Author: Steven Sahiounie

The politician pointed at Washington as the beneficiary of the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage The sabotage of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines has turned Germany’s dependence on Russian natural gas into an addiction to liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US, a member of the German Bundestag, Andrej Hunko, has said. Germany has paid heavily for last year’s explosions on the pipelines, which were built to deliver cheap natural gas from Russia, The Left party politician told China’s Global Times newspaper in an interview on Thursday. He noted that the sabotage left Berlin without an option to “choose which gas…

For some shoppers who already struggle to cover grocery bills, the budget is getting tighter. This month, pandemic-related emergency funding from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, is ending in most states, leaving many low-income families with less to spend on food. More than 41 million Americans receive funding for food through the federal program. For those households, it will amount to at least $95 less per month to spend on groceries. Yet for many families, the drop will be even steeper since the government assistance scales up to adjust for household size and income. For grocers like Kroger, big-box players…

One of the biggest unknowns since the Federal Reserve started its historic rate-hiking campaign has been how many jobs could be lost from the central bank’s deliberate effort to slow down the US economy. So far, the labor market has stayed white hot, with unemployment hovering at a half-century low. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s acknowledgment on Wednesday that the banking sector meltdown could lead to “tighter credit conditions for households and businesses, which would in turn affect economic outcomes” has critics reminding him of the human impact of that “Fedspeak:” Millions of people out of work. The Fed’s latest economic projections,…

International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said on Sunday that risks to financial stability have increased and called for continued vigilance although actions by advanced economies have calmed market stress. The IMF managing director reiterated her view that 2023 would be another challenging year, with global growth slowing to below 3% due to scarring from the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and monetary tightening. Even with a better outlook for 2024, global growth will remain well below its historic average of 3.8% and the overall outlook remained weak, she said at the China Development Forum. The IMF, which has predicted…

Investment in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been in decline across the world, plummeting 34% last year to $45.8 billion, analytics company CB Insights reports. According to its analysis, the decline directly corresponds to the broader venture-funding slowdown recorded in 2022. The total number of AI deals were also down for the year by 10% to just 2,956. The funding slightly rebounded in the fourth quarter, reaching $9.3 billion. However, the number of deals continued to decline during the period. The report highlighted that, in 2022, the total number of AI unicorns reached 166, with 34 new additions. The number of…

Russian President said that “it is not military alliance” Russia and China are developing cooperation, including on the military track, but this “is not a military alliance,” Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed on Sunday. “This is absolutely untrue,” the president said in an interview on the Rossiya-24 TV channel, when asked whether cooperation between Moscow and Beijing posed a threat to the West. “We are not creating any military alliance with China. Yes, we also cooperate on the track of military-technical cooperation, we do not hide it, but it is transparent, there is nothing secret there,” Putin said. According to…

British NGO says Israeli policies against Palestinians “amount to the crime of apartheid and should be deemed a violation of the ICC statute.” The International Centre for Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), located in the UK, has urged the British government to refer “Israel” to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes committed in Palestine. This comes shortly after the UK decided to lead a coordinated group of ICC State Parties in jointly referring the situation in Ukraine to the Court. “It is a gross double standard that while the UK government assists and facilitates international accountability and legal action against the…

Every man, woman, and child could be on the hook for $13,500, the news outlet has calculated Switzerland’s decision to rescue failing investment bank Credit Suisse could be a major burden for the nation’s taxpayers, according to Bloomberg calculations. The Swiss government has pledged to absorb 9 billion Swiss francs ($9.7 billion) of the bank’s losses and provide a 100 billion-franc ($108 billion) public liquidity backstop from the Swiss National Bank (SNB). This means that each resident out of Switzerland’s 8.7 million population will pay 12,500 francs ($13,500) for the bank’s rescue, Bloomberg noted. The deal also mentions a separate…

In Sainte-Soline, France, local farmers opposed the decision to build a reservoir that would combine 16 smaller reservoirs, threatening smaller-scale farming. Violent clashes erupted between protestors and the French police in Sainte-Soline, leaving at least 200 people injured according to BFMTV. At least four police vehicles were set on fire and Molotov cocktails were the weapon of choice for protestors who opposed the construction of a large reservoir for agricultural needs. The French Interior Ministry also noted that over 35 police officers were also injured in the clashes. “While the country is rising up to defend pensions, we will simultaneously stand up…

The President of Russia commented on the results of an investigation into gas pipeline explosions by American journalist Seymour Hersh Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees with the conclusions drawn by American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh that US special services were involved in the Nord Stream pipeline explosions. “The American journalist, who has become rather famous now worldwide, carried out such an investigation and as we know, drew a conclusion that blast on the gas pipelines was organized by the US special services. I fully agree with such conclusions,” Putin said. Putin is confident that the truth about the explosions on…