Author: Steven Sahiounie

English and Welsh households are expected to see their water and sewage bills surging 7.5% starting April, marking the biggest increase in nearly 20 years, the country’s industry body Water UK announced on Thursday.The hike will see customers pay around £1.23 ($1.51) a day on average – an increase of £0.08 ($0.10) per day, or £448 ($551) per year, £31 ($38) more than in 2022.The updated figures come amid warnings that one in five customers are already finding it difficult to pay. Consumer groups are warning that the increase could further squeeze households hit by the raging energy crisis.However, Water UK highlighted…

The major gas project is expected to handle supplies previously directed through the Nord Steam 1 pipeline A major natural gas hub in Türkiye, proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and backed by his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is expected to start operating as soon as this year, according Ankara’s energy minister.Fatih Donmez also said the issue had been discussed with several nations, which expressed their readiness to support the Turkish gas hub project, adding that ensuring energy security remained a priority for Türkiye.“A common opinion has been formed on doubling supplies via TANAP (Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline…

large stock of unfinished housing is among the major problems to be addressed, the fund says. Ed FreemanChina is still facing a real estate crisis and its government has a lot of work to do to fix the problems, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday.The cash-strapped property sector, which accounts for a quarter of the Chinese economy, has struggled with defaults and stalled projects, hitting market confidence and dragging down growth in the world’s second-largest economy.IMF economists welcomed recent measures by the country’s authorities to ease restrictions on financing for the sector but pointed out that “additional action”…

EU member states will inevitably be hit by fuel shortages and skyrocketing energy prices due to a new price cap on Russian oil that comes into force on February 5, the Hungarian Energy Ministry said on Saturday.It added that Hungary would also be affected by the fresh anti-Russia penalties in the long term.On Friday, officials in Brussels announced that the bloc would set the price of refined petroleum products imported from Russia at $100 per barrel for diesel and $45 per barrel for fuel oil. The measure, supported by the US, Australia and other G7 countries, comes two months after…

A US Treasury official reportedly argued that attempts to damage the Russian economy are being hampered. US officials have warned Türkiye and the United Arab Emirates against maintaining economic and financial ties with Russia because trade is undermining sanctions, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The warnings were reportedly voiced by Brian Nelson, the undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the US Treasury, during meetings with Turkish officials on Thursday and Friday. Nelson’s visit to Türkiye comes as part of a regional tour that included the UAE earlier this week, and is said to…

British armed forces have been “hollowed out by spending cuts,” General Richard Barrons has said The UK could deplete its ammunition stocks in mere hours should it be drawn into large-scale fighting, a former British commander warned on Thursday. This and other issues make the UK military unfit to be regarded as a “top tier” NATO member, he said. Retired General Richard Barrons, who formerly headed the UK’s Joint Forces Command, sounded the alarm in an op-ed published by The Sun in which he said the fighting force has been “hollowed out by spending cuts.” Barrons claimed that the British armed forces “are smaller…

China has hit back at US accusations over the balloon sighted flying over the United States, saying that the balloon is a civilian meteorological “airship” used for scientific research purposes. In a statement late on Friday, the Chinese foreign ministry confirmed that “the airship is from China and is civilian in nature, used for meteorological and other scientific research. Due to the influence of westerly winds and its limited control capability, the airship deviated from its intended course.” The statement came after US officials accused China of allowing a “spy” balloon to fly over the United States, resulting in the postponement…

The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has condemned in the strongest terms the decision by Sudan’s foreign ministry to move forward towards normalizing relations with Israel during talks with visiting foreign minister Eli Cohen in Khartoum, calling upon officials in the North African country to reverse the measure. “Hamas believes that this move contradicts the general Sudanese stance, which is against the normalization of ties with the occupying Israeli regime and lends support to the just Palestinian cause,” the Gaza-based group said in a statement released on Friday. “The development comes at the same time as the far-right Israeli administration has intensified…

Deepening conflict, sudden changes to regulations and a lack of transparency have made doing business in the country increasingly challenging. Bangkok/Yangon – For Aung Thet, a successful entrepreneur in Yangon, running a business under Myanmar’s military regime feels like “riding a rollercoaster”. The Southeast Asian country’s economy has been brought to its knees by the conflict triggered by the military’s power grab two years ago. Foreign investors have headed for the exits and the generals have forced companies like Aung Thet’s to convert their foreign exchange accounts into Myanmar kyat. Criticism of the military administration is not tolerated. “It’s a very hostile…

Bitcoin rose above $23.7K in the immediate aftermath of the Federal Reserve’s moderate increase, but at least one trend points to a possible crypto price decline. Bitcoin climbed in the two hours after the U.S. central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) did as has been widely expected and raised interest rates 25 basis points. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested in comments accompanying the announcement the bankers had been encouraged by price decreases but remained committed to achieving their goal of reducing annual inflation to 2%. The dovish tilt underscored the success of the Fed’s more aggressive rate increases…