Author: Steven Sahiounie

Central bank taking steps to boost local currency settlements with neighboring nations The Chinese government is planning to work with other Asian nations to strengthen the use of local currencies in trade and investment as part of a broader plan to bolster regional economic strength, according to Yi Gang, the governor of the country’s central bank. “Emerging markets should improve their resilience,” Yi said on Wednesday during a televised speech at a G20 event hosted by Indonesia. “This is where regional cooperation has a key role to play.” The official highlighted that the latest progress in using local currencies of emerging Asian…

American personnel beat a hasty retreat in the face of a purported Russian invasion Staff evacuating the US embassy in Kiev took apart and destroyed computer systems and communication equipment used by diplomats, reportedly fearing it could end up in the hands of Russian forces after a potential invasion, just before Moscow announced that it was withdrawing some troops from near the Ukrainian border. On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that officials were “temporarily relocating our embassy operations in Ukraine from our embassy in Kiev to Lviv due to the dramatic acceleration in the buildup of Russian forces.” Lviv…

Seeking the security of its own interests, “Israel” looks to make Biden reconsider designating Ansar Allah as a terrorist organization. Upon the UAE’s request, “Israel” is pressuring the Biden administration to designate Ansar Allah, Yemen’s popular army forces, as a terror group, according to two sources familiar with the topic. With the increasingly tense situation following Ansar Allah’s retaliation against the Saudi-Emirati coalition’s massacres in addition to a series of operations, the UAE and allies are scurrying to look for ways to deter Yemeni retaliation, ramping up their lobbying efforts to designate Ansar Allah as a terrorist organization. Of course, it is in Israeli interest…

Moscow, SANA- Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has slammed the disinformation campaigns about the alleged Russian attack on Ukraine by calling on the US and Western media outlets to release a schedule of Russia’s “upcoming invasions” of Ukraine for the current year. “I’d like to request US and British disinformation: Bloomberg, The New York Times and The Sun media outlets to publish the schedule for our upcoming invasions for the year. I’d like to plan my vacation,” Russia Today website cited the Russian diplomat as saying on her Telegram channel Wednesday. Western media outlets have recently been echoing allegations…

By Ailis Halligan Spokesman Dmitry Peskov says the Russian president has consistently demanded “negotiations” and “diplomacy” Russian President Vladimir Putin is “willing to negotiate” over demands for security guarantees with the West, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, highlighting that the issue surrounding Ukraine is only “part” of the overall problem. Speaking to CNN, Peskov noted that negotiations have consistently been at the top of the president’s list of priorities. “President Putin has always been demanding negotiations and diplomacy”, Peskov said, adding that it was the Kremlin which originally “initiated the issue of guarantees of security.” “Ukraine is just part of the problem, it’s part…

The Vienna talks are threatened to be stalled on, and Iran looks for reassurance. Washington should, according to Tehran, make a “political statement” reinstating its commitment to the Vienna talks in case the negotiations come to a turning point, although they are said to be 98% complete. The Financial Times, conducting an exclusive interview with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, said Washington had failed to address Iran’s demand for a guarantee that no party will abandon the deal, as it did under the Trump administration in 2018. Iran demands all sanctions on Iran be lifted, particularly those imposed by Trump. …

The US network called Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem “settlers” CNN has provoked anger online after describing Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem as “settlers” on Tuesday. The term is strongly associated with right-wing Jewish people taking over lands in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories in violation of international law. The report was about continued ethnic tensions in East Jerusalem over property rights and the effort to evict Palestinian residents from their homes through the Israeli court system. The video report by CNN’s Andrew Carey detailed the latest developments in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where, the initial description said, there are regular clashes between “Israeli…

Though Biden warns of ‘consequences’ if an invasion were to occur, he speaks of diplomatic intentions with Putin. US President Joe Biden revealed on Tuesday that Washington is ready to engage in diplomacy with Russia, while also set to respond ‘decisively’ if Russia were to invade Ukraine, believing that it is still a possibility. “The United States is prepared no matter what happens, to engage in diplomacy with Russia and our allies and partners to improve security and stability in Europe … and we are ready to respond decisively to a Russian attack on Ukraine. It is still very much a…

In light of the recent hijab ban in southern India, college students in Uttar Pradesh are calling for the same ban. The dispute over restrictions on wearing hijab in schools, in a southern Indian state, has now reached India’s Uttar Pradesh, with college students calling for a college to ban the hijab. Colleges in Karnataka, India’s south, closed last week after a new uniform policy banned students from wearing hijabs in classrooms, leading to protests by Muslim students. Muslims have criticized the ban as another way of marginalizing a community that accounts for about 13% of Hindu-majority India’s 1.35 billion people. Read…

Moscow, SANA- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres discussed the situation in Syria, Libya, Balkans and other issues. “Lavrov briefed Guterres on the detail of Russia’s ongoing negotiations with member states of North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) and The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on security guarantees,” Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday “A comprehensive exchange of views took place on a number of current international issues, such as the situation in Syria and Libya, as well the activities of UN Mission in Kosovo,” the statement added. Source: SANA