Author: Steven Sahiounie

The UK is poorer than it would have been, partly due to the war in Ukraine, but also the pandemic, Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has admitted. But he said ministers were taking action on the soaring cost of living, including giving help on energy bills. The head of the independent forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), said living standards were seeing their biggest squeeze on record. Richard Hughes said Brexit and poor productivity had also hurt growth. And he warned living standards would not return to pre-pandemic levels for at another five to six years. Asked whether he…

Interest rate hikes to battle inflation have created “stresses and vulnerabilities,” the fund’s head Kristalina Georgieva has said The world economy is headed for a difficult year, as the fallout from the recent banking crises and the formation of rival economic blocs triggered by the Ukraine conflict threaten to undermine global economic stability, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva, said at the China Development Forum on Saturday. According to Georgieva, 2023 will be “challenging” and is likely to see global growth slowing to below 3% “as scarring from the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and monetary tightening weigh…

Putin adds that the construction of the weapons storage facility in Belarus is due to be completed on July 1. According to German media, Russia’s decision to place tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus has been criticized by the German Foreign Ministry on Sunday, labeling it an “attempt at nuclear intimidation,” German media reported. This comes a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the agreement between Moscow and Minsk to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, while ensuring conformance with international commitments and laws. Putin pointed fingers at the US for having stationed its tactical nuclear weapons on lands…

Heads of government are also expected to attend the Arab Development Summit in Mauritania and the Arab-African Summit in Saudi Arabia this year as well.  On Sunday, the League of Arab States’ (LAS) Assistant Secretary-General, Hossam Zaki, confirmed that the 32nd summit of the LAS is due to take place in Saudi Arabia on May 19 this year. “The 32nd Arab summit is expected to be held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on May 19,” Zaki said in his statement, adding that heads of government are also expected to attend the Arab Development Summit in Mauritania and the Arab-African…

Progress toward an agreement had stalled earlier this month due to Berlin’s demand for exemptions Germany and the EU have reached an agreement in their dispute over Brussels’ plan to ban combustion engines starting in 2035, EU officials announced on Saturday. According to tweets by European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans and German Transport Minister Volker Wissing, Brussels has agreed to allow new vehicles with combustion engines to be registered even after 2035 if they use climate-neutral fuel. “We have found an agreement with Germany on the future use of e-fuels in cars,” Timmermans wrote on Twitter. The initial EU proposal…

The State of Palestine condemned in the strongest terms Israel’s continued provocations and aggression against both the worshippers and the sanctity of Holy Sites in Jerusalem, particularly in and around Al-Haram Al-Sharif. The ministry of foreign affairs and expatriates, in a statement, condemned Israeli occupying forces’ aggression against worshippers during the holiest month of the year, in grave violation of the historic, legal, and political status quo of Jerusalem. It also condemned the unlawful detention of worshippers followed by the forced invasion of Jewish settlers into Al-Haram Al-Sharif under the protection of Israeli occupying forces. “Israel, the occupying Power, is…

Sheikh Mohammad Hussein, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, has strongly condemned the raid earlier today by Israeli police on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem and the forcible eviction of Muslim worshipers from the holy site. The Grand Mufti described the Israeli raid and the eviction of worshipers as a “severely dangerous attack on the sentiments and beliefs of Muslims,” adding that the Israeli escalation “aims at achieving the interests of extremist settler groups that seek a religious war in the region.” He denounced the threats made by the so-called Israeli “Temple Mount groups” about their intention to…

A proposal to send 12 Soviet-made Mi-24 attack helicopters to Ukraine will be submitted for approval during the next session of the North Macedonian government, the country’s Defense Minister Slavjanka Petrovska announced on March 25, according to the local media outlet Nezavisen. Petrovska said that the decision will not affect the combat readiness of the North Macedonian military since the “equipment is already at the end of its use, according to our modernization plans,” as quoted by the media. “All the equipment that has been donated so far has to do with the request of the Ukrainian authorities, who are…

These were unexpectedly long events, Dmitry Peskov said An unscheduled long informal communication of the Russian and Chinese presidents, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, speak of the leaders’ attitude, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov opined in an interview with the ‘Moscow. Kremlin. Putin’ program on the Rossiya-1 TV channel. “Certainly, these were unexpectedly long events. But this speaks to the mood of the two leaders, the spirit of trust and the thoroughness of their communication,” Peskov said, responding to a question from journalist Pavel Zarubin. Peskov stressed that initially it was not planned that the informal talks between Vladimir Putin and…

Most of them laid down their weapons voluntarily About 70 servicemen of the Ukrainian armed forces have laid down arms and surrendered to Russian forces in the past two weeks on the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), an officer from a region’s security agency told TASS on Sunday. “About 70 Ukrainian soldiers surrendered in the past two weeks alone. Most of them laid down their weapons voluntarily, wishing to save their lives,” the source said. According to his data, most of them are military fighting on the Avdeyevka, Donetsk and Ugledar fronts. Source: Tass