Author: Steven Sahiounie

Toblerone will no longer use the image of the Matterhorn mountain peak due to strict Swiss rules The distinctive triangular Swiss Toblerone chocolate is losing the Matterhorn mountain image from its branding as production will soon no longer be based exclusively in Switzerland. The new wrapping will feature a generic mountain design instead, the confectionery brand’s US owner Mondelez has revealed. The company had earlier decided to shift some of the Toblerone production to its plant in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava from the end of 2023, where it also produces the Milka chocolate brand. “The packaging redesign introduces a…

Moscow says it has halted oil supplies to Warsaw via the “Druzhba” pipeline due to nonpayment for transit Poland will demand compensation from Russia over the ongoing halt in crude supplies to its refineries, Daniel Obajtek, CEO of the country’s leading oil refiner and retailer Orlen, announced on Monday. Russian state-owned pipeline operator Transneft, which runs the a section of the “Druzhba” (“Friendship”) connector explained that in late February, Moscow suspended crude supplies after Poland stopped paying for deliveries. Company spokesman Igor Demin noted that “routing orders with confirmed resource and transit payments were not processed,” and that “operational changes were made to the…

US stock indexes fell on Thursday after data pointing to a tight labor market sparked worries that the FederalReserve will continue with its aggressive rate-hiking cycle that could potentially tip the economy into arecession.The Labor Department’s report showed a surprise fall in US weekly jobless claims, highlighting labor market resilience in ahigher interest rate environment.The report did not change expectations that the Fed will further scale back the size of its interest rate increases nextmonth, hopes of which were sparked by a slump in retail sales in December and a retreat in inflation in the previoussession.A separate survey of goods…

The US government posted a $39 billion budget deficit for January after a $119 billion monthlysurplus a year earlier, as revenues dipped and one-time costs, including the bailout of a unionpension fund, pushed outlays sharply higher, the Treasury Department said on Friday.The report, which comes as Treasury employs extraordinary cash management measures to avoidbreaching the federal debt limit, showed receipts at $447 billion last month, down $18 billion, or 4%, fromJanuary 2022.Outside of the one-time costs, the budget data did not show major shifts from recent trends of slightlyslowing revenues and rising costs for Medicare, Social Security and interest on…

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the United States could see a recession and”cause a global financial crisis” if it defaults on its national debt as lawmakers grapple over raisingthe debt limit.Yellen made the comments on Friday in Senegal, where she is on a three-country visit to Africa. Herremarks came after the US Treasury started taking “extraordinary measures” to fend off a default as thecountry reached its $31.4 trillion debt ceiling. The Treasury has warned that the “extraordinary measures”would only help for a limited time.Yellen stated that the actual date on which the Treasury would no longer be…

The use of a flip phone, or some non-smartphone, is one of several restrictions that prosecutorsand Sam Bankman-Fried’s attorneys are jointly asking the judge to approve.The lawyers have been working to satisfy concerns raised by Judge Lewis Kaplan, who said hecould “conceivably” revoke Bankman-Fried’s bail after he found there was a “threat” of witnesstampering.The crypto entrepreneur reached out to the former general counsel of FTX and used a virtualprivate network, or VPN, days after the judge said he wanted to restrict the use of encrypteddevices.Bankman-Fried was charged with multiple counts of conspiracy and fraud in what prosecutorsallege is one of…

Linking the intensified media lies about Iran to the Zionist regime’s worsening internal situation, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said such futile hostile attempts won’t change the doomed fate of Israel, namely collapse. “Media lies about Iran are nothing new; but the surge (in the lies) over the recent months is due to different reasons,” Nasser Kanaani said in a post on his Twitter account on Sunday. “One important reason is that the apartheid Israeli regime has been grappling for a long time with a political conflict, turmoil, street rallies and an internal crisis. However, covering up the truth will not…

The Pakistani rupee fell 9.6% against the dollar on Thursday, central bank data showed – the biggestone-day drop in over two decades – in a slump that may persuade the International Monetary Fund toresume lending to the country.The drop comes a day after foreign exchange companies removed a cap on the exchange rate, a keydemand of the IMF as part of a program of economic reforms it has agreed on with the cash-strapped SouthAsian nation.The currency’s official value closed at 255.4 rupees against the dollar versus 230.9 on Wednesday, thecentral bank said.Facing an acute balance of payments crisis, Pakistan is…

Oil prices slid about 1% on Monday as strong US economic data had investors bracing for moreinterest rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve to fight inflation which could also cut oil demand.Losses were limited by oil supply concerns after Russia halted exports to Poland via a key pipeline.Brent futures fell 56 cents, or 0.7%, to $82.60 a barrel by 11:18 a.m. EST (1618 GMT). US West TexasIntermediate (WTI) crude fell 44 cents, or 0.6%, to $75.88.New orders for key US-manufactured capital goods increased more than expected in January whileshipments rebounded, suggesting that business spending on equipment picked up at…

The spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry ruled out the possibility of striking any interim agreement in the talks on the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). In comments at a weekly presser on Monday, Nasser Kanaani said Iran would not by any means consider signing a temporary agreement in the course of the talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal and lifting the sanctions on Tehran. “What we consider is the return of all parties to the JCPOA,” he underlined. The spokesperson added that Iran’s national interests define how far it will persist with the course…