Author: Steven Sahiounie

Credit Suisse violated its own 2014 plea agreement, US lawmakers have claimed Swiss bank Credit Suisse is complicit in an ongoing scheme by wealthy Americans to evade taxes, despite an earlier commitment to a crackdown, the US Senate Finance Committee claimed on Wednesday. Credit Suisse pleaded guilty in 2014 to criminal charges for helping rich US clients hide assets in offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes. As part of the plea agreement, the bank pledged to crack down on tax dodgers. However, according to the results of a two-year investigation by the committee, the bank failed to comply. The probe…

The transaction involved a shipment from the United Arab Emirates, according to the Shanghai exchange China has conducted its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchase settled in yuan, the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange announced on Tuesday. The trade involved around 65,000 tons of LNG imported from the United Arab Emirates, according to the exchange. TotalEnergies, which is one of the world’s top exporters of LNG, confirmed a transaction involving the UAE without specifying the details, Reuters reported. The move is the latest sign of the yuan’s growing role on the international stage, according to the outlet. As part…

Cargill will stop exporting from Russia in July, RBK reports Global commodities trader Cargill will stop exporting Russian grain in the new crop year, which starts on July 1, business daily RBK reported on Wednesday, citing a letter sent by the company to Russia’s Agriculture Ministry. The Russian unit of the American corporation named “earlier discussions on grain export issues and the recommendations of the Agriculture Ministry” as the reason for halting exports, but stressed that the shipments planned for the current 2022/2023 exporting season will be made “in full compliance with the existing quota,” RBK writes. According to the outlet, in the…

New Delhi continues to boost Russian crude imports despite Western sanctions on Moscow Moscow and New Delhi have agreed to “substantially increase” the supply of crude oil to India and diversify its grades, Russian energy major Rosneft announced on Wednesday. A deal was reached with the Indian Oil Company during a trip by Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin to the Asian country, the Russian firm said in a press release on its website. Sechin also met with the heads of some of India’s largest oil and gas companies and discussed wider cooperation in the energy sector, the press release stated. Possible trade settlements…

Government officials are seeking to cut an annual £2.3 billion ($2.8 billion) spend on accommodation for asylum seekers The UK government has revealed plans to place asylum seekers in disused army barracks as it seeks to reduce the cost of temporary housing for migrants, according to a proposal published on Wednesday. The proposal, which was detailed on Wednesday by UK Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick in the House of Commons, comes amid controversial plans by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government to reduce cross-channel migration – with Jenrick citing a yearly bill of £2.3 billion ($2.8 billion) currently being paid to…

Erdogan revealed plans for a possible visit of President Putin to Turkey in late April, as evidence of the friendly ties between Russia and Turkey despite the latter’s membership in the NATO alliance.  On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he will not allow the West to drag Turkey into a war with Russia. “If not for our efforts over the past two years, the West would have dragged Turkey into a war against Russia. While we are here [in power], we will not have this happen,” Erdogan told A Haber TV channel. Erdogan added that Ankara intends to maintain neutrality…

The letter urges the Biden administration to investigate whether US arms sales to “Israel” are being used to violate US law or commit human rights violations Representative Jamaal Bowman, Senator Bernie Sanders, and several other US lawmakers are calling on US President Joe Biden’s administration to look into whether US arms sales to the Israeli occupation are being used to commit human rights abuses against Palestinians. In a letter to Biden and US State Secretary Antony Blinken, Bowman, as well as Representatives Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Betty McCollum, and others cited “the rapidly escalating violence in the occupied Palestinian…

Tsai Ing-wen, on an unofficial visit, is transiting through the United States on her way to Central America Taiwan’s leader Tsai Ing-wen landed in New York on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to the newspaper, Tsai arrived “for her first visit to the US in more than three years.” Tsai, on an unofficial visit, is transiting through the United States on her way to Central America. The Taiwanese leader will be in New York through Friday, the WSJ writes. Earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Spokesperson Mao Ning warned that Beijing would closely monitor the developments around Tsai’s visit, who…

Andrey Marochko told TASS on March 27 that the Ukrainian military had lost as many as 1,500 soldiers in battles with Russian forces in the Artyomovsk area over the week The Ukrainian military is daily losing 500 fighters in the area of Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine), Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) people’s militia retired Lieutenant-Colonel Andrey Marochko said on Thursday. “In my estimates, about 500 personnel daily [as casualties] there [in the Artyomovsk area]. These are both sanitary and irretrievable losses,” the retired officer said in a live broadcast on Komsomolskaya Pravda radio. The Ukrainian military experiences a shortage of…

The Senate has voted to repeal the congressional authorizations for Washington’s 1991 and 2003 invasions Decades on from America’s 1991 and 2003 invasions of Iraq, the US Senate has withdrawn congressional authorizations for the wars to keep future presidents from using them to launch more military conflicts. Lawmakers voted by a 66-30 margin on Wednesday to repeal the two authorizations for use of military force (AUMF). The 2003 Iraq War, which was illegal under the UN Charter, was started by then-President George W. Bush’s administration on the false assertion that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction…