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Kelsea Ballerini and Craig Conover are not dating ... TMZ has learned, despite an Instagram-fueled rumor claiming with "good authority" the two are an item. Sources with direct knowledge tell us there's absolutely no truth
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Taylor Frankie Paul No Criminal Charges Over Fights With Dakota Published April 14, 2026 4:23 PM PDT Taylor Frankie Paul will NOT be prosecuted for her alleged involvement in a couple domestic violence incidents in
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Joe Biden Doesn't This Guy Look Like Obama?!? Published April 14, 2026 3:20 PM PDT Play video content C-SPAN Joe Biden is catching heat online after pausing a speech at Syracuse University to say a
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Guy Fieri Slammed for Shaking Andrew Tate's Hand ... Says He Didn't Know Who He Was Published April 14, 2026 2:32 PM PDT Guy Fieri was caught on camera shaking Andrew Tate's hand at UFC
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WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 14: (L-R) U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, arrive for working-level peace talks with Lebanese Ambassador
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Wars cause large and persistent economic losses in countries where fighting takes place, with output declining by roughly 7% over five years on average, and economic scars lasting for more than a decade, according to the International Monetary Fund. In 2024, the latest year for which data is available, more than 35 countries experienced conflict in their territory and about 45% of the world’s population lived in countries affected by conflict. “Beyond their devastating human toll, wars impose large and lasting economic costs, and pose difficult macroeconomic trade-offs, especially for those countries where the fighting is taking place,” the IMF said. The Middle East and North Africa region is expected to have a sharply slower growth this year as oil-exporting countries grapple with the fallout from the Iran war, the IMF said on Tuesday. The region’s real GDP growth forecast was slashed to 1.1% in the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook, 2.8 percentage points lower than its January projection. Growth is expected to rebound to 4.8% in 2027. The IMF said, however, that its estimates for 2027 assumed energy production and transportation in the region are normalised over the next few months. It noted that this assumption may need to be revised if the conflict drags on. Tehran’s attacks on its Gulf neighbours, in response to US-Israeli strikes that began in late February, have damaged major energy facilities and disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which would normally handle about 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows. The IMF downgraded global growth projection for the year after the war triggered a major oil shock and included the possibility of a downturn if the conflict drags on and energy infrastructure is severally damaged. Global gross domestic product is now expected to rise 3.1% this year, compared with 3.3% predicted in January, the Washington-based fund said in its latest World Economic Outlook. That’s assuming a relatively short-lived conflict and moderate gain in energy prices this year. Developing economies are expected to take the biggest hit. Growth in emerging markets was cut to 3.9% this year, from a 4.2% forecast just a few months ago. The impact will be smaller in developed countries including the US, an oil exporter. The war sparked by the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran and which spread across the Middle East has cost Arab countries $186bn, a top UN official has said. “We estimate that the loss to the Arab region’s GDP as a result of one month of fighting will be around 6%... 6% of GDP means the region has lost around $186bn from its economy in a single month,” UN assistant secretary-general Abdallah al-Dardari said earlier. At the same time, World Bank President Ajay Banga is sounding the alarm about a bigger, looming crisis: a huge gap in jobs for the 1.2bn people who will reach working age in developing countries in the next 10 to 15 years. At current trajectories, those economies will generate only about 400mn jobs, leaving a deficit of 800mn jobs. The spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are being held under the shadow of the US-Israel war on Iran that threatens to slow global growth and jack up inflation. The extent of the hit to the economy will depend on the durability of the two-week ceasefire announced last week. The ceasefire has halted most attacks. But it has not ended Iran’s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has caused the biggest-ever disruption to global energy supplies. “The Middle East conflict halted growth momentum,” IMF Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said in a blog post. “The shock’s ultimate magnitude will depend on the conflict’s duration and scale — and how quickly energy production and shipment normalize once hostilities end.”
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Vietnam is increasingly edging closer to China’s model of governance, tightening state control while embracing Chinese technology and regulation as its most powerful leader in decades heads to Beijing today, according to internal documents, public policy plans and sources. The two Communist neighbours have swung between conflict and co-operation over centuries. Now, Vietnam is leaning more openly toward Beijing, as China-friendly security figures rise in Hanoi under party chief To Lam, a former public security boss. Lam will meet China’s leader Xi Jinping today on his first overseas trip since becoming state president on April 7, a move that formally unites two of Vietnam’s most powerful roles, echoing Xi’s own concentration of authority and breaking from Vietnam’s traditional emphasis on collective leadership. “Vietnam-China relations have entered a new stage, marked by higher political trust, more substantive defence and security co-operation, deeper and more practical co-operation across sectors,” Lam said in a joint statement with Xi after they last met in April 2025. This week’s visit is expected to yield dozens of co-operation agreements, people briefed on the plans said. While such documents are often non-binding, the relationship is becoming more tangible: China’s exports to Vietnam are at record highs, and Chinese investment in manufacturing south of the border is booming. The people spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the topic. Vietnam is still hedging geopolitically, analysts say, keeping doors open to Washington and others. But at home, it is moving closer to China’s governance model - particularly control-driven regulation despite Western misgivings, underscoring how China’s influence is deepening as Lam reshapes the state. Vietnam has “a dual approach of actively learning from the Chinese model while selectively resisting its influence,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute. Alexander Vuving of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in the US, said that closer ties with China without adequate guardrails “will have a negative impact not only on Vietnam’s security, prosperity, and autonomy, but also on its relations with the US and the West.” Vietnam’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. TECH AND CONTROLTechnology has emerged as one of the clearest markers of warming ties. Vietnam has dropped earlier concerns about the use of Chinese equipment in its 5G network, while the country’s largest internet provider FPT announced investments in an undersea cable to be built by a Chinese vendor that the US considers linked to sanctioned telecom giant Huawei. A telecom company under Vietnam’s public security ministry is in talks with Chinese companies for additional 5G deals. Chinese firms are simultaneously exploring investments in Vietnamese data centres, a strategic asset, according to people familiar with the discussions. “Chinese interest in Vietnam’s data-centre market has increased noticeably over the past 18-24 months,” said Mickael Driol, head of investment advisory firm Mekong Partners. He said much of that is driven by manufacturers who moved operations to Vietnam from China. Hanoi is prioritising state control in data regulation, similar to China. Western tech companies and the US government have repeatedly raised concerns over data protection rules drafted by Vietnam’s security ministry that limit cross-border data transfers. Draft documents seen by Reuters show Vietnam plans to establish state-run data-trading exchanges overseen by the public security ministry - mirroring China’s centralised data model and expanding the state’s ability to deploy information for surveillance and strategic goals. In Western markets, such platforms are typically privately run. Vietnam is also expanding a national electronic identification system, enabling authorities to identify individuals through AI camera networks that are being rolled out nationwide - another parallel with China’s surveillance architecture. “The police’s rising power (in Vietnam) may partly explain a growing interest in Chinese-style social control tactics,” said Giang. MODELLING CHINA’S ECONOMYUnencumbered by public opinion that has grown less critical of China, the Vietnamese Communist Party is also advancing a more China-style economic model centred on subsidies, public investment and large infrastructure projects, sometimes in direct co-operation with Beijing on sensitive projects including high-speed rail links. The shift has been reinforced by TikTok’s popularity in Vietnam, where positive narratives about China often dominate, and by Hanoi’s increasingly muted criticism of Beijing’s actions in the disputed South China Sea. Vietnam remains more open than China to foreign investors and still depends heavily on external capital. But China’s share of total investments is rising, and Chinese brands are gaining popularity at home. China’s influence is also visible in finance. Vietnam relies on unconventional monetary policy tools such as lending mandates to banks reminiscent of China’s policy, maintains tight foreign ownership caps in key sectors, and is grappling with a property bubble that echoes China’s experience. Now Hanoi is considering deeper intervention in equity markets. Proposed measures include a government-backed stabilisation fund to buy stocks during downturns - an idea explicitly modelled on China. “China created one and succeeded in reassuring investors,” said an internal security ministry document reviewed by Reuters. — Reuters
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Alix Earle & Alex Cooper Rift Had No Single Spark!!! Published April 14, 2026 1:30 PM PDT Alix Earle and Alex Cooper's drama may be playing out loud now ... but TMZ has learned there's
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Madelyn Cline & Henry Smith Began Dating a Month Ago, Met Online Published April 14, 2026 12:24 PM PDT Madelyn Cline has a hot new boo in her life -- social media star Henry Smith
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Netflix's 'Selling The City' Not Renewed ... 'Selling Sunset' Takes Center Stage Published April 14, 2026 11:18 AM PDT Netflix is shutting the door on another luxury real estate series ... 'cause TMZ has learned
