Author: Steven Sahiounie

The International Monetary Fund said in a Wednesday report that global tensions could disrupt overseas investment and eventually lead to a long-term loss of 2% of the world’s gross domestic product. Companies and policymakers across the globe are exploring ways to make their supply chains more resilient by “moving production home or to trusted countries,” the IMF warned in its report, adding that this will lead to fragmenting foreign direct investment. The IMF pointed to recent bills adopted against the backdrop of rising tensions between the U.S. and China, such as Washington’s Chips and Science Act. Japan recently imposed its own restrictions on 23 types…

South Africa condemned the Israeli occupation forces’ attacks on worshippers at al-Aqsa Mosque, calling on the occupation authorities to abide by international laws and human rights and stop their violations. South Africa’s Foreign Ministry said, in a statement reported by Wafa news agency, that the use of stun grenades and poisonous gas by occupation forces against worshippers is outrageous, calling for the immediate withdrawal of the occupation forces from al-Aqsa. The Foreign Ministry stressed that al-Aqsa Mosque belongs to the Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, and they do not need permission or approval from the occupation government to enter it or…

The surprise output cut by OPEC and its allies sent oil prices rallying — and analysts say major oil importers like India, Japan and South Korea will feel the most pain if prices hit $100 per barrel, as some have predicted. On Sunday, OPEC+ announced a production cut of 1.16 million barrels per day, in a move that oil markets were not expecting. “It’s a tax on every oil importing economy,” said Pavel Molchanov, managing director of private investment bank Raymond James. “It’s not the US that would feel the most pain from $100 oil, it would be the countries that have no domestic petroleum…

Despite having announced the plan two weeks ago, the EU continues to struggle to finalize the implementation plan as ambassadors fail to agree on the fine print. The European Union has yet to sort out the legal specifics of how to implement a historic agreement announced about two weeks ago regarding delivering piles of ammunition to Ukraine. According to Sputnik, which cited diplomats knowledgeable of the negotiations, the plan to jointly buy and supply Ukraine with ammunition has been stalled since EU ambassadors, who reportedly met on Wednesday, failed to make any significant progress. The subject of conflict is whether these arms…

Beijing has demanded that Washington stops all contacts with Taipei “at once” The Taiwan issue is the “first red line” that should not be crossed in relations between China and the US, Beijing has told Washington. The warning from the Chinese Foreign Ministry came early on Thursday, hours after Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen met with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other lawmakers in California. “China firmly opposes and strongly condemns” the high-profile meeting that took place on American soil, the ministry said in a statement. “It seriously infringes upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and sends an egregiously wrong signal to the ‘Taiwan…

The Bureau of the United Nations General Assembly’s Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People condemned in a statement the raid by Israeli occupation forces inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound/Al-Haram Al-Sharif Tuesday, which resulted in hundreds of Palestinian worshippers beaten, injured and detained while also causing damage to the building of the al-Qibli mosque. This violence is particularly egregious during a time of heightened religious sensitivity with the observance of Ramadan, Passover, and Easter, it said. “Israel’s illegal policies and practices have continued to entrench its illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territory it has occupied…

The landmark meeting sets a road for further cooperation between Iran and Saudi Arabia due to Chinese mediation, which in turn will extend regional cordiality and developments. A month after Iran and Saudi Arabia struck a deal to restore diplomatic relations under Chinese mediation, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, met in Beijing on Thursday for the first meeting between their two countries’ diplomats in seven years. During the meeting, both officials exchanged views on issues related to bilateral matters, in addition to discussing steps to reopen embassies and pursue the…

Spanish clothing conglomerate Inditex has secured approval from the Russian government to sell its business in Russia, RBK news outlet reported on Wednesday citing Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Viktor Yevtukhov. Inditex is one of the world’s largest clothing retailers, which owns brands such as Zara, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Oysho, Bershka, and Stradivarius. According to the deputy minister, the permission for the sale was granted on March 30. The deal will see all of Inditex retail sites in Russia pass to a new owner, Fashion and More Management DMCC, “which has an office in a friendly country,”…

Ukraine has offered to rent its underground natural gas storage facilities to the EU for next winter, Euroactiv reported on Wednesday, citing the CEO of Ukrainian state energy company Naftogaz, Aleksey Chernyshov. The official claimed that Ukraine could make 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of storage available to the EU “right now.” The announcement was made during a trip by the head of Naftogaz to Brussels last week, when a Ukrainian delegation visited the European Commission and met with gas industry representatives. According to Chernyshov, Ukraine has Europe’s largest gas storage capacities with a total volume of 31 bcm,…

Allowing Credit Suisse to go bankrupt would have had serious repercussions, a national regulator has claimed The takeover of the troubled Credit Suisse by rival banking giant UBS has allowed Switzerland’s economy to avoid major problems, including deposit runs at other banks, national regulator FINMA claimed on Wednesday. FINMA and the Swiss central bank brokered the historic takeover for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.3 billion) in a deal announced last month. As part of the transaction, the regulator ordered Credit Suisse to write down to zero some 16 billion Swiss francs ($17.6 billion) of its Additional Tier 1 (AT1) bonds…