Author: Steven Sahiounie

Speaking to RIA Novosti, diplomats stressed the openness and inclusivity of the group Beijing wants to see new members join BRICS, Chinese diplomats have told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency. In recent months, more than a dozen countries have expressed an interest in joining the alliance of major emerging economies, currently comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. On Monday, the Russian outlet quoted the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s press office as saying: “China has always been convinced that BRICS is an open and inclusive mechanism, Beijing supports the process of BRICS expansion and welcomes the accession of more like-minded…

Yoon Suk Yeol stressed that South Korea would bolster trilateral cooperation with the US and Japan amid the growing threat from the DPRK North Korea could use nuclear weapons to achieve its goals, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said at a cabinet meeting. “North Korea will use all kinds of means to achieve its military goals, and will not balk at using nuclear weapons,” the Japanese Kyodo news agency quoted him as saying. The South Korean president also said that South Korea will bolster trilateral cooperation with the US and Japan amid the growing threat from the DPRK. Yoon Suk Yeol…

Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said today that the settler terrorist attacks against the town of Hawara and other villages near Nablus during the past two days and Israel’s collective punishment policy and aggression will only increase the resilience of the Palestinian people. Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting held in Ramallah, the Prime Minister condemned the calls by the settlers and slogans by extremist Israeli cabinet ministers to wipe out the town of Hawara, south of Nablus, where two Israeli were killed in a shooting on Saturday. Following the attack, and in a collective punishment step, Israel…

The Israeli occupation forces today detained at least 12 Palestinians in the occupied territories, one of them was severely beaten during the arrest and his family home was ransacked, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and other sources. It said forces raided the house of Ismail Khatib in Kufr Aqab neighborhood, north of occupied East Jerusalem located beyond the segregation barrier, and arrested him after severely beating him and ransacking his house. Another resident of Kufr Aqab was also detained, according to local sources. In the Bethlehem district, the Israeli military detained five people from the village of Marah…

Russia highly appreciates the efforts of the South African Chairmanship, including the intensified work to improve the entire constellation of BRICS mechanisms to deepen BRICS dialogue with other countries, the top Russian diplomat noted BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) has launched the expansion process for becoming one of the pillars of a new, more just polycentric world order, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an article for South Africa’s Ubuntu Magazine. “We are consistently working to develop the BRICS interaction with the countries representing the World Majority. In particular, one of the priorities of the South African Chairmanship…

The former head of the United States noted that he made such a decision in connection with the results of a poll by the CBS television channel, in which 62% of respondents would choose him as a candidate for the presidency Former US President Donald Trump confirmed that he won’t be doing the Republican Party debate on Wednesday, according to the politician’s post on his Truth Social. “New CBS poll, just out, has me leading the field by `legendary’ numbers. Trump 62% <…>. The public knows who I am and what a successful presidency I had, with energy Independence, strong…

The RTS Index added 1.38% to 1,043.14 points MOSCOW, August 18. /TASS/. The MOEX Russia edged up above 3,100 points during the trading session on the Moscow Exchange, according to market data. The MOEX Russia Index edged up by 1.35% to 3,100.3 points. The RTS Index added 1.38% to 1,043.14 points. The Index continued growing further down and reached 3,102.48 points, up 1.42%. Source: Tass

Sluggish economic growth and lack of government support have driven many companies out of business, analysts say The number of bankruptcy declarations in the EU reached the highest level in eight years in the second quarter of 2023, the bloc’s statistics agency Eurostat said this week. According to the data, the number of companies going out of business between April and June surged 8.4% against the previous quarter. This marks a sixth consecutive quarterly increase, the agency said. In the reporting period, bankruptcy declarations reached their highest level since Eurostat started tracking such data in 2015. Bankruptcy filings were on the rise…

“The trade turnover between BRICS countries and the Kingdom is at a good level at present and Thailand, among more than twenty countries, officially announced its interest of joining BRICS,” Vitaly Kiselev added” PHUKET, August 18. /TASS/. Cooperation between Thailand and chambers of commerce of BRICS countries evidences the interest of the Kingdom in developing ties with this association, President of the Thai-Russian Chamber of Commerce (TRCC) Vitaly Kiselev told TASS in an interview. “The BRICS name, as we see, has become popular worldwide. BRICS member-countries were always of interest for Thailand. One of new trends is the proactive establishment…

The local economy’s revenues from Russian tourists have already reached $2 bln this year PHUKET /Thailand/, August 19. /TASS/. Trade turnover between Russia and Thailand has surpassed $1.2 bln this year, with the Thai tourist sector being one of the promising cooperation areas, Russia’s Trade Representative in Thailand Yuri Lyzhin said. “Trade turnover has exceeded $1.2 bln this year. The Western sanctions’ pressure has been considerable. However, our positions in bilateral contacts are recovering, with tourism being one of promising areas,” he said. According to our calculations, the local economy’s revenues from Russian tourists have already reached $2 bln this…