Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Saturday asked Russian President Vladimir Putin if he was interested in having a conversation on Clubhouse, the up-and-coming social media platform that connects people via audio chat rather than posting status updates or sending direct messages.

Musk tweeted directly to the official Twitter account of the President of Russia, asking: “would like to join me for a conversation on Clubhouse?”

He followed that with a tweet entirely in Russian which translated as: “it would be a great honor to speak with you.”

It was not immediately clear why Musk was interested in chatting with the Russian dictator, or if there was any response.

Since its launch less than a year ago, Clubhouse, the invitation-only audio chat app has caught the attention of tech industry bigshots like Musk and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. It has even stirred of interest by the Chinese government to block it in the country.

The iPhone-only app, once you are in, lets you start or listen into conversations on a whole host of topics, from tech to pro sports, parenting, Black literature, and so on. There are no posts, photos or videos — only people's profile pictures and their voices.

Conversations can be intimate, like a phone call, or might include thousands of people listening to a talk by boldface names, like a conference or stage interview. Think part podcast, part conference call, part social media. It's free to use and there are no ads, at least not at this point.

agencies

Hundreds of fuel vehicles exploded close to Afghanistan's border with Iran on Saturday, injuring dozens of people.

The fire tore through a customs post in the border town of Islam Qala, disrupting power supplies and causing millions of dollars of damage.

Video obtained by Reuters showed thick plumes of black smoke rising into the air.

Iranian authorities sent ambulances and fire engines across the border to help tackle the blaze, which as of Saturday had reportedly been brought under control.

NATO-led personnel in Afghanistan were also asked to help contain the fire.

A western official monitoring the situation told Reuters at least 60 people had been injured.

Afghan officials gave a lower casualty toll, but said that number could rise.

Iranian state media reported that about 500 vehicles had been burnt.

Officials said the cause of the fire was not immediately clear.

Initial reports suggested the blaze started after a gas tanker exploded./ agencies

Europe's financial capital is feeling the cold of Brexit but UK officials insist the City of London is suffering a temporary blip and is well-positioned to profit from new trading horizons.

For the first time last month, as Britain's withdrawal from the EU took full effect, London's financial district lost its European share trading crown to Amsterdam.

Researchers at IHS Markit attributed the decline to a "relatively hard Brexit", and the UK government's failure so far to persuade Brussels to grant full trading rights to City-based firms under a regime known as "equivalence".

London's daily trading volumes in other areas such as derivatives and foreign exchange still vastly outweigh its European neighbours, and Catherine McGuinness, policy chair at the City of London Corporation, played down the development.

"We've always known that some EU-facing business would have to leave the City of London following Brexit, whatever the shape of the deal," she told AFP.

"However, significantly fewer jobs have shifted from the City because of Brexit than was expected, and we remain very confident about the fundamental strengths of the City for the future," McGuinness said.

London "continues to go from strength to strength" in emerging financial technology (fintech) and tech investment, as well as green finance, she added.

In January, according to the Financial Times, an average of 9.2 billion euros ($11.2 billion/£8.1 billion) of shares were traded each day on Euronext Amsterdam together with two other Dutch share markets.

That was more than four times their December figure, and overtook London's daily average of 8.6 billion euros, the newspaper said.

A spokesman for the Dutch Financial Markets Authority told AFP it was not a surprise.

"We think it's a logical consequence because we already had a strong trading standing with the Euronext Amsterdam," he added.

- Lost passport -

Financial services -- a key driver of the British economy -- were largely omitted from the last-minute Brexit trade deal agreed between London and Brussels in late December.

So from January 1, Britain's financial sector lost access to the EU's single market and its European "passport", a means for UK financial products and services to be sold in the EU.

Both sides are instead working to carve out an "equivalence" regime under which each would recognise the other's financial regulation, and so far Brussels has approved only two areas of trading out of dozens that the City needs.

Anish Puaar, an analyst at Rosenblatt Securities, said London's relative decline was "symbolic in the post-Brexit era".

"But beyond that the impact is pretty minimal," he said on Twitter.

Puaar said fund managers will "probably not" care in apportioning assets but the greater danger is for a fragmentation of markets in Europe, which would make trading more inefficient and drive up costs.

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey also addressed fragmentation in a speech last week, urging the EU to hurry up on the equivalence negotiations for the sake of pandemic recovery on both sides of the Channel.

Rebutting some of the demands made by Brussels in return for the City to regain access to EU states, Bailey said Britain had no intention of creating "a low-regulation, high-risk, anything-goes financial centre and system".

But the EU wants cast-iron legal assurances that Britain will not diverge in its financial regulation at the expense of European firms, and stresses that the hardline model for Brexit now in operation was a choice made by London.

- Divergence, not equivalence -

"It cannot be business as usual," the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Thursday, a day after Bailey's speech.

"When you look at the consequences in the financial services, you can clearly see that there is no added value to Brexit and many, many consequences, unfortunately," he said.

However, the UK central banker played down fears of an exodus of jobs from London.

Last month, Bailey said up to 7,000 jobs had so far been relocated to rival centres on the continent including Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt -- well down on doomsday predictions of as many as 50,000 losses.

Mark Simpson, an expert on financial services at the law firm Baker & McKenzie, agreed that by the metric of job losses, London did not need to panic yet.

"But the ongoing equivalence debate illustrates a point that many have been saying for some time -- that the EU is determined to reduce its reliance on London, even if that means driving business further afield" to New York for instance, he told AFP.

"It seems increasingly apparent that the UK will need to accept that its market position for many areas of European business is going to be weaker in future," Simpson said.

The City should focus instead on boosting its appeal to non-European businesses, along with fintech and green finance.

"So what is happening with equivalence is probably going to give the UK more incentive to diverge from EU rules in future."/afp

 Forty-eight PKK terrorists were neutralized, including two senior members, in northern Iraq during Turkey's anti-terror operation that has been completed, the Turkish defense chief said Sunday.

Hulusi Akar said two terrorists were captured and the region was mostly cleared of the terror group during the "extremely special and critical" operation in the Gara region.

"The operation has been completed. Our land and air elements returned to their bases and barracks safely," he said at the operations center on the border in southeastern Sirnak province.

Akar stressed the reason behind launching the operation was Turkey’s right to self-defense, according to international law, to prevent the PKK/KCK terror groups' efforts to re-establish positions.

He said Turkey also wanted to confirm the intelligence about Turks who were abducted by terrorists, which was not disclosed for security reasons, and to take necessary measures.

During the campaign, more than 50 terror targets, including ammunition depots, caves and bases in Gara were destroyed, he said.

13 Turkish nationals martyred by PKK found in cave

"While our activities in the Operation Claw-Eagle 2 area were continuing, the mortal remains of 13 citizens who were detained in a cave, which was taken under control following the intense clash, were found,” said Akar. “All of the terrorists in the cave that martyred our citizens were neutralized.”

He said following an evaluation, it was determined that the innocent and unarmed Turks were martyred by being shot -- one in the shoulder and rest in their heads.

Akar said three soldiers were martyred and three others were injured in the land operation.

Highlighting that the operation was successfully carried out in difficult land and climatic conditions, covering a very large area, he congratulated Turkish Chief of General Staff Yasar Guler and commanders.

PKK terrorists often use northern Iraq as a base to plan cross-border terrorist attacks on Turkey.

Turkey launched Operation Claw-Eagle 2 on Wednesday in line with its right to self-defense according to international law to prevent the PKK/KCK and other terror groups' efforts to re-establish positions used to carry out terror attacks against Turkey.

Turkish authorities use “neutralized” to imply that terrorists in question were killed, captured or surrendered.

Turkey's operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle were launched last June to ensure the safety of Turks and borders by eliminating the threat of the PKK and other terrorist groups that often use northern Iraq to plan cross-border attacks.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants./aa

Turkish security forces seized ammunition, equipment and organizational documents in a counter-terrorism operation in the eastern Sirnak province, the governor's office said on Saturday.

According to a statement, a joint team of gendarmerie commandos and police held the operation in the vicinity of Mt. Gabar and targeted over a dozen shelter and caves in which weapons and equipment were buried under ground.

Among the items found during the operation -- dubbed EREN-10 Martyr Lieutenant Mustafa Erdal -- were sniper rifles, guns, flame thrower, rockets, hand grenades and grenade throwers, improvised explosive devices, circular boards used for explosives, ammunition, organizational documents and supplies.

The statement did not directly refer to any terror group in particular, however, the PKK terror group is known to hold activities in the region.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants./aa

Efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus and preempt its fourth wave in Iran have been dampened by a surge in new infections in some provinces and alarming spread of the UK variant of the virus.

According to officials, the sharp spike in new cases and fatalities in western provinces, bordering Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, has complicated the fight against the pandemic in the country.

Alireza Raisi, a spokesman for Iran's anti-corona taskforce, said on Saturday that although the overall graph of the pandemic has seen a downward tilt in recent weeks, the sudden surge in western provinces like Khuzestan was a cause of concern.

He said nine major cities in the oil-rich province bordering Iraq are presently in the red category, with a high rate of infections.

The spokesman also noted with concern the situation in West Azerbaijan province, bordering Azerbaijan and Turkey, where the cases have seen an upward trend recently.

Iran's Deputy Parliament Speaker Syed Amir Ghazizadeh Hashemi, who is also a member of the anti-corona taskforce, also expressed concern over the eruption of new cases in the western parts of the country.

He termed the situation in Khuzestan and West Azerbaijan "worrying", especially with the UK variant of the virus making inroads in the country, calling for strict compliance with health guidelines.

The UK variant of the virus, which was first reported in Iran early last month in a passenger who had returned from UK, is "rapidly spreading" in the country, according to Health Minister Saeed Namaki.

He said a 71-year-old woman who had no travel history died last week of the UK variant, which points to a spread of the mutated virus in the country.

Health authorities have called for strict vigilance at border entry points, and also at airports for those arriving from abroad.

Iran has so far reported over 1.5 million cases of the virus since its outbreak February last year. A total of 58,883 have died from it.

Vaccination rollout began this week with healthcare workers and other high-risk groups being administered the vaccine in the first phase. Officials say it will take at least a year for the entire population to receive the vaccine.

Iran is also racing to produce a homegrown vaccine, with two vaccines passing the human trial phase so far./aa