies are promoting a new technology to restore barren farmland at the 30th annual UN climate change conference (COP30) held in Brazil.

As the 11-day-long conference is taking place in the city of Belem, the companies at the Japan Pavilion are promoting various technologies to combat global warming, NHK reported.

The Japan Pavilion on Tuesday hosted a seminar on introducing a new technology to restore barren farmland and pastures with the use of fertilizer and other materials that improve the soil.