Author: Steven Sahiounie

Israeli President Isaac Herzog calls on the government to halt judicial reforms “for the sake of unity.” Israeli media reported last night that over 600,000 Israeli settlers took to the streets on Sunday to protest against the judicial reforms introduced by the government of Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Security Minister Yoav Gallant. Israeli President Isaac Herzog, urged the government to halt the adoption of judicial reform immediately. Herzog said “We have seen very difficult scenes tonight. I appeal to the Prime Minister, the members of the government, and members of the coalition…

Stock futures rose slightly Monday, putting Wall Street on track to build on last week’s gains as investors continued to follow the latest from the bank sector. First Citizens Bank agreed to buy large parts of Silicon Valley Bank, the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said overnight. The deal includes the purchase of approximately $72 billion of SVB assets at a discount of $16.5 billion, but around $90 billion in securities and other assets will remain “in receivership for disposition by the FDIC.” Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 92 points, or 0.3%. S&P 500 futures were…

Japan’s Defense Ministry confirms that the missiles traveled 350 kilometers with an altitude of 50 kilometers before plunging into the sea.  South Korea’s news reported that an unspecified ballistic missile was test-fired toward the Sea of Japan by North Korea on Monday, citing the South Korean military. In response, the Japan Coast Guard issued two warnings that two launches were carried out by South Korea. After the first warning was issued at 07:50 am local time by the Japan coast guard with the second following 10 minutes later, Japan’s Defense Ministry stated that the missiles traveled 350 kilometers with an…

Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Monday as investors continue to assess the impact of the banking troubles in the U.S and Europe. Deutsche Bank ended the week seeing a selloff of its U.S.-listed shares, after the German lender’s credit default swaps jumped, adding onto lingering fears of contagion from turmoil seen in banking sector. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dipped 1.67% and the Hang Seng Tech index fell 2.83% in its final hour of trade. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.44% to finish at 3,251.4, and the Shenzhen Component rose 0.12% to close at 11,647.93. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1% to close at 6,962.2, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.33%…

The visit of Taiwan’s former leader to China will include Central China, not Beijing. Taiwan’s former leader, Ma Ying-jeou, is set to arrive today on March 27 in China’s mainland, the debut visit of any former leader of Taiwan to the mainland since 1949. The Taiwanese politician who served as president of Taiwan from 2008 to 2016, said in 2019 that he had long wanted to visit mainland China, despite “working on cross-Straits relations” for decades. Ma Ying-jeou is scheduled to begin his 12-day visit to mainland China in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, on Monday. The Taiwanese politician’s…

“While disingenuously talking about freedom of choice, the United States, will in fact simply abuse the countries whose sovereignty and democracy it violated,” Nikolay Patrushev said Washington actually violates the sovereignty of other countries while claiming to support free speech and is the world’s biggest dictator, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta. “While disingenuously talking about freedom of choice, the United States, which has proclaimed itself the world’s biggest dictator, will in fact simply abuse the countries whose sovereignty and democracy it violated,” he said, commenting on the upcoming Summit for Democracy. Patrushev emphasized…

“It definitely brings us closer right now” — that was Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari’s response to a question, during a CBS “Face The Nation” interview, on whether the latest turmoil in the banking sector could bring the U.S. closer to a recession. “What’s unclear for us is how much of these banking stresses are leading to a widespread credit crunch. And then that credit crunch, just as you said, would then slow down the economy,” he said. Kashkari added that Fed officials are monitoring the impact from the fallout of the banking sector “very, very closely,” and the current system…

Voting is expected to take place after 15:00 (22:00 Moscow time) The UN Security Council will vote on Monday on a Russian-Chinese draft resolution on an international investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines. Voting is expected to be held after 15:00 (22:00 Moscow time). The text of the draft proposes UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to establish an international independent commission to conduct a comprehensive, transparent, and impartial investigation of all aspects of the act of sabotage on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, including identifying the perpetrators,…

Club Med is “very optimistic” about China’s reopening, an executive from Fosun Tourism Group told CNBC Monday, adding that the luxury resort chain is “definitely not for sale.” Xu Bingbin, its co-president told “Squawk Box Asia” in an exclusive interview Monday that “Fosun Tourism Group is one of the core businesses of Fosun [International], and Club Med is one of the core businesses of Fosun Tourism Group.” Fosun Tourism Group is the leisure arm of Chinese conglomerate, Fosun International. Bloomberg reported in November that Fosun International is exploring “strategic options” for Club Med as a means to reduce debt. “We are actually…

Gulmurat Muradov pointed out that the commission would announce the final turnout in accordance with the law within seven days Turkmenistan’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has recognized the country’s Mejlis (parliament) elections as legitimate, the commission’s head Gulmurat Muradov told reporters on Monday. “The Central Election Commission of Turkmenistan has recognized the holding of the March 26 elections of the delegates of Turkmenistan’s parliament, members of the Halk Maslahaty (people’s councils – TASS) and Gengeshi (local government bodies – TASS) <…> as valid in accordance with law,” he said. The official noted that out of the total 3,496,475 registered voters…