Author: Steven Sahiounie

Russia’s VSMPO-AVISMA has been added to a list of foreign firms reportedly posing a risk to US national security The US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has introduced export restrictions on 28 international companies, including a well-known Russian titanium exporter, determined to be acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States. According to a notice posted in the Federal Register on Tuesday, the targeted entities from Russia, China, Finland, Germany, Oman, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates will be subject to additional license requirements for exports, re-exports, and transactions. The list of sanctioned…

Internet major VK has finalized its transfer of domicile from the British Virgin Islands to Russia, according to an official register Russian social media and internet services giant VK Group has officially moved the jurisdiction of its business back to Russia, an official corporate register showed on Tuesday. The company redomiciled from the British Virgin Islands to a special administrative region (SAR) on Oktyabrsky Island in Russia’s Kaliningrad Region, which is сonsidered one of Russia’s “offshore” zones. VK Group, which owns a leading Russian social media platform, VKontakte, will continue to operate in the SAR as an international public joint…

Binance will sell its business in the sanctioned country, according to a press statement Cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced on Wednesday that it will sell its Russia business to newly-launched exchange CommEX to comply with US sanctions on the country. The world’s largest crypto exchange did not disclose financial details of the deal but noted it will have no ongoing revenue split from the sale, nor will it maintain an option to buy back shares in the business. In August, the company said it was cutting ties with sanctioned Russian banks. “As we look toward the future, we recognize that operating…

The US-led bloc is gradually turning into a new ‘Axis’, Dmitry Medvedev has warned The West is pushing the world closer to a global conflict unseen since World War II by supplying ever heavier weapons to Ukraine and celebrating Nazism, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned in a Telegram post on Tuesday. Medvedev, who is currently the deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, was reacting to the reported arrival of US-made M1 Abrams battle tanks in Ukraine and a scandal that saw the Canadian parliament, alongside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, give a standing ovation…

A small fire that led to guests and diplomatic personnel being evacuated from Baghdad’s Al-Rasheed hotel has been brought under control, an official at the hotel told Reuters via phone early on Wednesday. The hotel houses several envoys from Gulf states. The small fire occurred in kitchen, and an official described the evacuation as a routine precautionary measure, saying guests had safely returned to their rooms. The hotel is in Iraq’s highly fortified Green Zone which hosts parliament, many government buildings and foreign embassies. Source: Arab News

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the so-called Zangezur trade corridor passing through Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran must be completed, broadcasters reported on Tuesday, a day after he met Azerbaijan’s leader. Speaking to reporters on his return flight from the Azeri exclave of Nakhchivan, where he met President Ilham Aliyev, Erdogan said that if Armenia does not allow the trade corridor to pass through its territory then Iran was warm to the idea of allowing it passage through its territory. Following Azerbaijan’s rout of Armenian forces in a 24-hour blitz in Nagorno-Karabakh last week, Baku has raised hopes of opening…

On Tuesday, Russia’s envoy to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow would insist on bringing to justice those responsible for the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage. Germany, Denmark, and Sweden have been tasked with protecting the United States in the situation surrounding the explosion of the Nord Stream pipelines, Vassily Nebenzya said at a UN Security Council meeting. “Since Germany, Denmark and Sweden have been tasked with justifying the involvement of their overseas big brother, their investigators have their hands tied and their eyes closed,” Nebenzya said. “That’s why, as the same Seymour Hersh told us, after the meeting between Joe Biden and…

According to the Civil Defense, the fire was probably caused by the use of fireworks during the wedding The number of fatalities and casualties in a fire in Iraq’s northern Nineveh Province has risen to 450, the Iraqi Red Crescent Society said on its X (formerly Twitter) page. “The number of fatalities and casualties in a fire in a hall where a wedding was held has risen to 450. The tragedy occurred in the city of Al-Hamdaniya (also known as Bakhdida – TASS), located east of [the administrative center of the province of] Mosul,” the agency said in a statement.…

Saudi Arabia offered condolences to Iraq after a fire ripped through a wedding hall, killing more than 100 and injuring scores more.The Kingdom shared its sympathy through a foreign ministry statement issued on Wednesday morning, wishing the injured a speedy recovery.The fire broke out during a wedding on Tuesday night, at an event hall in the northern Iraqi town of Qaraqosh, officials said early Wednesday.Iraq’s Interior Ministry said it had issued four arrest warrants for owners of the wedding hall, state media reported, and President Abdul Latif Rashid called for an investigation Source: Arab News

The former president has been found to have unlawfully inflated the value of his properties and businesses A New York State civil court has found former US President Donald Trump and his family business liable for illegally inflating his net worth, Justice Arthur Engoron revealed on Tuesday. State Attorney General Letitia James had sued Trump and the Trump Organization last September, claiming he had lied for a decade about his net worth. The judge found that the reality TV star had inflated the value of his assets by between $2.23 and $3.6 billion in order to secure favorable terms on…