Author: Steven Sahiounie

Google’s parent company Alphabet announced Friday it will cut about 12,000 jobs globally, citing a changing economic reality as it became the latest US tech giant to enact large-scale restructuring.The layoffs come a day after Microsoft said it would reduce staff numbers by 10,000 in the coming months,following similar cuts by Facebook owner Meta, Amazon and Twitter as the tech sector girds for economicdownturn.The cuts follow a major hiring spree during the height of the coronavirus pandemic when companiesscrambled to meet demand as people went online for work, school and entertainment.”Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic…

Iranian Foreign Minister’s Senior Advisor for Special Political Affairs Ali Asghar Khaji discussed during a telephone conversation with the UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pederson means of facilitating the deliver of humanitarian aid to the Syrian people after the recent earthquake and avoiding politicization in this regard. The latest political developments and the humanitarian situation in Syria, especially the consequences and damage of the recent earthquake were among the topics discussed between Khaji and Pederson, Iranian News agency (IRNA) reported. Opposing the sanctions and obstacles in sending humanitarian to the earthquake victims, Khaji called for an increase and acceleration…

More than 1,000 companies quit the Russian market in the past year due to Ukraine-related sanctionsRusso-Chinese economic cooperation has been growing at a rapid pace in recent months and has “good prospects” for further expansion, Igor Morgulov, Russia’s ambassador to Beijing, said in an interview on China Central Television on Saturday.According to the envoy, Chinese companies are actively filling the gaps in the Russian market left after the departure of Western companies, hundreds of which were forced to leave Russia due to Ukraine-related sanctions.“We welcome the surge in Chinese exports to Russia, primarily of machinery and sophisticated types of goods,…

On March 6, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the destruction of three Ukrainian aircraft over the Donbass front lines over the past day. According to the Russian military officials, the destroyed aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force include: In total, since the beginning of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, Russian forces claimed the destruction of 396 aircraft, 217 helicopters, 3,345 unmanned aerial vehicles, 410 anti-aircraft missile systems, 8,192 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,054 multiple rocket launchers, 4,284 field artillery and mortar guns, as well as 8,771 units of special military vehicles. Reporting on the ongoing…

On March 6, the Kiev regime attempted to carry out another loud assassination in Russia. The attempt targeted the well-known Russian entrepreneur and public figure Konstantin Malofeev, who is also the head of the Tsargrad group of companies and the founder of the TV channel with the same name. The attack was carried out according to the same scenario as Kiev did in August 2022 to kill Russian journalist and philosopher Daria Dugina. On the morning of March 6, an explosive device was planted in Mr. Malofeev’s car. It was timely discovered and neutralized by the security forces. Two of…

The billionaire mastermind behind some of the world’s biggest K-pop stars is pushing back on accusationsthat he’s trying to monopolize the Korean music industry, just days before a major potential deal is expected.Bang Si-Hyuk, chairman of HYBE, the management agency behind bands including BTS and NewJeans,says “a lot of misinformation” has clouded his company’s bid to raise its stake in SM Entertainment.“It wouldn’t be correct to say that we’re trying to take over the whole industry,” Bang told CNN in anexclusive interview in Seoul.He was responding to a backlash sparked by his firm’s recent proposal to acquire a greater stake…

Thirty million dollars worth of Funko (FNKO) Pop! figures – those big-headed, vinyl pop-culture dolls – willsoon make their way into the hands of a new collector: The garbage collector.Funko said in its fourth quarter earnings report that a combination of waning demand for the toys and asurplus of inventory is creating financial trouble for the company. Last year, they had to rent excesswarehouse space just to hold the buildup of Funko figures, which range from Baby Yoda to Eddie VanHalen.Funko was holding onto about $246.4 million worth of dolls at the end of 2022. That’s 48% more than whatthey…

Some 12,000 people have reportedly been left without shelter after Sunday’s inferno in Bangladesh Authorities in Bangladesh have opened an investigation into the circumstances which led to an inferno at a Rohingya refugee camp on Sunday that destroyed around 2,000 shelters and left thousands of people homeless. Local media has reported that one man – who is understood to be a refugee – has been detained in connection with the fire. Police are trying to determine whether or not the blaze was started “as an act of sabotage,” according to Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, the chairman of Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief Repatriation Commissioner. “Some…

China has set an official economic growth target of “around 5%” for 2023, as it seeks to revive the world’s second-largest economy after a year of tepid growth because of pandemic measures.It will also expand its defense budget 7.2%, marking a slight increase over growth the previous year.Both figures for the coming year were released at the opening of the annual gathering of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s rubber-stamp legislature, which draws nearly 3,000 delegates to Beijing for the next eight days.“China’s economy is staging a steady recovery and demonstrating vast potential and momentum for further growth,” outgoing…

Chevron received authorization last year from the US Treasury Department to revive oil output and expand operations in Venezuela as part of Washington’s efforts to encourage political dialogue towards a presidential election in the South American nation. State-run oil company PDVSA allocated Chevron the first crude cargo this month, which was loaded at Venezuela’s Jose terminal last week, according to shipping data and documents. Chevron’s tanker Caribbean Voyager this week transferred the 500,000-barrel cargo of Hamaca heavy crude it had loaded in Venezuela to Malta-flagged vessel Sealeo at a ship-to-ship hub near the Caribbean island of Aruba, Refinitiv Eikon tanker…