Author: Steven Sahiounie

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator When the US-NATO attack on Syria for regime change began in 2011, many Syrians began to leave the country for safer areas. After the Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi won in a US manipulated election, many Syrians who were followers of the Muslim Brotherhood, packed up and left for Egypt. According to the 2018 Pew research center data, more than 150,000 Syrians are living in Egypt and Libya. Egypt’s economy is the second largest in Africa after Nigeria. Many were economic migrants following a political ideology embraced by the Syrian opposition, and aligned with…

Apple is set to shift its production away from China following Covid-related disruptions at its main assembly plantApple is looking to scale up its manufacturing in India as the iPhone maker continues to move its production away from China, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday.The tech giant wants India to account for up to 25% of its production from the current 5% to 7%, according to Goyal, who called Apple “another success story” as he talked up the advantages of doing business with the world’s fifth-largest economy.He didn’t specify when Apple wants to meet the target but…

The country’s floating LNG terminals will reach the necessary capacity no sooner than 2026, the Economy Ministry estimatesGermany is a long way from fully substituting Russian pipeline gas supplies with liquefied natural gas (LNG), estimates by the country’s Economy Ministry show.According to a document published on the Bundestag website, Germany imported 55 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Russian natural gas in 2021. The document also shows that Germany’s new Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRUs), which are currently being installed in a number of ports to allow the import of LNG, may reach a similar capacity no sooner than in 2026.By…

Leaders of the bloc will meet next month to discuss possible responses to what they see as unfair measures. Germany and France have urged the EU to step up its support for domestic industry and unleash massive investments to keep from falling behind American companies in light of the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which they deem discriminatory.   On Sunday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron met in Paris to discuss how the EU should respond to the controversial American program.   The legislation has sparked fears in the EU that the “protectionist” measures may be “discriminatory” towards…

Domestic oil exporters will reportedly have to make sure buyers don’t use the mechanism for resaleRussian exporters may soon be forbidden from selling oil to buyers under the Western price cap mechanism, the Kommersant news outlet reported, citing government sources.According to the report, the Ministry of Energy has prepared a draft decree obliging Russian legal entities and individuals to avoid Western-mandated oil price limit provisions in their contracts with foreign buyers. They will also have to ensure that these buyers, including traders and agents, comply with this requirement for the further resale of Russian oil.The contracts will also have to…

Rome is looking to Algeria to replace deliveries from the sanctions-hit countryItaly will completely end its dependence on Russian gas in the winter of 2024-25, the head of state-owned energy giant Eni, Claudio Descalzi, announced on Monday.Speaking during a visit by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to Algeria, he confirmed that Rome is pushing for further expansion of cooperation with the North African country as part of the plan to wean itself off Russian gas.Descalzi noted that two years ago, Algeria supplied Italy with about 21 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas. Now the numbers have increased to 25…

Lingering problems in the EU energy sector can no longer be attributed to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Diario, published on Sunday.According to the diplomat, the bloc has managed to overcome its energy dependence on Russia.“We have, in a few months, abolished the energy dependence on Russia that we had been building up for years…We went through an extremely tense phase of rising prices, but they are back to pre-war levels,” he stated. According to Borrell, the sharp…

Brazil and Argentina plan to create a common currency, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing officials. The plan will be discussed and officially announced at a summit in Buenos Aires this week, according to the report.“There will be… a decision to start studying the parameters needed for a common currency, which includes everything from fiscal issues to the size of the economy and the role of central banks,” Argentina’s Economy Minister Sergio Massa told the news outlet.According to Massa, other Latin American nations will be invited to join the common currency project. Brazil is proposing calling the new currency ‘sur,’…

Over 1,300 companies were created by Russian citizens in Türkiye in 2022, data published on Sunday by Türkiye’s Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges shows.According to the findings, 1,363 firms were registered in the country with Russian participation, including 140 joint stock companies and 1,223 limited liability firms.The share of Russian companies in the overall number of firms established with foreign capital in Türkiye was the largest, surpassing Iranian (1,300) and German companies (484).Data shows that a total of 20,135 companies were established in Türkiye in 2022 using foreign capital, the most since 2010.The agency notes that foreigners invested mainly…

Bitcoin has extended gains over the weekend ahead of celebrations for the Lunar New Year holiday and the Spring Festival throughout Southeast Asia, rallying to its highest level since August.The flagship cryptocurrency surged to over $23,000 on Saturday, gaining as much as 10% at one point compared to the earlier day, data by CoinMarketCap shows. The coin has reached a local high of around $23,282, a level not seen in more than five months. As of now, Bitcoin is trading around $22,900, almost flat over the past day.Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, also registered significant gains, reaching a local high of…