Author: Steven Sahiounie

The strike was delivered at an area around the bus station, damaging nearby dwelling houses, two filling stations and civilian cars, head of the Perevalsk district administration says Three civilians were killed and nine more, including children, were wounded in the city of Perevalks in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) as a result of shelling by Ukrainian troops, Vitaly Mikhailov, head of the Perevalsk district administration, said on Sunday. “According to preliminary data, the shelling attack left three civilians dead. Six people were wounded and taken to a hospital, three of them are minors. Three more sought medical assistance in…

The spate of incidents was aimed at stoking “fear and terror,” the Interior Ministry said Iranian authorities have arrested more than 100 suspects in connection with a spate of alleged poisonings at schools across the country, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called for “maximum punishment” of the perpetrators. The arrests took place in Tehran and 10 other provinces, according to a statement from the ministry cited by the IRNA news agency. Some of those arrested used “harmless and smelly substances” to cause panic and shut down schools, the ministry’s statement claimed. Others with “hostile motives” used unknown substances…

USDC issuer Circle has pledged to cover any shortfall in the stablecoin’s reserves if it does not receive the entirety of the $3.3 billion held at now-collapsed Silicon Valley Bank. In a Saturday blog post, Circle said that the company is prepared to cover any shortfall in the USDC reserves that materialize from their exposure to SVB using corporate resources, which might even involve external capital. The announcement comes after it was revealed that Circle has $3.3 billion of its $40 billion USDC reserves held in an account at the fallen lender Silicon Valley Bank. In the blog post, the company detailed…

Investors are reportedly worried about the safety of their assets after Switzerland froze billions in Russian funds Executives at major banks in Switzerland have warned that the country’s decision to support Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia is having a negative impact on their business, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. The unnamed banking officials told the media outlet that rich clientele from China are seriously worried about depositing their money in Swiss banks, after Bern ditched its policy of neutrality by freezing billions in Russian assets as part of sanctions. In February, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs reported that…

Russia was the fourth-largest exporter of the super-chilled fuel to Spain last year, official data shows Spain’s imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia more than doubled this past February compared to the same month last year, data from Spanish energy major Enagas published on Friday showed. Purchases jumped 151.4% to the equivalent of 5.46 Terrawatt-hours (TWh) last month, up from 2.17 TWh in February 2022, according to Enagas. The US is currently the top LNG exporter to Spain with some 7.2 TWh, or about 22.8%, of total imports in February. However, US LNG supplies are down considerably from…

Oil giant Saudi Aramco reported record-high earnings for 2022, made off higher crude prices. According to a company press release issued on Sunday, Aramco’s profits surged to $161 billion last year, up 46% from the $110 billion it made in 2021. Aramco, the world’s second most valuable firm, said the numbers represented its “highest annual profits as a listed company.” Aramco’s earnings nearly matched the combined figure for the so-called Big Oil majors Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and TotalEnergies. The oil giants all reported record profits last year, but jointly beat Aramco only by around $30 billion. The record-setting earnings were…

Chinese private refineries are jostling with their Indian counterparts for April volumes of seaborne Russian ESPO blend oil, Reuters reported this week, citing industry sources. After Western customers opted to shun direct purchases of Russian energy exports, China and India have become major buyers of Russian crude. China, which commonly purchases the entire volumes of the ESPO crude shipped from the Pacific port of Kozmino due to its close proximity, is expected to import record volumes in March. As for April, Indian independent refiners Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy have reportedly swept up at least five of the roughly 33…

Bill Ackman says the government made “a-soon-to-be-irreversible mistake” in its treatment of the failed bank Billionaire US investor and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman on Saturday warned the US of dire consequences facing its banking sector and the broader economy following the implosion of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a major US lender focused on tech and startups. Ackman wrote on his Twitter account that US authorities should not have allowed SVB to collapse without protecting all depositors. Official figures showed that only 11% of SVB’s $175.4 billion in deposits were insured at the time of the bank’s failure. According to the investor,…

Regulators rushed Friday to seize the assets of one of Silicon Valley’s top banks, marking the largest failure of a US financial institution since the height of the financial crisis almost 15 years ago. Silicon Valley Bank, the nation’s 16th-largest bank, failed after depositors hurried to withdraw money this week amid anxiety over the bank’s health. It was the second biggest bank failure in US history after the collapse of Washington Mutual in 2008. The bank served mostly technology workers and venture capital-backed companies, including some of the industry’s best-known brands. “This is an extinction-level event for startups,” said Garry Tan, CEO…

On March 12, the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) announced that it had eliminated 22 ISIS terrorists, including senior leaders of the terrorist group, during a special operation in the western Iraqi province of al-Anbar. Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab al-Saedi, head of the service, told a press conference that the operation, codenamed Knights of Truth, was carried out upon direct orders from Iraqi Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani. “The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces ordered a special operation in the area south of al-Qaim, north of Al-Rutba, in al-Anbar,” . “After verifying the information obtained by the intelligence, the…