Author: Steven Sahiounie

The world’s largest oil importer, China, purchased 43.14 million tons of crude in October, equating to 10.2 million barrels per day, according to data released by the country’s customs service on Monday. October oil imports were 4% greater than in September and the highest since May. In September, Beijing moved to boost the export of refined oil products by issuing a 15-million-ton annual quota, which could be rolled over into the first quarter. According to tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, the impact of the move will continue to show up in crude import data for several months, with nearly 9.3…

Algeria has reportedly filed an official application to join the BRICS group of major emerging economies. News website Al-Shouruk said the announcement came from Leila Zerrouki, the Foreign Ministry’s special envoy for international partnerships, speaking on state radio. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune recently said the country was interested in joining Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in the BRICS group, explaining that the country largely meets the criteria for membership. Later, Russian Ambassador to Algeria Valeryan Shuvaev indicated that Moscow had no objections to Algeria joining. At this year’s BRICS summit, held online in June, the format was expanded…

Türkiye has started paying for some of its natural gas from Russia in rubles, the Turkish energy minister revealed on Tuesday in an interview with broadcaster TRT Haber. Fatih Donmez said that in the coming months, the share of local currency payments in energy trade with Moscow will increase, and the sides are currently conducting technical work on such a shift. “As you know, an agreement has been reached, partial payment has already begun. We intend to intensify our work in this direction,” the minister said. In September, Ankara and Moscow agreed that Türkiye would pay for 25% of the gas…

British house prices fell in October at the fastest monthly rate since February 2021, a fresh sign of weakness in the real estate market that reflects the fallout from the former government’s economic plan, according to Halifax. In a report on Monday, the mortgage lender said property prices had dropped 0.4% month-on-month, after a 0.1% fall in September. The average price has declined to £292,598 ($334,508). Halifax indicated that the slowdown had been partly driven by the September 23 economic agenda of former prime minister Liz Truss, known as the mini-budget, which sent British financial markets into freefall and pushed…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The Arab League met in Algeria for the first time in two years, and their final declaration called for freedom for the Palestinian people who have suffered under a brutal Israeli military occupation for almost six decades. The meeting of nearly 22 nations across the Middle East and North Africa coincided with Israeli elections, which has brought to power a far-right party that wants to annex the West Bank and deport Palestinians from their homes. Arab leaders attending the meeting tip-toed around the Abraham Accords, which saw the United Emirates and Bahrain normalize their…

The total exceeded $300 million in the first eight months of the year, according to the Russian embassy Trade turnover between Russia and Iraq between January and August 2022 amounts to $313.1 million, exceeding last year’a total of $282.7 million, an economic adviser at the Russian embassy in Baghdad, Ilya Lobov, has said, in an interview with RIA Novosti published on Saturday. “If we compare this to the year before last year, then we recorded a two-and-a-half-times increase. The positive dynamic was influenced by a significant increase in the volume of purchases of our sunflower oil, wheat flour and animal…

The site, discovered on an island off the coast of the UAE, could predate the advent of Islam Archaeologists in the United Arab Emirates have unearthed the ruins of a Christian monastery on an island off the coast of the Umm al-Quwain emirate. Hidden for more than a millennium beneath a sand dune, the monastery may predate the rise of Islam across the Arabian Peninsula. The emirate’s tourism and archaeology department announced the find on Thursday. Archaeologists discovered the remains of a church, a refectory (dining hall), cisterns, and cells for the monks where they spent time in solitude, The National,…

North Korea has launched at least four more projectiles, as massive US-South Korea military drills continue North Korea fired four short-range ballistic missiles into the sea on Saturday, according to South Korea’s Defense Ministry. The rockets are said to have flown some 130 kilometers, reaching an altitude of 20 kilometers. The launches bring the total number of ballistic missile tests conducted by Pyongyang since Wednesday to 30. The heightened activities come as the US and South Korea continue their ‘Vigilant Storm’ aerial drills, which kicked off on Monday. Aside from firing ballistic missiles, North Korea has held live-fire artillery exercises,…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator According to MiddleEastMonitor, a leading Israeli newspaper said that Israel “is now closing in on a right-wing, religious and authoritarian revolution” aimed at destroying democracy. The recent Israeli elections have brought Benyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party back to power, but with the ultra-right wing religious party led by Itamar Ben-Gvir as an allied partner. Israel defines itself as a Jewish and democratic state. It has democratic institutions, such as elections to the Knesset, but has been officially labeled by the UN and human rights organizations as an apartheid state. Zionism is Israel’s national ideology. Zionists…

“We believe that the Chinese and American people have the wisdom, the opportunity and capability to find a way for peaceful coexistence. But China will not allow others to bully it and the historic process of China’s national rejuvenation cannot be held back by anyone or any force,” said Sun Yeli, a Communist Party spokesman in Beijing on October 15. The US has been committed to providing Taiwan with the means of defending itself, although it does not officially recognize the island as a country, while the US maintains diplomatic relations with Beijing. With increased US rhetoric, including high level…