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Russia tripled its gold exports in 2020 after the coronavirus pandemic had made oil and gas revenues plummet, the Russian newspaper Izvestia writes. However this year is not expected to be so good for gold producers. According to economists at Morgan Stanley weak inflation, coupled with an improving economic outlook, will continue to weigh on gold prices.

After over 70 years at the forefront of Western defence strategy, what is the state of NATO? In this episode of Global Europe Unpacked, Will Murray speaks to Dr Jamie Shea, former NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges, about how the organisation is handling modern challenges, what a 'strategically autonomous' Europe means for NATO, and more...

Six world leaders have have published a joint op-ed in which they called for a global conversation on multilateralism. The leaders said in the article published in several languages in media outlets across the world that there was an "opportunity to rebuild consensus for an international order based on multilateralism and the rule of law through efficient cooperation, solidarity and coordination." The signatories of the appeal are French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Senegalese President Macky Sall, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel.

Only days in office as US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken has set up his stall of future US foreign policy positions in a long interview with Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC. In the interview, Blinken addressed core challenges facing US foreign policy, including China, Russia and Iran.

Myanmar’s military seized power on Monday in a coup against the democratically elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was detained along with other leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in early morning raids.

The Chinese leader’s comments appear to have a least two motives: as a response to President Biden’s assertion that an alliance of democracies needs to work together to combat China’s rise; and as a thinly veiled defence of China’s heavily criticised human rights abuses –  which Xi characterises as “internal affairs” – and sanctions being considered in the West in response to them.

The new US administration may decide to challenge Russia in the South Caucasus, but this will not work in Armenia's interest, and will not address Armenian concerns on the post-war situation in Karabakh, argues Benyamin Poghosyan in this op-ed.