Author: Steven Sahiounie

Clearstream blocked billions of dollars in private assets as part of Ukraine-related sanctions last year Russian investors have launched a class action lawsuit against Clearstream, an international settlement depository based in Luxembourg, aiming to recover the funds that were blocked there due to Ukraine-related Western sanctions against Russia. This was reported on Friday by the NSP law firm, which is handling the case, on its official Telegram channel. According to NSP, the lawsuit was filed on August 17 at the Arbitration Court in Moscow. The plaintiffs seek to recover roughly 200 million rubles ($2.14 million) in compensation for the value…

Crude shipments plunged below 7 million barrels per day in June, data has revealed Shipments of crude oil from Saudi Arabia have slumped to their lowest level in almost two years, the latest data by the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) revealed on Wednesday. Riyadh’s oil exports totaled 6.80 million barrels per day (bpd) in June, representing a decrease of 124,000 bpd compared to May, data compiled by JODI showed. Crude supplies from the world’s top oil exporter plunged below 7 million bpd for the first time this year as the kingdom along with several other major OPEC+ producers opted…

The action was reportedly taken at the behest of the central bank and aimed at slowing down the yuan’s depreciation Major Chinese banks went on a dollar selling spree this week in order to buy yuan and slow the weakening of the national currency, Reuters reported on Thursday citing market sources. According to the report, the offloading was spotted in both onshore and offshore foreign exchange markets, with offshore units of the banks seen selling dollars during London and New York trading hours. An unnamed Shanghai-based trader told the news outlet that the action is not uncommon. Banks in China…

Exports of petroleum products are expected to surge to record levels, the outlet says  Brazil has increased purchases of Russian petroleum products, with imports set to reach record levels this month, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing commodity tracking data by energy analytics firm Kpler. In an effort to build new markets, Moscow has been strengthening its position as a leading fuel exporter to the Latin American country since the EU and G7 imposed an embargo accompanied by price caps on Russian oil and petroleum products in early February, the outlet said. The Western ban on Russia’s seaborne exports of crude…

Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay an official visit to South Africa from August 21-24 and take part in the 15th Summit of BRICS nations in Johannesburg, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Friday. “At the invitation of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to South Africa from August 21-24 and will participate in the 15th Summit of BRICS nations, which will take place in Johannesburg,” the foreign ministry quoted Hua on the website as saying. The Chinese diplomat added that Xi and Ramaphosa will co-chair the China-Africa leaders summit during the visit.…

“We are willing to sit down and negotiate without preconditions,” John Kirby said US President Joe Biden is ready to discuss denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un without preconditions, US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told the Kyodo News agency. “We are willing to sit down and negotiate without preconditions,” the US official was quoted as saying on Friday. In his words, North Korea has not yet responded positively to that offer. According to Kyodo, it was the first time that the Biden administration openly declared its readiness for top-level talks with North Korea. Prior…

The Permanent Representative of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, Ambassador Riyad Mansour, has sent three identical letters to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the President of the Security Council for this month (United States of America), and the President of the United Nations General Assembly. These messages address the ongoing acts of killing carried out by Israel, the occupying force, in the Palestinian territories, with Israeli occupation forces and settler militias continuing to target Palestinian civilians, including children, with violence, without any deterrence or fear of consequences. Mansour pointed out that yesterday, Israeli occupation forces stormed…

Washington doubts the mission can achieve its “principal objective,” officials told the newspaper US intelligence agencies have made a “grim” assessment of Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive, believing Kiev will fail to plunge south toward the Crimean Peninsula by the end of the year, according to the Washington Post. Officials voiced doubts about the Ukrainian mission in a classified intel report, the contents of which were relayed to the Post on Thursday, with the outlet citing Moscow’s “brutal proficiency” in defending captured territory. “The US intelligence community assesses that Ukraine’s counteroffensive will fail to reach the key southeastern city of Melitopol,” the report said, adding that Kiev would then…

Earlier on Friday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that a drone was shot down during a flight towards the Russian capital A Ukrainian drone attempted to attack targets in Moscow and the surrounding Moscow Region on Friday, but was shot down by the Russian air defenses and fell near the Russian capital’s Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment, causing no casualties or fire, the Russian Defense Ministry said. “At around 4:00 a.m. Moscow time, the Kiev Regime attempted to carry out another terror attack with the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle, which targeted facilities in Moscow and the Moscow Region,” the ministry said.…

Previously, the former American leader announced that he would release a “Large, complex, detailed, but irrefutable REPORT on fraud in the presidential election” on August 21 In response to fresh charges against him, former US President Donald Trump cancelled a press conference to publish a report about the 2020 presidential vote rigging in the US state of Georgia in 2020, scheduled for August 21. “Rather than releasing the Report on the Rigged & Stolen Georgia 2020 Presidential Election on Monday, my lawyers would prefer putting this, I believe, Irrefutable & Overwhelming evidence of Election Fraud & Irregularities in formal Legal…