Author: Steven Sahiounie

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, on a stage at the Tesla Gigafactory in Grünheide, Germany. Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images Tesla recently announced a strategy shift away from Europe as it seeks to benefit from unprecedented subsidies in the United States. But it’s not the only company reviewing investment decisions vis-à-vis Europe. Many multinationals are reconsidering plans to deploy new money into Europe. It comes after U.S. President Joe Biden last year presented the Inflation Reduction Act, or the IRA, which includes a record $369 billion in spending on climate and energy policies. The landmark legislation, which features green subsidies for businesses,…

Norilsk Nickel is selling its metal on the spot market in yuan using a mix of London and Shanghai prices in deals, the outlet reports Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel is selling some of its metal to China in yuan at prices set in Shanghai in a sign of a reshape in global commodity trade, Bloomberg reported this week. According to people with knowledge of the matter, certain volumes of nickel were sold on the spot market at a mixed price of London Metal Exchange (LME) and Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE), with cargoes priced in Shanghai paid for in yuan.…

Russian oil exports to India, the world’s third-largest crude importer after China and the US, climbed to a record 1.62 million barrels per day (bpd) in February, making Russia India’s largest crude supplier for the fifth straight month, The Hindu reported on Sunday, citing cargo tracker Vortexa. According to the report, Moscow’s oil exports to the country surged 28% month-on-month and surpassed combined deliveries from Iraq and Saudi Arabia, India’s main suppliers for decades. Imports from Saudi Arabia dropped 16% month-on-month to 647,800 bpd, while deliveries from Iraq amounted to some 939,900 bpd. Russia now supplies 35% of all India’s…

The world’s second biggest economy is strengthening following the lifting of pandemic restrictions Chinese services sector activity jumped sharply in February as the economic recovery picked up speed following the lifting of most Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, a Caixin survey showed on Friday. According to the agency, the services purchasing managers’ index (PMI), which measures activity in the services sector, rose to 55 points last month from a January reading of 52.9, growing at its fastest pace in seven months. The 50-point mark separates growth from contraction. The Caixin survey focuses on smaller, private companies, which, according to the findings, mostly…

Israeli occupation authorities deported today ex-Palestinian prisoner Munir Rajabi, who was released today after 20 years in Israeli prisons, from Haifa–where he lived before his imprisonment–to the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said an Israeli army force accompanied Rajabi in his way from Naqab Prison to Hebron, where he was deported shortly following his release. Rajabi, who holds the resident status of Jerusalem, was arrested in 2003, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. His resident status was revoked by the Israeli occupation authorities in 2019. More than 4,400 Palestinian prisoners…

Beijing says it will take resolute steps to oppose the self-governed island’s push for independence Beijing maintains that Taiwan is part of China’s territory and will continue working towards reunification with the self-governed island through peaceful means, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has said. “We should promote the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and advance the process of China’s peaceful reunification,” Li said in a report to some 3,000 delegates of the National People’s Congress, which kicked off in Beijing on Sunday. The government in Beijing remains committed to the “One China principle,” which states that Taiwan is part of China,…

The ex-US leader claims he is the only candidate that can prevent World War III President Joe Biden is leading the United States “into oblivion,” Donald Trump told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland on Saturday, promising to stop wasting US taxpayer money on “stupid” foreign wars as he rallies support for a potential political comeback in 2024. “I was the only president in decades that didn’t have a war,” Trump said in his nearly two-hour long speech at the annual conservative gathering at Gaylord National Resort, claiming that if he was in office right now, “Ukraine would have been thriving, there would have been…

The country may not be able to meet its energy needs with its own resources at peak loads in the coming years, a study says Germany could face an electricity shortage in the next two years as its own energy resources become increasingly insufficient and demand rises, Welt am Sonntag reported on Sunday, citing a local McKinsey study. According to the findings, by 2025 the country will lack some four gigawatts of power capacity, while by 2030 the deficit will increase to 30 gigawatts, the company said. “So we’re heading toward a significant shortage: 30GW corresponds to the capacity of…

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani, in a sarcastic post on his Twitter account, responded to a tweet from Germany’s foreign minister regarding the recent poisoning incidents in a number of schools in Iran. “Ms. (German foreign) minister, this destructive and anti-security act is under investigation. The Iranian government is very serious about identifying the criminals and eradicating this ill-will. We will not allow anyone to cause insecurity for Iranian girl students with political motivation,” Kanaani said in a tweet on Friday. “But one of the bitter realities that still needs transparency is the chemical poisoning by #German_toxic_gases for which…

The Union of Syrian Students in Tunisia and the Tunisian National Coordination to Break the Siege imposed on Syria organized a solidarity stand in Tunisia, to call for lifting unjust blockade on Syria. During the Stand, the participants condemned the unjust siege imposed on Syria by US imperialism and its allies, and called for its immediate end and the restoration of Arab and international relations with Syria. They demanded to send urgent humanitarian relief aid to those affected by the earthquake in Syria, and continuing to organize solidarity stands with Syria to break the unjust Western siege and support the…