Author: Steven Sahiounie

Moscow and Beijing are trying to rely less on Western financial instruments as their relationship grows stronger, Russia’s foreign minister says. Half of the trade turnover between Russia and China is conducted in national currencies and their share is growing rapidly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced on Wednesday.Speaking at a press conference on the results of the activities of Russian diplomacy in 2022, Lavrov stated that without “moves that could undermine our relations” and harm market players, Russia and China are cutting back on dependence on “Western instruments and unreliable partners.”In recent years, Russia and its trade partners, including…

Diversification efforts will help, but Russian gas will eventually return to Europe, the energy minister says. Global natural gas markets will remain unstable for the next several years due to a shortage of supply amid rising demand, Qatar’s energy minister and head of QatarEnergy, Saad Al Kaabi, said at an Atlantic Council conference in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.According to Al Kaabi, despite the current drop in European gas prices, largely due to mild weather, the region is likely to struggle to refill gas stockpiles for next winter given the lack of supplies from Russia.“It’s going to be a volatile situation for some…

The fired employees will have to pursue their claims separately. Twitter won a ruling on Friday that forces a group of laid-off workers to pursue their cases against the company through individual arbitration instead of a class-action lawsuit.San Francisco federal judge James Donato ruled that the five former workers suing over their severance packages had agreements with the company that effectively waived their ability to take Twitter to court, and therefore will be unable to sue the platform as a group.Donato postponed the decision on whether the entire class-action lawsuit should be dropped and divided into individual arbitration cases, as…

The country’s holdings surged by more than $14 billion in December, according to the Central Bank. Russia continues to grow its foreign currency reserves, which surpassed $580 billion in December, the Bank of Russia announced this week.According to the regulator, holdings amounted to $581.9 billion as of January 1, rising by 2.6% or $14.7 billion month-on-month due to a positive revaluation of currencies.The figure, however, is lower than a year ago – on January 1, 2022, the country’s international reserves stood at $630.6 billion, and later reached a historical maximum of $643.2 billion on February 18.Russia’s forex reserves consist of…

Many brands suspended campaigns on the platform after Elon Musk’s takeoverTwitter is offering free ad space to brands that run advertising campaigns on the platform, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing company emails.According to the report, Twitter will match the funds brands spend on their ads, with two conditions. First, the spending must not exceed $250,000. Second, the full volume of ads including Twitter’s incentive – up to $500,000 in total – must run by February 28.Last month, media reported of a similar action by the platform, that time offering to match up to $500,000 in ad spending if the…

The EU’s race to replace Russian pipeline gas lies behind the unprecedented surge, according to RefinitivImports of liquified natural gas (LNG) by global consumers in 2022 totaled 409 million tons, compared to 379.6 million tons in the previous year, according to data from Refinitiv, as cited by Reuters.The record volumes were reportedly due to soaring demand, especially from the EU, which emerged as the premium market for the super-chilled fuel as it rushes to reduce supplies of Russian pipeline gas.The region is estimated to have purchased around 25% of all LNG traded in 2022, winning the competition with Asian consumers,…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator William Burns, CIA director, arrived in Libya on January 12 and met with Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibe in Tripoli, and others. The meeting marked the highest-ranked US official to visit Libya since President Joe Biden took office. Dbeibe’s government began in February 2021 and was tasked with holding elections under the auspices of the UN-appointed Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LDPF). However, he failed to stabilize the country and organize national elections. On January 13, special envoys from the US, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK met in Washington, DC. at the invitation…

The dire prediction comes amid a broad slide in digital coinsThere is no value in cryptocurrencies and investors should sell their digital assets before they become worthless, prominent crypto-sceptic Peter Schiff has suggested.As economists sound the alarm over a so-called “crypto winter” amid the massive drop in the value of digital coins after the collapse of the FTX exchange, Schiff insists that this is not an accurate term to describe the situation.“This is not a #crypto winter. That implies spring is coming. This is also not a crypto ice age, as even that came to an end after a couple of…

The UK economy is mired in deepening gloom today as figures showed manufacturing slumping. The closely-watched PMI reading was the lowest in December for 31 months, since the depths of the Covid crisis. Companies reported falls in output, numbers of new orders received and stocks, while prices continued to rise, although at a slower rate than before. The rating of 43.5 – with anything below 50 indicating activity contracting – was down from 46.5 in November. The grim assessment in the S&P Global/CIPS survey came amid warnings Britain faces the deepest recession among the world’s largest economies in 2023. Analysts…

Commerzbank Senior Economist Tommy Wu thinks China’s economy will likely rebound earlier than previously expected, thanks to the sudden Covid reopening. Government looks keen to prioritize economic recovery in 2023 “First, the speed of outbreak is probably much faster than previously expected, with most people having or eventually will get infected in a matter of weeks after the U-turn in Covid policy made in early December. Currently, cities are battered by infections. But infections will spread, as many households will take advantage of the Chinese New Year holiday, which starts on 22 January, to travel back to their hometown or for…