Author: Steven Sahiounie

Ricardo Martinelli, who served as president from 2009 to 2014, is accused of using illegally obtained state money in 2010 to purchase the bulk of the Editora Panama America publishing company.  Despite being charged with money laundering, Ricardo Martinelli, the former president of Panama, won his party’s primary on Sunday and the right to seek another term in the elections next year. Martinelli, who served as president from 2009 to 2014, is accused of using illegally obtained state money in 2010 to purchase the bulk of the Editora Panama America publishing company. Last week, a prosecutor proposed a 12-year prison term…

The United States might fall into a mild recession in the second half of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said in an interview on CBS News channel on Sunday. “So the last time I was here was the end of last year and we predicted a recession this year. We moved it out. It’s basically third quarter this year, fourth quarter, this year into first quarter, a mild recession. And unemployment gets up in high 4% range, still very low by historical norms,” he said. In May, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that…

The Israeli occupation forces wounded dozens of Palestinians during a raid carried out by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank. Dozens of Palestinians were wounded on Sunday while confronting a raid by the Israeli occupation forces northwest of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. Some 23 civilians were wounded during a raid carried out by the Israeli occupation forces and Israeli settlers on Baraqa, while reports said a young Palestinian man was arrested in the storming. “A group of settlers, under the protection of the occupation forces, attacked the homes and vehicles of Palestinian citizens in the town of…

Deutsche Bank has issued a warning that a cycle of economic expansion and contraction will occur this year, leading to an imminent wave of defaults in corporate debt, particularly in the US and Europe. According to the Bank’s recently published annual study, company defaults will become more frequent compared to the past two decades. Deutsche Bank anticipates that default rates will reach their highest point in the fourth quarter of 2024. The bank’s projections indicate peak default rates of 9% for high-yield debt in the US, 11.3% for US loans, 4.4% for high-yield bonds in Europe, and 7.3% for European…

The director of the Syrian issue in the Turkish Foreign Ministry tells Al Mayadeen that talks with Syria are ongoing as part of the quadripartite meeting held by Russia. Talks with Syria will be held as part of the quadripartite meeting that will be hosted by Moscow, noting that the talks set to be held will be decisive when it comes to reaching a settlement to the situation in Syria, the director of the Syrian file in the Turkish Foreign Ministry told Al Mayadeen. This comes a week after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced last week that his country decided…

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said although he is relieved lawmakers reached a resolution for the debt ceiling, it is “not good for the United States to go through this.” The resolution “provided momentary momentum in the markets and allows us to face the real economic issues and real debt level issues ahead of us,” Moynihan told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. Getting rid of the debt ceiling altogether is a “political question,” Moynihan said. “At the end of the day, we need to have a serious discussion about how much debt we can have in this country,…

Many CEOs, investors and economists had penciled in 2023 as the year when a recession would hit the American economy. The thinking was that the US economy would grind to a halt because the Federal Reserve was effectively slamming the brakes to squash inflation. Businesses would lay off workers and inflation-weary Americans would slash spending. But the case for a 2023 US recession is crumbling for a simple reason: America’s jobs market is way too strong. Hiring unexpectedly accelerated again last month, with employers adding an impressive 339,000 jobs in May. Not only is that more than any major forecaster…

Oil prices rose Monday after Saudi Arabia said it would slash output by another one million barrels per day for at least a month starting in July as part of an effort by OPEC+ producers to shore up crude prices. At 5.30 a.m. ET, Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading up 2.3% at nearly $78 a barrel, while WTI, the US benchmark, rose 2.4% to $73.50. Gasoline futures were up 1.5%, but the average US pump price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas was unchanged at $3.55. The Saudi production cut was its biggest in years and will…

Demand for lithium, a key component for electric vehicle batteries, is expected to surge, from 500,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate in 2021 to three million to four million metric tons in less than a decade, according to McKinsey & Co. Albemarle, the world’s top producer of this critical metal and the operator of mines in Australia, Chile and the U.S., says it plans to bring another domestic lithium mine online by 2027 — Kings Mountain in North Carolina. It already operates Silver Peak in Nevada. Albemarle is also building a $1.3 billion processing facility in South Carolina, where it…

The largest terminal operator at the Port of Long Beach, California told truckers Sunday it will close for both the day and night shifts on Monday, according to an email obtained by CNBC. Ports and workers are locked in an unofficial dispute over wages, as well as safety, automation and pension benefits. The notice was sent by Total Terminals International (TTI), the largest terminal in Long Beach and a unit of MSC. “Port of Long Beach cargo has been moving through the terminals and we do expect the commitment by the parties to continue and encourage the parties to put…