Author: Steven Sahiounie

On March 19, an Israeli man was seriously wounded after being shot by a Palestinian gunman while driving through the northern West Bank town of Huwara. An official photo from the scene of the attack on the Route 60 highway showed the windshield of the car riddled with bullets. The wounded man was identified as David Stern from the settlement of Itamar, a former United States Marines soldier who works in Israel as a weapons instructor. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said that Stern was taken to the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikvah, where he remains in a moderate-to-serious…

The leader of Indonesia says the country must reduce its dependence on foreign payment systems, to negate potentially disastrous economic consequences should the country ever find itself in the crosshairs of Western sanctions. Addressing a business forum in Jakarta this week, President Joko Widodo argued that Indonesia must shield itself from geopolitical disruptions, citing the sanctions attack on Russia’s financial sector by the US, EU, and their allies over the conflict in Ukraine. “Be very careful. We must remember the sanctions imposed by the US on Russia. Visa and Mastercard could be a problem,” Widodo said on Wednesday at a gathering…

New YorkCNN — Global banks just suffered their worst week since 2008. So what comes next? The fallout from this month’s banking turmoil — the surprising bank runs and collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank — has been widespread. In its wake, the global banking system has been shaken. More volatility is in store for the week ahead. But that doesn’t mean this is a repeat of the global financial crisis from 15 years ago. Everyday customers’ deposits are guaranteed and regulators across the globe say the banking system remains healthy. Credit Suisse and First Republic: Two more banks wobbled but remained upright…

New YorkCNN — In the wake of failures at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and separate issues at Credit Suisse and First Republic, many Americans are asking the question: Is my money safe? Lloyd Blankfein, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs said the answer is not black and white on “Fareed Zakaria GPS” Sunday. “The answer is kind of a yes with an ellipsis,” Blankfein said. That’s because the government took away the Federal Reserve’s ability to issue a blanket guarantee of all deposits in the system, a power it utilized in 2008. Instead, the central bank along with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and…

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has been making headlines recently as it broke through the $27,000 barrier for the first time. This surge in price has reignited speculation about where Bitcoin is headed next, with many analysts and investors offering their predictions. Similarly, Ethereum also drew strong buying interest, with its value increasing by 24.75% to reach the $1,794 mark. However, the reason for this upward rally can be attributed to the impact of inflation in the United States, rather than hyperinflation. This indicates that the value of the US dollar is decreasing, which is expected to encourage investors…

Iran and Iraq on Sunday signed a bilateral agreement on security cooperation. The agreement was signed by Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani and Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qasim al-Araji in Baghdad at a meeting attended by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani. Accompanied by the governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and two Foreign Ministry deputies, Shamkhani has traveled to Baghdad to hold talks on economic and political subjects and sign the document on mutual security cooperation, which was being prepared for months. The agreement commits Iran and Iraq to safeguarding the principles of…

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has been invited to Riyadh by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman, who expressed his desire to strengthen economic and regional cooperation between the two countries. Mohammad Jamshidi, the Iranian president’s deputy chief of staff for political affairs, confirmed the invitation in a Twitter post, saying that Raisi welcomed the invitation and emphasized Iran’s readiness to enhance cooperation. “His Excellency Salman bin Abdulaziz, the King of Saudi Arabia, in a letter to Ayatollah Raisi, while welcoming the agreement between the two brotherly countries, invited him to make an official visit to Riyadh and called for the strengthening economic and regional…

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said one of the main subjects that Tehran and Riyadh have underlined in the recent agreement on the restoration of ties was regional peace. Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Tehran on Sunday, Amirabdollahian said Iran and Saudi Arabia have agreed on the normalization of relations that were severed seven years ago. Asked about the settlement of the crisis in Yemen in light of détente between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the foreign minister said Tehran believes that the Yemeni issue relates only to the people of Yemen. “However, emphasis on peace in the…

An Iranian lawmaker unveiled plans for Iran and Bahrain to reopen their embassies in Manama and Tehran. A member of an Iranian parliamentary delegation that traveled to Bahrain recently to attend the 146th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) said she has held talks with the chairman of the Bahraini National Assembly about the revival of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Elham Azad noted that the embassies of Iran and Bahrain in Manama and Tehran will reopen soon. She said the top Bahraini lawmaker has also stressed the need to act more strongly in relation to regional issues with closer…

The spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry denounced the French police’ resort to violence against protesters as a testimony to France’s non-compliance with democracy and freedom of speech. In a post on his Twitter account on Sunday, Nasser Kanaani slammed as unacceptable the French police’ violent crackdown on citizens staging protests against the president’s pension reforms. Kanaani said such brute force against protesters reveals the French government’s failure to respect the principles of democracy and freedom of speech. The Iranian spokesman also advised France to avoid double standards and instrumental use of human rights and to stop resorting to violence against demonstrators. The…