Author: Steven Sahiounie

The prisoner exchange treaty with Belgium was ratified by President Ibrahim Raisi in November last year, and was mediated by the Sultanate of Oman.  The Omani Foreign Ministry announced, in a statement posted on Twitter, that prisoners from both Tehran and Brussels were transported to Muscat, where they will be swapped to be returned to their respective home countries.  The statement added that the Sultanate of Oman appreciated the high positive spirit that prevailed in the talks in Muscat between the Iranian and Belgian sides, and their keenness to settle this humanitarian issue. The prisoner exchange treaty with Belgium was…

At least four people were killed and two are missing after a fireworks explosion occurred in Dacheng County, north China’s Hebei Province, on Friday, according to local authorities. Xinhua said that the blast happened around 4 p.m. at Zangtun police station where police officers were sampling and identifying fireworks suspected of being illegally traded. According to a preliminary investigation, 11 people were at the scene. So far, nine have been rescued, among whom four showed no vital signs, and five are under treatment. Local authorities have sent rescuers to search for the missing people. An investigation into the cause of…

The Israeli occupation forces are murdering Palestinians left and right for the sake of killing them, as a WashPo report reveals that the occupation carried out illegal extrajudicial killings. The Washington Post published an investigative report highlighting the brutality of Israeli forces in targeting Palestinian civilians, especially children. The newspaper report underlines the fact that Israeli raids have long been a fixture of life for Palestinians living under occupation; typically, they would be carried out swiftly at night and end in apprehension. IOF systematic raids peaked under the current government, which the paper describes as the most right-wing government in the occupation’s…

The president vowed that Russia won’t reward firms opting to leave the country with excess capital Russian companies should reclaim their position on the domestic market and expand beyond it, President Vladimir Putin has told a televised meeting with industry leaders of the Business Russia organization. According to the head of state, focusing solely on the local market would only lead to self-isolation and loss of competitiveness. The country’s authorities will keep working to reduce the administrative burden that local businesses have to face, Putin said. He added that the government had introduced an assessment of the impact of regulations…

Kiev was explicitly accused of the drone attack however Moscow has previously accused Kiev of similar attacks on targets along Russia’s western borders.  Mikhail Vedernikov, governor of the Russian Pskov region, said an oil pipeline adminstartion building was left damaged after being attacked by two drones. The governor didn’t explicitly accuse Kiev of the attack. However, Moscow has previously accused Kiev of similar attacks on targets along Russia’s western borders. “Provisionally, the building was damaged as a result of an attack by two unmanned aerial vehicles,” Vedernikov said, noting that there were no civilian casualties. On their part, Kiev has…

The energy-dependent German economy has been in decline since losing cheap Russian oil and gas The German economy, once Europe’s roaring engine of growth, slipped into recession in early 2023 amid runaway inflation, the national statistics office revealed this week. GDP data is reportedly showing surprisingly negative signals, with the economy losing the potential for growth. RT looks at the challenges facing the EU’s economic powerhouse. This article was originally published by RT.

A Sputnik source pointed out that Kiev’s employment of marine drones points toward escalation in the war, stretching out the battlefront geographically. Ukraine has received marine drones of Western production, allegedly from the UK, to be employed in the Black Sea to take out naval targets, Russian news agency Sputnik reported, citing a source familiar with the matter. “Despite the boasting of Kiev representatives about the use of drones of their own, that is, Ukrainian production, their profile suggests otherwise. The appearance of Ukrainian Mikola-type naval drones assembled from components supplied to Kiev by NATO does not correspond to the profile of…

The UK, Australia, and the US have conducted their first military testing using artificial intelligence. According to the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense on Friday, AUKUS has conducted its first military testing using artificial intelligence technologies to monitor and detect military targets in a realistic environment in real-time. In a published statement, the ministry wrote that the work was a “joint deployment of Australian, UK and US AI-enabled assets in a collaborative swarm to detect and track military targets in a representative environment in real-time. Accelerating the development of these technologies will have a massive impact on coalition military capability.” The UK’s Defense Science and…

The Kiev regime yet again showed that any international, legal, human or moral norms mean nothing for it, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said The Kiev regime attacked the Kremlin with drones on May 3 without coordination with Western handlers, but the West refrained from condemning the attack, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said in an interview with TASS. “On May 3, we witnessed yet another terrorist attack perpetrated by the Kiev regime. In fact, this was an attempt on the life of the Russian president. Additionally, the Moscow Kremlin is a UNESCO cultural heritage site. By its…

China’s leading rating service pointed to the debt-ceiling crisis as the main reason for the decision China Chengxin International Credit Rating (CCXI) slashed its sovereign credit score for the US by one notch earlier this week, becoming the first among top rating firms to make the move. The leading Chinese agency, a joint venture between Beijing Zhixiang Information Management Consulting and US ratings giant Moody’s, lowered the US to AAg+ from AAAg, having placed it on review for a further downgrade, according to a statement released on Thursday. “The intensification of political divisions between the two parties in the United…