Author: Steven Sahiounie

Asia-Pacific markets mostly slid on Tuesday as talks between U.S President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy ended without a deal. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he had a “productive” and “professional” meeting, and said “I think the tone tonight was better than any other night we’ve had discussions,” McCarthy said outside the West Wing following the hourlong meeting. A private survey released Tuesday showed Japan’s factory activity expanded in May for the first time since October 2022, while Singapore’s April inflation hit a higher-than-expected 5.7%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed 0.42% down at 30,957, snapping its seven day winning streak.…

British oil giant Shell’s annual general meeting Tuesday looks set to be an acrimonious one, with climate-focused investors seeking to ramp up pressure on the energy major after an extraordinary run of record profits. Follow This, a small Dutch activist investor and campaign group with stakes in several Big Oil companies, has tabled a resolution at Shell’s shareholder meeting. The meeting will be held online and in-person at the ExCel London exhibition center from 10 a.m. U.K. time. Climate Resolution 26 calls on Shell to align its climate targets with the landmark Paris Agreement and commit to absolute carbon emissions cuts…

Harvard CAPS-Harris publishes a poll that shows that the majority of US voters are “concerned” about the FBI’s role in influencing future elections. A great majority of American voters have expressed worries regarding the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) possible interference in future presidential elections, according to a poll published by Harvard CAPS-Harris. The poll showed that 70% of respondents were either very or somewhat concerned about the interference of intelligence agencies, including the FBI, in elections. At the same time, 71% said the reforms implemented after 2016 did not manage to curb intrusions and that a wider range of…

The Israeli occupation forces detained at least 10 Palestinians in raids across the occupied West Bank, one of them said to be 62 years old, according to various sources. They said one Palestinian was detained in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and another from the Nablus-area village of Salem. Three others were detained from the Bethlehem governorate, one from Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, and three from the Ramallah area towns of Bir Zeit and al-Mughayyer, one of them 62 years of age and the other 48. One person was also detained from the village of al-Ouja,…

Criticizing China while overthrowing foreign governments is standard practice for group members, the country’s foreign ministry has retoted The G7 countries will not be able to trick the world into believing that Beijing is undermining global stability, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday. In a series of posts on Twitter, Hua blasted the G7 stance, writing: “Some [sic] members called China ‘the biggest threat to global security and prosperity’. Seriously?” She was apparently referring to remarks by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who declared during the group’s summit in Hiroshima, Japan, that “China poses the greatest challenge to global security and…

The Hungarian prime minister’s speech in Doha, in essence, morphed into an interview with the forum’s moderator and was streamed live on the Hungarian government’s page on Facebook (prohibited in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as an extremist organization) Ukraine will not be able to prevail in the conflict with Russia, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Tuesday, noting an unwillingness by NATO to deploy alliance troops to Ukraine and urging that a peaceful settlement be reached as soon as possible. Addressing a public debate at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha on…

A report by Action on Armed Violence, a UK-based research charity, details the various secretive actions of UK special forces that have been noted in media leaks around the world. British special forces including the Special Air Service (SAS) have operated in at least 19 different countries over the last 12 years, a report by Action on Armed Violence revealed. The UK special forces have been active in Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Russia, among other nations around the globe, as their secret operations are not publicly disclosed by the government’s ministers. The group collected a list of the special forces’…

The media suggest that the US chose Al-Jazira area to construct its military bases due to its large oil and gas fields. The United States is widely monitoring one of the western regions of Iraq’s Al-Anbar to build its second military base in the province after the Ain Al-Assad base, an Iraqi security source revealed, as cited by local media outlets. The media suggested that the US chose Al-Jazira area to construct its military bases due to its large oil and gas fields, as well as other mines. According to the reports, the area is one of Iraq’s completely safe regions…

The Assistant Secretary-General for Energy Affairs at the Jordanian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Hassan Al-Hiyari, confirmed today, Monday, that the transfer of Iraqi oil to Jordan has resumed, with the same quantities and previous conditions. Last Thursday, Jordan and Iraq signed a memorandum of understanding for the processing and transportation of crude oil, according to which Jordan imports 10,000 barrels per day based on the monthly Brent crude rate minus $16 per barrel, to cover the difference in quality and transportation fees. Al-Hiyari added that work has been done to re-transfer Iraqi oil to Jordan through tankers, according…

Romanian Energy Minister Virgil Popescu said today at the Financial Intelligence Energy Forum in Bucharest that his country wants to supply electricity and gas to Moldova “completely and completely”. “With regard to natural gas, we have the Iasi-Ungeni-Chishinau gas pipeline – last week we approved in the government a memorandum on strengthening cooperation with the Republic of Moldova in the field of energy. We are studying ways to increase the capacity of this gas pipeline,” he added. The Romanian minister drew attention to the successful promotion of the Suceava-Balti project – a 400 kV power transmission line directly connecting Romania…