Author: Steven Sahiounie

The Senate has approved raising the government spending limit ahead of a looming deadline A last-minute deal aimed at averting the first-ever US default was approved by the Senate late on Thursday. The bipartisan bill to raise the country’s debt limit was passed by 63 votes to 36, one day after clearing the US House of Representatives. The legislation has been referred to President Joe Biden, who said he would immediately sign the measure into law. The new measure is set to avert economic catastrophe, with only days remaining before the US was due to default on its $31.4 trillion…

Net profits at Russia’s largest oil producer, Rosneft, jumped by 45.5% in the first quarter of this year compared to the previous three months, hitting 323 billion rubles ($4 billion) due to a rise in output, the company announced this week. Analysts polled by the Interfax had expected the figure to be far smaller, at $2.9 billion. Oil and gas production in the first quarter increased by 0.8% from October to December, exceeding four million barrels per day, Rosneft reported. Production at the Sakhalin-1 project in Russia’s Far East jumped by 180%, quarter on quarter. The company’s CEO Igor Sechin,…

Moscow has continued to supply Western and Central Europe via Ukraine, Gas Infrastructure Europe data shows The EU has continued to ramp up imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as it is eager to curtail imports from Russia. However, the share of Russian blue fuel exports to the bloc in May was still higher than the volume of gas supplies from the UK, data from Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) published on Friday showed. The share of gas deliveries from the East, including Russia, has dropped to 7.2% this year. This is less than the volume of gas supplies from Northern…

Yango, a local subsidiary of Yandex, is expanding its taxi business in the UAE’s largest city Yango – a ride-hailing, delivery and e-grocery company with Russian origins – is gaining popularity and challenging industry majors Uber and Careem in Dubai, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing sources. Its share of the local ride-hailing market in May amounted to between 4% and 8%, less than a year after the company started operations in the UAE’s most populous city, according to the report. Yango launched in Dubai in September 2022. It’s operated by Netherlands-based company Ridetech International, formerly Yandex Taxi, a subsidiary of…

Exports of Russian oil to India grew fourteenfold in the 2022-2023 fiscal year compared to the same period last year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its annual report released on Wednesday. According to the Indian regulator, supplies surged from $2.2 billion in 2021 to $31.02 billion during the most recent fiscal year, which ended on March 31. The share of Russian hydrocarbons imported by the South Asian country increased from 2% to 19.1%, the report said. Supplies from Russia reached 50.84 million tons of crude, making it India’s largest supplier, replacing Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the United…

Inflation has risen for two months in a row, the government statistics service has reported Annual inflation in the Netherlands rose for the second month in a row and reached 6.1% in May, preliminary data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) released on Thursday showed. Growth in consumer prices has accelerated in recent months, increasing from 4.4% in March to 5.2% in April on an annual basis. The trend has largely been driven by energy prices, which fell less significantly in May than in the previous month, the report said. The costs of food, beverages and tobacco have also contributed to the…

The country has managed to retain its status as a net supplier despite sanctions, the agriculture minister says Russia has reoriented its agricultural exports to countries that have not supported Western sanctions against Moscow, with 87% now going to those nations, the agricultural minister has said. “Shipments of Russian agricultural produce to China, Turkey, Egypt, Bangladesh, Algeria and Pakistan have seen a significant increase,” Dmitry Patrushev said on Friday, speaking at a ministerial panel. Patrushev stressed that Russian producers have been steadily building ties with reliable and responsible foreign partners. Russia retained the status of a net exporter of agricultural…

Jake Sullivan noted that “without preconditions does not mean without accountability” The United States is ready for arms control dialogue with Russia and China without preliminary conditions, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday. “We have stated our willingness to engage in bilateral arms control discussions with Russia and with China without preconditions,” he said at an annual meeting of the Arms Control Association. He noted however that “without preconditions does not mean without accountability, will still hold nuclear powers accountable. For reckless behavior, and we’ll still hold our adversaries and competitors responsible for upholding nuclear agreements.” Source:…

The BRICS group of nations seeks to build “a fairer, inclusive and open international architecture with sustainable development at its core,” Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said The BRICS group of nations is no longer an alternative to other international associations, but a bulwark of global politics, External Affairs Minister of India Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Friday. “BRICS is no longer an ‘alternative,’ it is an established feature of the global landscape. The message of reform that BRICS embodies must permeate the world of multilateralism,” the top diplomat wrote on his Twitter page. “The Friends of BRICS strongly support UNSC reform,” Subrahmanyam Jaishankar…

The incident occurred on Friday evening when a passenger train heading from Kolkata to Chennai collided with a freight train At least 50 people were killed and 350 were injured when two trains collided in the Indian state of Odisha, the Hindustan Times newspaper has said. Earlier reports put the death toll at 30, saying that almost 200 people were injured. The incident occurred on Friday evening near Odisha’s city of Balasore. According to early reports, a passenger train heading from Bangalore to Kolkata partially derailed after colliding with a freight train. Several coaches ended up on neighboring tracks and were hit…