Author: Steven Sahiounie

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the United States could see a recession and”cause a global financial crisis” if it defaults on its national debt as lawmakers grapple over raisingthe debt limit.Yellen made the comments on Friday in Senegal, where she is on a three-country visit to Africa. Herremarks came after the US Treasury started taking “extraordinary measures” to fend off a default as thecountry reached its $31.4 trillion debt ceiling. The Treasury has warned that the “extraordinary measures”would only help for a limited time.Yellen stated that the actual date on which the Treasury would no longer be…

The use of a flip phone, or some non-smartphone, is one of several restrictions that prosecutorsand Sam Bankman-Fried’s attorneys are jointly asking the judge to approve.The lawyers have been working to satisfy concerns raised by Judge Lewis Kaplan, who said hecould “conceivably” revoke Bankman-Fried’s bail after he found there was a “threat” of witnesstampering.The crypto entrepreneur reached out to the former general counsel of FTX and used a virtualprivate network, or VPN, days after the judge said he wanted to restrict the use of encrypteddevices.Bankman-Fried was charged with multiple counts of conspiracy and fraud in what prosecutorsallege is one of…

Linking the intensified media lies about Iran to the Zionist regime’s worsening internal situation, the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said such futile hostile attempts won’t change the doomed fate of Israel, namely collapse. “Media lies about Iran are nothing new; but the surge (in the lies) over the recent months is due to different reasons,” Nasser Kanaani said in a post on his Twitter account on Sunday. “One important reason is that the apartheid Israeli regime has been grappling for a long time with a political conflict, turmoil, street rallies and an internal crisis. However, covering up the truth will not…

The Pakistani rupee fell 9.6% against the dollar on Thursday, central bank data showed – the biggestone-day drop in over two decades – in a slump that may persuade the International Monetary Fund toresume lending to the country.The drop comes a day after foreign exchange companies removed a cap on the exchange rate, a keydemand of the IMF as part of a program of economic reforms it has agreed on with the cash-strapped SouthAsian nation.The currency’s official value closed at 255.4 rupees against the dollar versus 230.9 on Wednesday, thecentral bank said.Facing an acute balance of payments crisis, Pakistan is…

Oil prices slid about 1% on Monday as strong US economic data had investors bracing for moreinterest rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve to fight inflation which could also cut oil demand.Losses were limited by oil supply concerns after Russia halted exports to Poland via a key pipeline.Brent futures fell 56 cents, or 0.7%, to $82.60 a barrel by 11:18 a.m. EST (1618 GMT). US West TexasIntermediate (WTI) crude fell 44 cents, or 0.6%, to $75.88.New orders for key US-manufactured capital goods increased more than expected in January whileshipments rebounded, suggesting that business spending on equipment picked up at…

The spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry ruled out the possibility of striking any interim agreement in the talks on the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). In comments at a weekly presser on Monday, Nasser Kanaani said Iran would not by any means consider signing a temporary agreement in the course of the talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal and lifting the sanctions on Tehran. “What we consider is the return of all parties to the JCPOA,” he underlined. The spokesperson added that Iran’s national interests define how far it will persist with the course…

An EU ban on the sale of new combustion-engine cars has been postponed due to callsfrom luxury automakers Ferrari and Porche for synthetic electric fuel to be given anexemption, Bloomberg reported on Saturday.The ban was set to be adopted earlier this week, but its approval was reportedlythwarted at the last minute by the governments of Italy and Germany, even though theregulation had already been agreed on by EU member states and approved by theEuropean Parliament. According to Bloomberg, this was done under pressure from thetwo automakers, who are considered national icons in their home countries.Italy’s deputy prime minister called the…

Lebanon will adopt a new official exchange rate of 15,000 pounds per US dollar on Feb. 1, centralbank governor Riad Salameh said, marking a 90% devaluation from its current official rate that hasremained unchanged for 25 years.The shift from the old rate of 1,507 to 15,000 is still far off the parallel market, where the pound waschanging hands at around 57,000 per dollar on Tuesday.The change will apply to banks, Salameh said, leading to a decrease in the equity of the institutions at thecenter of the country’s 2019 financial implosion.Analysts expect the shift to have less impact on the wider…

Russian oil exports to India, the world’s third-largest crude importer after Chinaand the US, climbed to a record 1.62 million barrels per day (bpd) in February,The Hindu reported on Sunday, citing cargo tracker Vortexa. The numberssuggest that Russia is India’s largest crude supplier for the fifth straight month.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’smain suppliers for decades. Imports from Saudi Arabia dropped 16% month-on-month to 647,800 bpd, while deliveries from Iraq amounted to some 939,900bpd.Russia now supplies 35% of all India’s oil imports, a…

“We are strongly urging the sides to exercise restraint and take steps to deescalate the situation,” Maria Zakharova said Russia is deeply concerned about escalating tensions in Nagorno-Karabakh and is calling on the sides to exercise restraint, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Monday. “We express serious concern about the escalating tensions in the zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. There have been repeated ceasefire violations in recent days. An armed incident that took place on March 5 resulted in the loss of life on both the Armenian and Azerbaijani sides,” the diplomat said. “We strongly…