Author: Steven Sahiounie

Germany’s Verdi trade union has called for strikes on March 13 at the country’s northern airports, including Berlin, which it said would likely cause longer queues for passengers and flight cancellations. The strikes will affect Berlin’s international airport, as well as the smaller airports of Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen, the relevant regional branches of the services sector trade union said on Saturday in separate statements. Verdi said it was calling for security staff to strike at Berlin airport due to disputes over pay for working nights, weekends and bank holidays that had been going on for years. The strike at…

The company plans to use corporate resources to fill the gap, including external capital. Circle Internet Financial said Saturday it will “cover any shortfall” in the assets backing its stablecoin USDC in the event it does not receive the entirety of a $3.3 billion cash reserve it was holding at Silicon Valley Bank. In a blog post, Circle said it “will stand behind USDC and cover any shortfall using corporate resources, involving external capital if necessary.” The pledge came as crypto traders fretted over the value of USDC, a stablecoin meant to be pegged to the U.S. dollar but which fell…

The Spanish government and corporate boards will soon be obliged to include at least 40% women Spanish lawmakers have passed new legislation this week making it mandatory for businesses to ensure that their corporate boards include more female executives. The Equal Representation Law, which has been approved at a weekly cabinet meeting this week, will seek to ensure that boards feature at least 40% “of the least represented gender.” It will also require similar levels of equality in top management positions. Apart from the boards of directors of big companies, the bill also covers electoral lists and governing boards of professional associations.…

Several regional lenders have seen stocks plunge, sparking fears that more insolvencies could follow. US regulators are discussing a mechanism which would help avoid a repeat of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) insolvency at other lenders, Bloomberg reported on Saturday, citing sources close to the discussions. According to the report, the US Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) could create a fund that would allow regulators to backstop more deposits at banks that are facing problems. A number of lenders focused on the venture capital and startup communities have already seen their stocks plunge following the news…

On March 11, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) shelled positions of al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in the outskirts of the town of al-Atarib in the western Aleppo countryside, a part of the Greater Idlib region, with heavy mortars. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the shelling killed a militant of HTS and wounded several other people. The mortar attack came following shelling by HTS on the SAA’s 46th Regiment base in the western Aleppo countryside. A large force from the army and its allies, including Lebanese Hezbollah, is known to be deployed at the base. HTS escalated…

On March 11, terrorists believed to be members of ISIS attacked a group of civilians who were collecting truffles near Khanaser town in the southern countryside of Aleppo in Syria’s central region. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the terrorists “slaughtered” three of the civilians, all young men, and abducted 26 others, including women. The London-based monitoring group said that the attack took place near a position of Iranian-backed forces, who maintain a large presence on the strategic road leading to Khanaser and from there to Aleppo city. ISIS cells in central Syria escalated their attacks against government…

The Cabinet held an extraordinary session chaired by Prime Minister Hussein Arnous to review the most important government measures taken by the Ministries to move from the emergency phase to the recovery from the repercussions of the earthquake struck Syria on February 6. The Cabinet approved the plan of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, which includes the immediate construction of 740 houses for families left homeless (8 buildings with 440 houses in Aleppo and 8 buildings with 300 houses in Lattakia). It affirmed on exerting every effort to finish these buildings as quickly as possible, in parallel with…

No one was injured Russian peacekeepers registered one violation of ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a bulletin, published Saturday. “One ceasefire violation has been registered in the Martakert District. No one was injured,” the Ministry said. According to the bulletin, the Russian peacekeeping contingent has initiated a procedure over this incident. “In order to ensure the security of Russian peacekeepers and to prevent potential incidents, constant contact is being maintained with General Staffs of Azerbaijani and Armenian Armed Forces,” the Defense Ministry said. Source: Tass

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran strongly condemned a terrorist attack on an award ceremony for journalists in Afghanistan’s northern Balkh province. In a statement on Saturday, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani condemned the terrorist attack on the gathering of journalists at Afghan Voice Agency (AVA) office and the Tabian Farhang center in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Afghanistan’s Balkh province. Offering his condolences on the death and injury of a number of journalists and cultural activists in the explosion, the Iranian spokesman expressed sympathy with the injured, the families of victims and the society of Afghan journalists. Kanaani denounced those…

Belgian MP Simon Moutquin has called for imposing sanctions on the far-right Israeli government for committing war crimes against the Palestinian people. In a speech before his country’s parliament, Moutquin criticized the position of Belgium and the European Union towards what is happening in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying lenient policies towards Israel are tantamount to a license to kill. He mentioned the recent attacked carried out by the Israeli army and settlers in Jenin, Huwara and Nablus, adding that the year 2023 is the bloodiest for the Palestinian people in years. “All this is happening under the most extreme…