Author: Steven Sahiounie

Beijing has accused Washington of “indiscriminate attacks” resulting in civilian deaths in Syria The “illegal” US military occupation of Syria has only deepened the country’s humanitarian crisis, China has said, slamming American lawmakers after they voted to continue troop deployments. At a Friday press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning was asked to comment on a recent vote by the US Congress to prolong military intervention in Syria. Mao responded by urging Washington to “immediately end the troops’ illegal occupation and plundering” and repeal crippling sanctions targeting the Syrian economy. “Since the US began its illegal interference in the…

Employers across the U.S. added 311,000 jobs in February, a sign the labor market remains solid even as the Federal Reserve tries to slow economic growth. The figure, released Friday by the Department of Labor, was higher than economists’ expectations that employers had added about 208,000 jobs last month, according to financial data company FactSet. The jobless rate edged up to 3.6%, from 3.4% in the prior month as more Americans looked for work. Hiring was strong among employers in the leisure and hospitality, retail and health care industries, as well as for government jobs, the Labor Department said. The U.S. has…

Li Qiang is expected oversee the country’s economic development The former Communist Party leader in Shanghai, Li Qiang, was confirmed on Saturday as the premier of China, making him the country’s second-highest ranking official. He was nominated by President Xi Jingping and backed by 2,936 of the 2,947 members of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislature. Li was Xi’s chief of staff in the 2000s and has been described as his close ally. The new premier replaces Li Keqiang who is retiring after serving two five-year terms. Born in 1959, Li was the governor of the eastern coastal…

The dollar and euro now make up less than half of Moscow’s export settlements, the regulator says The Chinese yuan has become a major player in Russia’s foreign trade, according to data released by the Bank of Russia in its Financial Market Risk Report on Thursday. The Chinese currency’s share in Russia’s import settlements had jumped to 23% by the end of last year from only 4% in January 2022. The yuan’s share in export settlements also surged from 0.5% to 16%. Meanwhile, the share of the US dollar and euro in Russia’s foreign trade has dropped substantially. At the…

According to the Russian foreign minister, Vladimir Zelensky stated simultaneously with Burns that he would never sit down at the negotiating table with Putin, that Ukraine would have its victory no matter what Russia currently sees no opportunity to engage with Ukraine because of Kiev’s position, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday. “We have been saying that we are not dodging negotiations not because we have been imploring them to negotiate. At the moment, we see no chance for holding talks, but we have simply been underscoring this amid a non-stop wave of statements to the effect of…

High prices are behind increased shoplifting in grocery stores, the Polish paper Rzeczpospolita reports The number of shoplifting crimes in Poland increased by almost a third in 2022, newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported on Thursday, citing police data. Statistics showed that the number of thefts increased by as much as 31.1% on an annual basis, to over 32,000 cases. Out of 16 Polish regions, only Lublin reportedly did not record an increase in such crimes. The rise in theft is “a clear signal of trouble on the market,” the president of the Polish Trade and Distribution Organization Renata Juszkiewicz was quoted as saying. Soaring…

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank is considered the biggest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis US tech and start-up focused Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was shut down by regulators on Friday after depositors rushed to withdraw their money amid worries over the bank’s financial health. According to an announcement from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), California regulators have taken control of the lender’s deposits and transferred the assets to a newly created entity, the Deposit Insurance Bank of Santa Clara. SVB, a major bank for venture-backed firms, ranked as the 16th biggest US lender at the end…

Washington and New Delhi will sign a memorandum of understanding on the production of semiconductor chips, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has revealed. Raimondo, who is on a four-day trip to India, told reporters on Thursday the sides will map the semiconductor supply chain together and identify opportunities for joint ventures and technology partnerships. The commerce secretary was scheduled to meet India’s trade minister on Friday. “We would like to see India achieve its aspirations to play a larger role [in the electronics supply chain],” Raimondo told journalists ahead of the meeting. Last month, Raimondo told CNBC the US was considering…

Apple and its manufacturing supplier Foxconn have been involved in lobbying for a landmark liberalization of labor laws in India, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing sources. According to the report, the legislation authorized the introduction of 12-hour shifts in the southern state of Karnataka, as well as night-time work for women. Foxconn reportedly stated that the legal change is crucial to building efficient manufacturing at scale, and that the possibility of running production around the clock using two 12-hour shifts will be a big step forward for the company. The Taiwanese tech giant has been shifting production away…

Emergency services have revealed intruders hijacked TV and radio stations to transmit the false alarm  Hackers broke into the servers of radio stations and TV channels and dispatched a false air raid alarm in Moscow, Russian emergency services announced on Thursday. The incident happened following a string of similar events in other parts of the country. According to media reports, the usual TV programming was interrupted by a warning that urged people to “immediately seek shelter.” A similar message was broadcast in Sverdlovsk Region in the Urals, local officials said. Last month, a false warning about the “threat of a missile strike” was aired…