Author: Steven Sahiounie

The visit of Taiwan’s former leader to China will include Central China, not Beijing. Taiwan’s former leader, Ma Ying-jeou, is set to arrive today on March 27 in China’s mainland, the debut visit of any former leader of Taiwan to the mainland since 1949. The Taiwanese politician who served as president of Taiwan from 2008 to 2016, said in 2019 that he had long wanted to visit mainland China, despite “working on cross-Straits relations” for decades. Ma Ying-jeou is scheduled to begin his 12-day visit to mainland China in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, on Monday. The Taiwanese politician’s…

“While disingenuously talking about freedom of choice, the United States, will in fact simply abuse the countries whose sovereignty and democracy it violated,” Nikolay Patrushev said Washington actually violates the sovereignty of other countries while claiming to support free speech and is the world’s biggest dictator, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta. “While disingenuously talking about freedom of choice, the United States, which has proclaimed itself the world’s biggest dictator, will in fact simply abuse the countries whose sovereignty and democracy it violated,” he said, commenting on the upcoming Summit for Democracy. Patrushev emphasized…

“It definitely brings us closer right now” — that was Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari’s response to a question, during a CBS “Face The Nation” interview, on whether the latest turmoil in the banking sector could bring the U.S. closer to a recession. “What’s unclear for us is how much of these banking stresses are leading to a widespread credit crunch. And then that credit crunch, just as you said, would then slow down the economy,” he said. Kashkari added that Fed officials are monitoring the impact from the fallout of the banking sector “very, very closely,” and the current system…

Voting is expected to take place after 15:00 (22:00 Moscow time) The UN Security Council will vote on Monday on a Russian-Chinese draft resolution on an international investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines. Voting is expected to be held after 15:00 (22:00 Moscow time). The text of the draft proposes UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to establish an international independent commission to conduct a comprehensive, transparent, and impartial investigation of all aspects of the act of sabotage on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, including identifying the perpetrators,…

Club Med is “very optimistic” about China’s reopening, an executive from Fosun Tourism Group told CNBC Monday, adding that the luxury resort chain is “definitely not for sale.” Xu Bingbin, its co-president told “Squawk Box Asia” in an exclusive interview Monday that “Fosun Tourism Group is one of the core businesses of Fosun [International], and Club Med is one of the core businesses of Fosun Tourism Group.” Fosun Tourism Group is the leisure arm of Chinese conglomerate, Fosun International. Bloomberg reported in November that Fosun International is exploring “strategic options” for Club Med as a means to reduce debt. “We are actually…

Gulmurat Muradov pointed out that the commission would announce the final turnout in accordance with the law within seven days Turkmenistan’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has recognized the country’s Mejlis (parliament) elections as legitimate, the commission’s head Gulmurat Muradov told reporters on Monday. “The Central Election Commission of Turkmenistan has recognized the holding of the March 26 elections of the delegates of Turkmenistan’s parliament, members of the Halk Maslahaty (people’s councils – TASS) and Gengeshi (local government bodies – TASS) <…> as valid in accordance with law,” he said. The official noted that out of the total 3,496,475 registered voters…

The security forces added that Moskvin was concussed as a result of the incident An attempt on the life of a police chief was made in Mariupol, his car was blown up, a source in the security forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic told TASS on Monday. “The car of police chief Moskvin was blown up in the morning. He is alive, everything is fine,” the source said, adding that the car exploded a few meters away from him. The security forces added that Moskvin was concussed as a result of the incident. “The police chief was slightly concussed after…

Israeli media say three police officers were injured during clashes with protesters on “Ayalon” highway in “Tel Aviv”. Israeli media reported on Sunday that the occupation police began to forcefully clear out protesters using water cannons after they blocked the “Ayalon” highway in “Tel Aviv” for nearly five hours. Dozens of police officers mounted on horses, and backed by heavy vehicles, broke through the crowd of demonstrators, while three members of the occupation police were injured after settlers hurled stones at them, the media said. The pace of protests escalated in the last hours against the judicial reforms after the…

BERLIN — Germany is poised to pass a new nationality law that will make it easier for foreigners to gain German citizenship as part of a wider shake-up of immigration policy aimed at bolstering the country’s shrinking workforce. The draft law, which will be put to lawmakers in the coming months, would allow people to apply for citizenship after five years of German residence, instead of the current eight. Those who have made particular efforts to integrate, for instance by becoming proficient in German, would be eligible to apply after three years. It would also lift a ban on dual…

BEIJING — Debt-heavy local governments in China need new ways to raise money under a central regime that’s made clear its priority is to reduce financial risks. Local governments’ direct debt exceeded 120% of revenue in 2022, S&P Global Ratings analysts said, noting that’s more than what Beijing has unofficially said was an acceptable debt level. “The country’s provinces and municipalities have relied heavily on expanded bond issuance to carry them through a COVID-triggered economic slowdown and collapsed land-sale revenues,” the S&P analysts said in a report last month. International Monetary Fund data show China’s explicit local government debt nearly doubled…