Made by stripping back the branches from dried walnut or hazelnut trees, the “chichilaki”, as the trees are known, are designed to look like the beard of the fourth-century Saint Basil

International News via Reuters:

Outside a wooden cabin in central Georgia, local villager Natia Gedenidze places an ornamental tree no more than one metre (3.28 ft) tall in the packed snow, and with the swift strike of a match, sets it ablaze. 

“This is the Georgian Christmas tree with which we celebrated the New Year,” she said.

“Now that the New Year celebrations are over, we burn and throw away everything old and we greet the New Year with new hopes and new love.”

Made by stripping back the branches from dried walnut or hazelnut trees, the “chichilaki”, as the trees are known, are designed to look like the beard of the fourth-century Saint Basil, who was known for caring for the poor and destitute.

Popular in western Georgia but found throughout the country, chichilaki are traditionally put on display in homes on Georgian Orthodox Christmas, on January 7, and are ceremonially burned on Epiphany, which falls on January 19, to symbolise the shaking off of the previous year’s woes.

Another villager, Mariam Gulordava, sitting in her workshop surrounded by dozens of chichilaki, runs her knife down the length of the tree with an expert hand, adding satisfying new bunches of curlicues to the bushy white beard at the tree’s base.

“Hazelnuts… are a symbol of prosperity and well-being,” she said, adding that after the old chichilaki is burned, a new one is brought into the home and kept there for the whole year.

At local plant shop Gardenia, owner Zura Shevardnadze hawks chichilaki in the hopes of keeping the traditions of his ancestors alive. When he was a child, a chichilaki always stood in his parents’ home in wintertime.

“All Georgians believe, especially in western Georgia, that without chichilaki, the real New Year will not come,” Shevarnadze said.

Reporting by David Chkhikvishvili and Irakli Gedenidze; Writing by Lucy PapachristouEditing by Gareth Jones

Brent crude futures lost 28 cents, or 0.44%, to $63.06 a barrel by 1402 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $58.78 a barrel, down 34 cents, or 0.58%

International News via Reuters:

Oil prices fell slightly on Monday after Iran said it had total control following the biggest anti-government demonstrations in years, easing some concerns over supply, while investors also weighed efforts to resume oil exports from Venezuela.

Brent crude futures lost 28 cents, or 0.44%, to $63.06 a barrel by 1402 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $58.78 a barrel, down 34 cents, or 0.58%.

“Lower European equity markets and lack of additional supply disruptions is moderately weighing on oil prices, following a strong rally at the end of last week,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.

Both benchmarks rose more than 3% last week in their biggest such rise since October, as OPEC producer Iran’s clerical establishment stepped up its crackdown on the biggest demonstrations since 2022.

TRUMP WARNS OF INTERVENTION IN TEHRAN

The situation in Iran is “under total control” after widespread demonstrations over the weekend, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Monday in remarks translated to English.

U.S. President Donald Trump had warned of possible military intervention in the event of a violent crackdown on the Iranian protests. 

Trump is expected to meet senior advisers on Tuesday to discuss options for Iran, a U.S. official told Reuters.

VENEZUELA SET TO RESUME OIL EXPORTS SOON

Venezuela is expected to resume oil exports soon following the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro, as Trump said last week the government in Caracas is set to turn over as much as 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the United States.

That has set off a race among oil companies to find tankers and prepare operations to ship the crude safely from vessels and dilapidated Venezuelan ports, four sources familiar with the operations said.

In a White House meeting on Friday, Trafigura said its first vessel should load in the next week.

Investors are also watching the risk of disruptions in supply from Russia, amid Ukraine’s attacks targeting its energy facilities and the prospects of tougher U.S. sanctions on Russian energy.

Oil prices are likely to drift lower this year as a wave of supply creates a market surplus, although geopolitical risks tied to Russia, Venezuela and Iran will continue to drive volatility, Goldman Sachs said in a note on Sunday.

The investment bank maintained its 2026 average price forecasts of $56/$52 per barrel for Brent/WTI, and expects Brent/WTI prices to bottom at $54/50 in the last quarter as OECD inventories build up.

Reporting by Stephanie Kelly and Enes Tunagur in London and Florence Tan and Siyi Liu in Singapore; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Sharon Singleton

The Italian watchdog AGCM last month ordered Meta to suspend its proposed ban while the watchdog investigates the company for suspected abuse of its market power following complaints from rivals

International News via Reuters:

Meta Platforms will exclude Italy from its ban on rival AI chatbots on WhatsApp following an order from the country’s antitrust authority, according to a notice sent to AI providers and developers seen by Reuters.

The Italian watchdog AGCM last month ordered Meta to suspend its proposed ban while the watchdog investigates the company for suspected abuse of its market power following complaints from rivals. The European Commission too is probing Meta over whether it abused its dominance by blocking rival AI chatbots from its messaging service WhatsApp, but did not issue any interim order.

Blocking other AI providers’ access to WhatsApp would give a potential boost to Meta’s own chatbot and virtual assistant Meta AI integrated into the platform last year.

Meta, in its notice to AI providers and developers circulated early last week, said that phone numbers with an Italian country code are currently exempt from WhatsApp’s updated terms of service, to comply with an order from Italian regulators. The updated terms come into effect on January 15.

Meta declined to comment on the updated terms of service and referred to a statement issued late last year which said that the emergence of AI chatbots put a strain on its systems that they were not designed to support.

The Italian antitrust authority declined to comment.

The Interaction Company of California, which has developed AI assistant Poke.com and complained to both the Italian and EU competition regulators, criticised Meta’s Italian carve-out.

“Meta’s move to keep enforcing its new WhatsApp API policy – shutting out AI rivals like Poke.com while only carving out +39 numbers – is deeply disappointing,” Marvin von Hagen, co-founder and CEO of The Interaction Company of California, told Reuters.

“The Italian authority has found Meta’s conduct to be at first glance anti-competitive under EU law. Meta should have suspended the policy worldwide, not just in Italy. The (European) Commission must urgently follow Italy’s lead and adopt interim measures,” he said.

Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Susan Fenton