Author: Steven Sahiounie

Beijing should remove remaining import tariffs, Tim Ayres has told CNBC Canberra’s trade ties with Beijing could only return to normal if China removes restrictions it still has in place, Australia’s assistant minister for trade Tim Ayres has said. The sides are currently in talks over the issue, with Beijing having lifted tariffs on Australian barley imports earlier this month. Tensions between the two countries have been growing since 2018, after Canberra banned Chinese vendors from its 5G rollout and blocked Chinese investment, citing national security grounds. The situation worsened in 2020 when Australia called for an international inquiry into…

In a recent turn of events, a Pakistani court has made a significant decision regarding former Prime Minister Imran Khan. A Pakistani court invalidated on Monday a sedition case against former Prime Minister Imran Khan, providing him some respite. Imran Khan, renowned for his cricket career and later foray into politics, had recently faced imprisonment due to corruption charges. The sedition case, originating from a speech he gave, was filed in Quetta, Balochistan, alleging seditious content. Khan appealed the case, arguing that the necessary consent from federal or provincial authorities was missing for the sedition charges. The Balochistan High Court supported his…

Unpaid vendors want the tech giant’s division in Russia to be declared bankrupt Alphabet, the owner of Google and of its Russian subsidiary Google LLC, owes millions of dollars to local vendors, who want their sector of the giant’s global operations to be declared bankrupt, TASS reported on Monday, citing minutes from the first meeting of the company’s creditors in Russia. According to the news agency, the total amount of Google LLC’s monetary liabilities as of the end of August topped 20.1 billion rubles ($211 million). The creditors’ meeting was attended by representatives of eight vendors, including Izhevsk Radio Plant…

Manufacturing and services have slumped to the lowest level since 2020, data show Business activity in the Eurozone took another hit in August as the bloc’s economic downturn extended from the manufacturing to the services sector, data compiled by S&P Global revealed this week. HCOB’s flash Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the bloc, a measure reflecting manufacturing and services activity, slumped to its lowest level since November 2020 to 47.0, from 48.6 in July. The reading was well below the 50-mark separating growth from contraction, and lower than economists’ expectations of 48.5. Both manufacturing and services reported falling…

China Evergrande lost nearly 90% of its market value early on Monda China Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted property developer, saw its shares nosedive on Monday as the company resumed trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after a 17-month pause. According to data, the developer’s stock plummeted roughly 87% in the first part of the day. Evergrande’s market value slumped by more than $2 billion compared to when it last traded, dropping to around $586 million and way off its peak of over $50 billion in 2017. Shares corrected slightly at the start of Monday’s afternoon session, but…

The French government has allowed the use of the fossil fuel to avoid power shortages, the news outlet says  France has extended permission for power generating companies to burn more coal in the coming months in order to prevent shortages this winter, Bloomberg has reported. The move comes as the output of utility major Electricite de France (EDF), which provides over half of France’s electricity, will reportedly remain below historical levels this winter due to problems with its fleet of nuclear reactors affected by stress corrosion, the outlet said. “Tension on the power system is currently lower than at the…

The RSBI index was well above the 50-point threshold in July, a new study shows The activity of small- and medium-sized businesses in Russia hit a record high in July, with the RSBI (Russian Small Business Index) reaching 57.1 points, according to the latest study by Promsvyazbank (PSB). The figure is well above the 50-point threshold which indicates that business activity is growing. “The current dynamics of business activity of small- and medium-sized businesses indicates an acceleration in its growth rates in all key components,” the bank’s statement reads. “For the first time in two years, the sales of entrepreneurs have…

Moscow meanwhile is successfully reorienting both imports and exports to the East The drop in trade between Russia and the EU over the past year is one of the major signs that Brussels’ sanctions on Moscow have been successful, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, has claimed. His article, titled ‘Yes, the sanctions against Russia are working’, which was published on Saturday on his EEAS blog. According to Borrell, EU imports from Russia dropped by 58% in 2022, which he called “an unprecedented decoupling.” “This movement is accelerating: the decline in imports is above 75% for the first quarter of 2023, and the fall…

The Israeli aggression on Aleppo International Airport comes as a part of the Western and US escalation for supporting the terrorism in the country and for aggravating the impacts of the economic sanctions imposed on the Syrians, Syrian Foreign Ministry affirmed in a statement. Syria calls on the UNSC to resume its responsibilities and hold Israeli occupation accountable for such crimes, the statement added. “At 4:30 a.m. the occupation forces carried out an air attack targeting Aleppo International Airport, which led to its out of service.” “It is not the first time that the Israeli enemy has targeted civilian objects…

Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Putin will not go to India to take part in the G20 summit he upcoming Group of Twenty summit due to be held in New Delhi on September 9 and 10 was among the topics that were discussed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their telephone call, the Kremlin press service said on Monday. “The sides exchanged views ahead of the upcoming Group of Twenty summit in New Delhi,” it said. Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said earlier that Putin will not go to…