Author: Steven Sahiounie

Sri Lankan Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardana said his country plans to sell the national airline, Sri Lankan Airlines, adding that a potential buyer could be from Russia. “Yes, I can confirm that the Sri Lankan authorities are planning to sell SriLankan Airlines,” Gunawardana said in an interview with “Novosti” agency. “There are many business opportunities and a Russian company could be a buyer in this deal.” He stressed that his country wants to find a good buyer for “SriLankan Airlines”. He stated that this company does not currently carry out flights to Russia due to insurance issues, explaining: “The airline…

Washington could ‘distance itself’ from Europe and the Ukrainian conflict in the wake of the 2024 elections, Boris Pistorius said European NATO members may face big trouble in continuing to support Kiev in its conflict with Russia after the US elections in 2024, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has warned. Washington’s aid to Ukraine is likely to be reduced regardless of the voting results, he told Welt am Sonntag newspaper in an interview published on Saturday. The US will have to pay more attention to the Indo-Pacific region after 2024, even if a “pro-European” president wins the elections next year, Pistorius believes.…

Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said Russia’s Aerospace Forces downed a Ukrainian MiG-29 aircraft and an Mi-8 helicopter in the Donetsk People’s Republic, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said at a briefing on Saturday. “The Russian Aerospace Forces’ fighter jets downed an MiG-29 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Forces near the Koptevo settlement in the Donetsk People’s Republic. A Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter was downed near the Novovasilyevka settlement in the Donetsk People’s Republic,” he pointed out. Source: Tass

Somali troops manage to neutralize all Al-Shabaab militants who took part in an attack on an army camp. The government forces of Somalia neutralized 14 militants of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated group Al-Shabaab, who tried to attack a Somali army base in the region of Bay, Mustaqbal Media news outlet reported on Saturday, citing sources. The engagement took place 4.3 miles south of the city of Baidoa, the report said, confirming that the Somali troops managed to neutralize all militants that took part in the attack on the army camp. In late January, 39 Al-Shabaab militants were killed by Somalia’s army in retaliation to an attack…

The sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un says Zelensky is gambling with the fate of his country and people with his nuclear ambitions that only serve his self interests. Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, considered that the ambitions of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to host American nuclear weapons in his country or produce his own arsenal of nuclear weapons is part of his “authorities’ sinister political plot.” Her comments came in response to an online petition published on Zenelsky’s website last Thursday calling to “deploy US nuclear weapons on Ukrainian territory or…

The Higher Follow-up Committee in the occupied Palestinian territories in 1948 condemns the cold-blooded execution of a 26-year-old Palestinian in Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Higher Follow-up Committee in the occupied Palestinian territories in 1948 announced a general strike to be held on Sunday to condemn the cold-blooded execution of Palestinian youth Mohammad Al-Osaibi, 26, at the hands of Israeli occupation forces in Al-Aqsa Mosque. On Friday evening, Israeli occupation forces opened fire at Al-Osaibi, from the town of Hura in Al-Naqab, at Bab Al-Silsilah, adjacent to Al-Aqsa Mosque. The occupation forces detained the martyr’s body in an unknown area. The Israeli occupation claimed…

Finland receives unanimous approval from NATO members after long months of tough negotiations and leaves behind its neighbor Sweden. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issues a decree approving the parliament’s decision to accept Finland’s NATO accession bid, according to the decree published by the state’s Resmi Gazete on Saturday. “It was decided to consider the approval of the protocol of July 5, 2022, on Finland’s accession to NATO expedient,” the decree read. The Turkish parliament on Thursday unanimously backed Finland’s bid to join the US-led NATO alliance only two weeks after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan openly blessed the bid. Turkey’s ratification meant that…

There’s a corner of the market gaining traction among ETF investors, according to The ETF Store’s Nate Geraci. The firm’s president finds international ETFs are experiencing stronger inflows. “There is a little bit of performance chasing going on here, because broad international stocks have fairly significantly outperformed U.S. stocks since about the beginning of the fourth quarter of last year,” he told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. “Investors are looking at that performance and perhaps reallocating there.” BofA Global Research’s latest market data out late this week appears to support Geraci’s thesis. It shows emerging markets are seeing strong inflows…

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, whose district saw the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history and who has become a target of criticism, would not have typically been a key player in Silicon Valley Bank’s supervision, several former and current Fed officials told CNBC. A highly centralized design to the Fed’s oversight of large banks such as SVB with assets over $100 billion put supervision under the staff and leadership of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington. Regional Fed presidents can be more or less involved in monitoring their biggest banks, these officials said, but the key…

As the cryptocurrency market continues to experience significant volatility, all eyes are on Bitcoin (BTC), the original digital asset, to determine its potential trajectory.  With the BTC bulls maintaining their grip on the crucial $28,000 support level, traders and investors alike are eager to see if the leading cryptocurrency can break through the highly anticipated $30,000 zone this weekend. Cryptocurrencies Feel the Heat: CFTC’s Binance Crackdown Sends Ripples Through the Market The cryptocurrency market has been facing mounting pressure as the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) intensifies its crackdown on Binance, one of the world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency exchanges. …