Author: Steven Sahiounie

The US House of Representatives votes down troops’ pull-out from Syria at a time when Senate repeals the vote to end Iraq war authorization. The US House of Representatives voted down legislation on Wednesday, instructing US President Joe Biden to end the US occupation of the Syrian Al-Tanaf region and remove approximately 900 troops. The resolution, initially introduced by the Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz, was supported by only 103 members of Congress, as the majority of members of Congress, amounting to 321, have voted against the pull-out. Gaetz argued that he did not believe that “what stands between a caliphate and not a caliphate…

On March 6, Hezbollah announced that it had uncovered an Israeli spying device near the separation line in south Lebanon. In a brief statement, Hezbollah said that the device, which was disguised as a rock, was planted by Israeli soldiers near the al-Abad site in the outskirts of the town of Houla. The group didn’t provide any further information on the device. Several similar spying devices were uncovered in south Lebanon, the heartland of Hezbollah, in the past. Some of the devices included motion sensors, while others had electro-optical\infrared imagers or even signal\electronic intelligence systems. Such spying devices are usually…

“It has nothing to do with shelling attacks, nothing happened in the area that could have led to the power cutoff. It is just an act of pure spite on the part of Kiev,” Vladimir Rogov noted Ukraine has cut off power to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant in the city of Energodar, Chairman of the We Stand With Russia movement Vladimir Rogov told TASS on Thursday. “[Ukraine] cut off the supply through the last remaining powerline to the Zaporozhye NPP at 4:53 a.m. The nuclear power plant is currently disconnected from external power sources,” he said. “It has nothing…

Bitcoin whales have been swimming in different directions. Smaller whales, or those holding a balance of 1,000 or more bitcoin (BTC), have been in a steady, prolonged decline, falling 13% to 2,003 since a short-term peak of 2,292 in March 2022. But the number of larger whales, or those holding over 10,000 BTC, have exhibited the exact opposite behavior, increasing 34% over the same period. The diverging behavior reflects the groups’ differing sentiment about bitcoin’s prospects in the months ahead, and their investment strategies. Given past behavior it appears that smaller whales may be taking a more tactical approach to…

U.S. authorities transferred $1 billion worth of bitcoin (BTC) recovered from a dark web hack to new wallet addresses, including one owned by Coinbase, on Wednesday, stoking investor fears that intense sell pressures could drive down the token’s price. Authorities moved the bitcoin in three transactions, according to data from blockchain security firm PeckShield. Nearly 10,000 bitcoin were sent to Coinbase-controlled wallets, while roughly $41,000 tokens were directed to government-controlled wallets. PeckShield published its findings on Twitter early Wednesday morning, and investors were quick to notice. In the hours after the report’s release, investors expressed their fears that authorities would sell the…

Bitcoin traders are taking a breather and considering their next steps as the market digests the collapse of Silvergate Bank, which culminated in its “voluntary liquidation” Wednesday U.S. time. CryptoQuant data shows that transfer volume, denominated in BTC, is down 35% over the last 24 hours. At the same time, the total number of transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain has dropped by 17% during this same time period, and the number of active addresses has fallen by 10%. For the month of March, bitcoin trading volume has come in at an average of around $25 billion, according to data from CoinGecko,…

Over the past year, the European Union was the top buyer of Russia’s fossil fuels, namely coal, oil and gas, according to the latest estimates by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). This is despite the bloc’s sanctions, which include a ban on Russian seaborne crude and coal imports and a price cap on oil and petroleum products from the country. Since the launch of its military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has earned over $315 billion from international sales of its fossil fuels, with $149 billion, about half of the total, coming from…

Cold weather has caused a surge in demand, forcing the National Grid to put coal plants on standby as emergency backup The UK’s National Grid asked coal-fired plants on Tuesday to be ready to generate power for the first time this winter, as a late-season cold snap has caused a shortage in power supply across the country. The energy grid operator was leaning on coal to increase supplies, requesting three more units to prepare to generate after turning to Electricite de France on Monday. Coal-powered reserve units were readied for use several times throughout the winter, but this is the…

The United Arab Emirates has boosted its purchases of Russian crude oil despite increasing pressure from the US and its Western allies to curb trade with Moscow, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing ship tracking data and sources. Statistics show that around 1.5 million barrels of Russian crude have been shipped to the Gulf nation since November, with overall volumes having grown since early 2022. The latest cargo with Russian Urals crude reportedly arrived at the oil hub of Fujairah earlier this month. According to energy analytics firm Kpler, the first shipment occurred in 2019 but deliveries increased after April 2022,…

According to the company, the reason for this decision is the situation in Ukraine German tire manufacturer Continental has announced that it will continue to seek a controlled exit from the Russian market, according to a press release published on the manufacturer’s website on Wednesday. According to the company, the reason for this decision is the situation in Ukraine. On March 8, 2022, Continental announced the suspension of production and business in Russia, primarily the production of tires and components at the plant in Kaluga. The company also suspended exports of its products to Russia. Later, Continental decided to reopen…