Author: Steven Sahiounie

The Russian currency has been weakening as the country’s imports keep growing, while export revenues are reportedly in decline The Russian ruble suffered its biggest intraday fall of the year on Friday, having shed more than 2% to the lowest levels versus the US dollar and the euro since April 2022. However, the currency recovered all of its losses later in the day. By 11:00 GMT, the ruble had tumbled to 83.50 against the dollar and 91.32 against the euro. By 15:00 GMT, however, the ruble had fully recovered and was actually gaining for the day at 81 to the…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Today is “Sad Friday” in Jerusalem, known to Western Christians as “Good Friday” when they believe Jesus was hung on a cross in Jerusalem. To the Eastern Orthodox Christians of the Middle East, it is “Palm Sunday”, and they celebrate the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem. To the Muslims of the world, this is the third Friday of Ramadan, and this morning worshippers attempting to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem were prevented entry to the area and severely beaten by Israeli Police batons. Street vendors and shopkeepers were also attacked by…

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that Lavrov and Cavusoglu would touch upon the security of Russians in Turkey on the eve of the tourist season Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Ankara on Thursday evening at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. Lavrov is expected to discuss at length a number of energy issues, Ukraine, the grain deal, Nagorno-Karabakh as well as the dialogue between Ankara and Damascus. The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that Lavrov and Cavusoglu would touch upon the security of Russians in Turkey on the eve of the tourist season.…

Amid the NATO bid, Sweden’s justice ministry says it had agreed to the extradition of Omer Altun, a 29-year-old Turkish citizen sentenced last year by a Turkish court to 15 years in prison. Sweden announced on Thursday that it would extradite one Turkish national sought by Ankara, going with one of Ankara’s key demands for Stockholm’s NATO membership accession. Sweden’s justice ministry said it had agreed to the extradition of Omer Altun, a 29-year-old Turkish citizen sentenced last year by a Turkish court to 15 years in prison for “what in Sweden would be the equivalent of fraud.” In further…

The Union of Russia and Belarus is a leader among integrated associations in terms of how much it has accomplished in such a short time span Russian and Belarussian authorities will prepare the Union State Security Concept. The document will outline the two states’ basic cooperation goals, including listing external challenges, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the Union State Supreme State Council meeting in the Kremlin. During the meeting, Russia and Belarus approved a number of significant decisions aimed at further deepening integration processes. In particular, Moscow and Minsk must “substantially focus on strategic planning” and pay attention to…

The greenback may fall by another 15% against rival currencies by mid-2024, an investment services company says The US dollar could weaken by as much as 15% against major world currencies over the next 18 months, as inflation continues to cool, allowing the Federal Reserve to loosen its monetary policy, according to Eurizon SLJ Capital. A research note released on Tuesday by the firm’s chief executive, Stephen Jen, said the US Federal Reserve is likely close to – or already beyond – peak hawkishness, meaning that rate cuts are on the horizon. The Fed’s nine previous hikes, in addition to…

During a phone call with his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo, Raisi requested an OIC emergency meeting for the sake of making a joint decision on defending the rights of the Palestinian people. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi called for an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the recent developments in the occupied Palestinian territories in light of the recent Israeli occupation storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque. This comes after Israeli occupation forces raided Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Al-Quds and assaulted the Palestinians who were stationed there for the second day in a row as part of the religious practice of Itikaf, which…

The country’s economy is expected to do much better this year than bank had earlier predicted The Russian economy is doing considerably better than expected, according to the latest report from the World Bank, which anticipates a 0.2% GDP decline in 2023. That’s a significant improvement from the 3.3% contraction forecast in its January outlook. In its Europe and Central Asia Economic Update, released on Thursday, the World Bank reported that the Russian economy contracted by only 2.1% in 2022 in the face of severe sanctions. According to the report, after a steep contraction in the second quarter of 2022,…

After diagnosis and readmittance into the hospital, Berlusconi remains in intensive care. After being hospitalized in Milan this week, ex-Italian PM and leader of the Forza Italia party, Silvio Berlusconi has been diagnosed with a severe blood disorder and remains in intensive care, according to local media reports. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that the recent complications he has been suffering in the past month, including his episode of pneumonia, were found to have been caused by the disease – leukemia, according to CNN. The 86-year-old former prime minister was readmitted to Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital after complaining of cardiovascular problems and…

The office of Sweden’s prosecutor also noted various “influence attempts” associated with the high-profile incident The Swedish prosecutor investigating the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines has said that an attack by a state actor remains the “absolute main scenario” in its probe of the crime. This contradicts claims by some Western media, which have pointed the finger at a “pro-Ukrainian group” not linked to any government as a likely culprit. “We believe it will be rather difficult to determine who did this,” Mats Ljungqvist told Reuters in a phone interview on Thursday. The people behind the sabotage “took care so that the evidence would not…