Author: Steven Sahiounie

The US president had to call off his trip to Australia for a major security summit because of debt-ceiling negotiations in DC A summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) slated for May 24 in Australia’s capital Sydney will not take place, the country’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Wednesday. The White House stated that President Joe Biden would not be traveling to Australia because of the need to address political gridlock at home over his country’s creaking debt ceiling. Biden’s planned visit to the south-western Pacific, which was to also incorporate a historic stop in Papua New Guinea,…

Nicolas Sarkozy has lost an appeal against his corruption sentence The Paris Court of Appeals has upheld former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conviction for corruption and influence peddling. In 2021, he was sentenced to three years, two of them suspended. The 68-year-old, who led France from 2007 to 2012, was embroiled in several legal scandals after leaving office. The case reviewed on Wednesday involved bribing a judge and peddling influence to gain access to privileged information regarding an investigation into Sarkozy’s election campaign finances. French law enforcement wiretapped Sarkozy’s two official phone lines and discovered that he had a third…

Today, Wednesday, the Central Bank of Syria set the exchange rate of the Syrian pound against the dollar for remittances and exchange at 8,100 pounds for one dollar. According to the remittance and exchange bulletin issued today by the Syrian Central Bank, the exchange rate of the Syrian pound against the euro was set at 8,799.84 Syrian pounds for one euro. This bulletin is issued according to the Central Bank for the purpose of cash disbursement and the purchase of commercial foreign transfers and incoming transfers to natural persons, including incoming transfers through global transfer networks. On the 11th of…

Palestinian youth confront the storming of Israeli occupation special forces into the city of Tubas and force them to withdraw. Israeli occupation forces on Wednesday pursued storming Palestinian cities in the occupied West Bank, as Palestinians confronted the incursions into the cities of Nablus, Tubas, Salfit, Al-Bireh, and the town of Al-Yamoun. In Tubas, Palestinian youth confronted the storming of Israeli occupation special forces into the city and forced them to withdraw. In addition, violent confrontations erupted between occupation forces and Palestinian youths who tried to confront the storming of the eastern region of Nablus at night. Dozens of citizens…

The Palestine Center for Prisoner Studies confirms that the Israeli occupation military court issued life imprisonment sentences against two additional Palestinian prisoners. The Palestine Center for Prisoner Studies confirmed on Tuesday that the number of Palestinian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment in Israeli prisons rose to 556 after occupation courts issued life imprisonment sentences against two prisoners from Jenin. Riyad Al-Ashqar, the director of the Center, said the Israeli occupation military court issued life imprisonment sentences against prisoners Asaad Yousef Al-Rifai (20 years) and Subhi Imad Sbeihat (21 years) from the town of Rummana, Jenin District. Al-Ashqar noted that Israeli occupation forces…

Vladimir Putin also sent a congratulatory birthday message to the Kazakh president Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev have held a phone call, reaffirming their determination to boost relations between the two countries, the Kremlin press service said in a statement on Wednesday. “The parties reaffirmed their determination to further boost allied Russian-Kazakh relations and expand mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas,” the statement reads. According to the Kremlin, Putin also wished Tokayev a happy 70th birthday. Putin also sent a congratulatory birthday message to the Kazakh president. “I expect that we will continue our constructive…

Today, Wednesday, Russia and Iran signed an agreement for joint cooperation, which includes the construction of a railway linking the port of Astara to the city of Rasht in northern Iran. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Ibrahim Raisi participated in the signing ceremony of the agreement via video technology. The agreement was signed on the Russian side by Minister of Transport Vitaly Savelyev, and on the Iranian side, Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazarbash. The step is considered important in the field of completing the “North-South” strategic international transport project, as the western part of the…

Wang Wenbin urged all foreign diplomatic missions and organizations in China to respect Chinese laws China reminds foreign missions and offices of international organizations based in the country of the need to comply with international diplomatic treaties, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday. Commenting on billboards in support of Ukraine exhibited outside some foreign embassies in Beijing, the Chinese diplomat said, “China is calling on all embassies and representative offices of all international organizations to comply with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and carry out activities in line with international agreements.” Wang’s comment came in response…

Sanctions package ‘nearly ready’ and ‘imposing this huge measure at the moment won’t work’, newspaper quotes diplomat from EU country European Union countries are unlikely to agree on including a ban on pipeline gas from Russia into its 11th package of anti-Russian sanctions, the European edition of the Politico newspaper said on Tuesday. “From what I hear, it is very unlikely this will pass,” the newspaper quoted a diplomat from an EU country as saying. “There is too much resistance from the countries dependent on the remaining gas.” He added that the 11th sanctions package “is almost done” and “inserting this huge…

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, noted that the agreement is “a story not about one country or group of peoples pursuing their interests while others are waiting for their turn” Moscow will not change its position regarding the compliance with all conditions of the grain deal, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, has told the Zvezda television channel. “Undoubtedly, the decisions that are to be made will be clarified and so on,” she said, adding that the agreement’s implementation is contingent on the safeguarding of Russia’s interests, and the decision-making process will be based on…