Author: Steven Sahiounie

Earlier it was reported that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky tasked Prime Minister Denis Shmygal with “carefully studying” the possibility of renaming Russia to Muscovy in the Ukrainian language The idea of renaming Russia into Muscovy in the Ukrainian language once again proves attempts to create “anti-Russia” from Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday. Earlier it was reported that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky tasked Prime Minister Denis Shmygal with “carefully studying” the possibility of renaming Russia to Muscovy in the Ukrainian language. “The bunker (President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky ) proves that we are right every day.…

The plane flew approximately 3-5 km away from the border, Azerbaijani Foreign and Defense Ministries said in a joint statement The Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan presented to Iranian Ambassador with a note of protest over sorties of an Iranian military plane over the border between the two countries, Azerbaijani Foreign and Defense Ministries said in a joint statement Saturday. “On March 11, a military plane belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran was continuously flying along the Azerbaijani-Iranian border between 09:44 and 10:26 [local time], from Zangilan to Bilyasuvar District and back. The plane flew approximately 3-5 km away from…

Oil prices climbed more than 1% on Friday after better-than-expected U.S. employment data, though both benchmarks fell more than 3% on the week on U.S. interest rate hike jitters. Brent rose $1.19, or 1.5%, to $82.78 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) was up 96 cents, or 1.3%, at $76.68. Expectations of further rate hikes in the world’s largest economy and in Europe have clouded the global growth outlook and driven both crude benchmarks down this week. However, the U.S. Federal Reserve may have less reason to raise interest rates as sharply or as high as some had…

Layoffs jumped more than five times in February from a year earlier, an outplacement firm reports American employers announced 77,770 job cuts in February, marking a 410% increase from the same month last year, executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas has revealed. According to the report issued earlier this week, February’s total was the highest for the month since 2009, when 186,350 job cuts were recorded. However, the figure was down 24% on the 102,943 cuts announced in January. So far this year, employers have announced plans to eliminate 180,713 jobs, up 427% from the 34,309 cuts announced in the first…

Trade turnover between the two countries has tripled this year, data from New Delhi shows Russia has entered the ranks of India’s top five partners in trade, data from the Indian Department of Commerce shows. According to the figures, in the ten months of the fiscal year beginning in April 2022 and ending this month, turnover between the two countries has tripled. Moscow is now in fifth place on the list, after the US, China, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. This marks the first time since the late 1990s, when India began tracking trade statistics, that Russia has entered the top-five. The country…

Washington plans to introduce new export restrictions to further curb China’s access to advanced American chip technology, Bloomberg reported on Saturday, citing sources. The measures, which focus on chip manufacturing capabilities, will double the number of equipment types that require special export licenses, according to the report. Sources also claimed that the US plans to coordinate the new measures with the governments of Japan and the Netherlands. Because the three countries dominate the global chip making technology market, many analysts believe that Washington would need the support of the other two for its measures to be effective. The countries’ governments…

Some $4 million in USDC futures were liquidated in the past 24 hours, Coinglass data shows. USD Coin (USDC) fell under 90 cents on Saturday amid little respite for the token’s recovery as traders likely fled to other stablecoins to protect capital. USDC traded at 87 cents in Asian morning hours, reaching lifetime lows. It has since rebounded to just over 90 cents as of Asian evening hours. Some traders bet on a gradual recovery to the $1 mark, buying the relatively cheap USDC for a potential 10% gain should the tokens repeg to the intended dollar mark. Leverage could potentially…

USDC’s normally stable price sank to $0.89 from $1 while Ethereum gas fees soared hours after the crypto-tied bank failed. The cryptocurrency crisis went into high gear early Saturday as Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) failure caused some of the industry’s core plumbing to go haywire. Stablecoin prices wildly swung and gas fees soared as investors scrambled to move money around hours after regulators shut SVB amid a run on the bank, which had ties to crypto. It was the second crypto-linked bank to go under this week. In the aftermath, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen convened top financial regulators to discuss the collapse of SVB. Not long after, crypto markets…

MakerDAO’s decentralized stablecoin hit an all-time low of $0.88 in Asian afternoon hours on Saturday. As the market continues to digest the impact of the sudden collapse of tech-focused Silicon Valley Bank, days after Silvergate went into voluntary liquidation, algorithmic stablecoin DAI has been knocked off its peg and has hit an all-time low of 0.88 cents. This article was originally published by CoinDesk.

Bitcoin and ether rose as much as 4% in the past 24 hours after a steep fall on Friday as contagion risks from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank spread to crypto markets, specifically the exposure of USD Coin-issuer Circle to the bank. Ether (ETH) rose over $1,450 while bitcoin (BTC) jumped over the $20,000 mark on Saturday to post early signs of market stabilization. Both tokens fell below strong resistance levels on Friday. Other cryptocurrencies did not post similar gains, however, suggesting traders were not taking risks on lesser-known tokens yet. Polygon’s matic (MATIC) was up 1.6% while BNB…