Author: Steven Sahiounie

Starting from 2024, six new countries will be affiliated with BRICS – Argentina, Egypt, Iran, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia The decision on BRICS enlargement, adopted at the summit, will give the association more strength, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at a news conference on the results of the 15th BRICS summit on Thursday. “The enlargement will be a new starting point for the development of cooperation within BRICS and give the BRICS group more strength,” Xi said. “I believe that as long as we work together, BRICS cooperation will have great prospects and the BRICS countries – a…

Iran’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani, reaffirmed that his country backs the Syrian government’s demand for the complete withdrawal of “all illegal foreign military forces” from its territory. IRNA News Agency quoted Iravani as saying during the meeting of the UN Security Council held to discuss developments in Syria that terrorism still poses threat to Syria and the region and is present in areas outside the control of the Syrian government. Iravani pointed out that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria is always threatened due to the occupation of some areas by illegitimate foreign forces,…

The Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in Damascus held a reception on the occasion of the 97th birth anniversary of the late leader Fidel Castro and the 58th anniversary of the establishment of Syrian-Cuban relations at the ambassador’s residence. The Cuban Ambassador in Damascus, Luis Mariano Fernandez Rodrigues, stressed during his speech the depth and strength of the relations that bind Syria and Cuba, and their participation in identical stances at all international forums in support of just causes and the causes of other peoples of the world, stressing that his country was and will always be on the…

Energy company Cheiron confirms that the exploration well has been successfully placed on production at a rate of over 2,500 bpd. Egypt’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced on Tuesday that a new oil field has been discovered in the Gulf of Suez. “Cheiron Company announced that it has made a new oil discovery in the Geisum and Tawila West Concession in the Gulf of Suez,” the Ministry confirmed in a statement. The oil field will be managed by Egypt’s Petrogulf Misr, which is a joint venture between the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation and the Cheiron and Kuwait Foreign…

S&P downgrades banks’ ratings citing financing concerns, a greater reliance on brokered deposits, deposit withdrawals, and increased interest rates as reasons. United States bank shares dipped Tuesday after S&P Global joined Moody’s in downgrading credit ratings on certain regional lenders with significant commercial real estate (CRE) exposure. The credit rating company’s move will make borrowing more costly for a banking sector aiming to recover from a crisis earlier this year when three regional banks collapsed. According to David Wagner, a portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors, “Some of the structural aspects for banks, regarding their balance sheet, remain risks to banks, as the Fed…

The Bundesbank forecasts that Germany’s economy will continue to”stagnate” after contracting during the first two quarters. Germany’s economic production is anticipated to “stagnate” in the third quarter of 2023 after consecutive contractions seen in the first two quarters, Bundesbank said in its monthly report on Monday “High financing costs will probably continue to weigh on investment. They are also still dampening demand in the construction sector, which is likely to be increasingly reflected in production,” the German bank stated. Europe’s powerhouse is “still lackluster” and “still experiencing a period of weakness,” it added. The German government will witness a serious…

An S&P Global report says that a recession in Germany’s service sector likely began in the second quarter of 2023. Preliminary data revealed on Wednesday that Germany’s market activities experienced their sharpest decline in over three years during August. According to S&P Global, the HCOB German Flash Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell from 48.5 in July to 44.7 this month, recording the lowest rate since May 2022, an underperformance from experts’ forecasts of 48.3. At a reading below 50, the numbers indicated continued contraction in activity growth. “Any hope that the service sector might rescue the German economy has…

By the end of the summit, ministers will have to adopt a joint statement that was drafted during a meeting of the G20 trade and investment working group earlier this week. Ministers and delegations of G20 member-states are readying for the G20 Trade and Investment Summit kick-off today, Thursday, in the city of Jaipur, India. As per the summit’s agenda, ministers and representatives from member states will be discussing the coordination of positions on global trade and investment-related issues. They will also be discussing some proposals that were put forward by the Indian presidency in the G20. By the end…

Maher Akhras, a former Palestinian prisoner who observed 103 days of hunger strike to secure an end to his administrative detention in Israel, today joined 10 other Palestinian detainees in their hunger strike, most demanding an end to their incarceration without charge or trial, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS). Akhras, 52, from Silat al-Dhaher town near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, was detained yesterday at his home. He spent four years in prison, most in administrative detention, for his resistance to the occupation, the last of which was in 2020 when he went on hunger strike…

The Israeli occupation authorities today and overnight rounded up at least 40 Palestinians in raids at and ransacking of their homes across the occupied territories for a total of more than 120 detained over the past three days, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS). It said 13 of the detainees were from Fawwar refugee camp in the Hebron district in the south of the West Bank, while two others were from Hebron city itself. Three were detained from the Bethlehem area, also in the south of the West Bank. One was also detained at Shufat refugee camp in Jerusalem…