Author: Steven Sahiounie

Nine citizens were injured in gas cylinder explosion in a restaurant in Mezzeh area in Damascus. “At about 13:30, a gas cylinder exploded inside a restaurant in Mazzeh, West Villas.The explosion injured nine citizens and caused huge damage to the place and surrounding buildings and cars”, Damascus police commander, Mousa al-Jassem told SANA. General Director of Al-Mouwasat University Hospital Dr. Isam Zakariya al-Amin said that the hospital received 9 injured persons, three of them with burns, they all are receiving the proper treatment. The reason behind the explosion was a gas leak inside the restaurant. Source: SANA

The country is losing its status as a major production hub due to rising costs, Hildegard Muller says  The future of Germany’s car production is at risk due to “toxic” energy prices, the president of the Association of the Automotive Industry, Hildegard Muller, has warned. Germany “is losing dramatically its international competitiveness” as the location for the automobile industry because of soaring energy costs, Muller stated in an interview with the head of Microsoft Germany, Marianne Janik, on Monday. Other countries are becoming more attractive for important industries such as battery or semiconductor manufacturing, which is a worrisome message for Germany amid…

Due to economic problems, Germany has once again become “Europe’s sick man,” CNBC reported, citing the head of the Ifo Institute, Hans Werner Zain. The nickname “Europe’s Sick Man” has resurfaced in recent weeks as industrial production in Europe’s largest economy continues to falter and the country struggles with rising energy prices. The term was originally used to describe the German economy, in 1998, as it overcame post-reunification economic challenges. Expert Werner Zahn said: “This is not a short-term phenomenon.” Source: Sputnik

 Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia is considering the possibility of accelerating the construction of gas pipelines “Far East” and “Siberian-2 Power”.Moscow-  Sputnik. Putin said at a meeting on the implementation of the Murmansk LNG project: “Given the good prospects for expanding cooperation with friendly countries, we are considering the possibility of accelerating the construction of the Far East (pipeline), as well as the main gas pipeline “Siberian Force-2”. Source: Sputnik

A Turkish diplomatic source said that Turkey and Russia will intensify work on the project proposed by Moscow to launch a gas export center in Turkey. The source said in a statement to Sputnik in response to a question about the developments of this project: “Instructions have already been issued to the relevant departments to intensify the work, and the working groups ordered by the leaders [Putin and Erdogan] to form will start negotiations in the near future, and soon we will see concrete steps.” Source: Sputnik

A local diplomatic source told TASS that Turkey will soon inform the UN about the results of the Sochi talks between the two presidents on the resumption of the Black Sea Grain Initiative Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan may hold another meeting after the Turkish leader’s contacts at the UN, the Hurriyet newspaper reported. During talks in Sochi on September 4, Erdogan praised Putin’s proposal to supply poor African countries with one million tons of grain. “We concluded from Putin’s remarks that the grain corridor talks will continue for some time. The two leaders may meet…

Mao Ning pointed out that UNGA Resolution 2758 (also known as the Resolution on Admitting Peking) does not mention Taiwan and does not give the Chinese authorities the right to represent the island’s 23 million inhabitants at the UN Taiwan has no legal grounds to have a representation office at the United Nations, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Mao Ning said. “Since the adoption of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758, China has enjoyed the political, legal and procedural right to be the sole representative of the whole of China, including the island of Taiwan. This means that there can only…

“Russia is right saying that it sees no sense of returning to the deal until its terms are met,” the source noted Turkey will soon report to the United Nations on the results of talks between the Turkish and Russian presidents, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin respectively, on the resumption of the Black Sea grain initiative, Turkey’s diplomatic source told TASS on Tuesday. “We should be expecting Turkey’s contacts with the United Nations in the coming days regarding the package of proposals drafted in collaboration with the international organization on the resumption of the grain corridor,” the source said.…

The Israeli occupation forces today detained at least 17 Palestinians in raids at their family homes in the occupied territories, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and other sources. Sources said six people were rounded up in the Hebron governorate in the south of the West Bank, five of them from the town of Halhoul, north of Hebron, and the sixth from Arroub refugee camp. In the Jenin district in the north of the West Bank, soldiers detained two Palestinians in the town of Yabad, south of Jenin, after an army jeep ran into a motorcycle the two were riding.…

The sources say that the EU seeks to guarantee the African Union full G20 membership, not just permanent guest invitee status High-ranking EU officials intend to take advantage of the absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in New Delhi to try to exert influence over a number of African guest invitees, Bloomberg reported, citing sources. According to them, European officials plan to hold a series of sideline meetings with their African colleagues because, “the 27-nation bloc aims to show that it is serious about redefining its partnership with Africa, despite the troubled legacy…