Author: Steven Sahiounie

In parallel, a Palestinian youth was injured while confronting the occupation forces that stormed the town, backed by more than 100 military vehicles. The Israeli occupation forces blew up the home of the family of Palestinian prisoner Omar Jaradat, who carried out Operation Homesh, in the town of Al-Silah Al-Harithiya, west of Jenin. Video clips posted on social networks showed the occupation forces demolishing the house, with smoke and dust emanating from within The Israeli Supreme Court had approved the decision to demolish the house of prisoner Omar Jaradat over claims of his and his brothers’ involvement in Operation Homesh in mid-December last year. It…

After losing nearly half of its value in March due to Western sanctions, the Russian currency has staged an extraordinary recovery, strengthening to levels not seen in over two years. RT talked to Sergey Kopylov, a junior partner at consulting company BSC and a lead researcher at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, to find out what’s behind the ruble’s resilience. According to the researcher, the West had defaulted on its obligations to Russia when it froze the assets of the country’s central bank. “This is the abolition (something like cancel culture) of the rules of international financial relations based on global…

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has confirmed that President Joe Biden will sign the Lend-Lease Act of 2022 on Monday. The legislation will make it easier for Washington to ship more types of weapons to Ukraine. The authorisation will take place on May 9, or “Victory Day” – when the defeat of Nazi Germany is celebrated annually in Russia. The symbolism will almost certainly raise eyebrows in Moscow. “The president will sign the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022,” Psaki said on Friday, aboard Air Force One en route to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Biden is set to…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The European Union is debating on imposing sanctions on Patriarch Kirill, the head of The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), also known as the Moscow Patriarchate, who leads about 100 million believers. The EU has accused him of supporting the war in Ukraine, and President Vladimir Putin. The sanctions would entail an asset freeze and a travel ban, with EU diplomats set to meet this week to discuss the sanctions, which is part of a wider package proposed by the EU on Wednesday. About 75% of Russians and 60% of Ukrainians profess to be Orthodox…

The US will be there for Ukraine until the fight with Russia is “done,” the House speaker vowed US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has paid a surprise visit to Kiev to personally reassure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of Washington’s support amid the conflict with Russia, it was revealed on Sunday. Zelensky shared a video on Twitter in which he is seen greeting Pelosi and other US lawmakers outside the presidential palace in the Ukrainian capital. The highest-ranking US official to come to Kiev since the start of the fighting, Pelosi was accompanied by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman…

Forces of the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) supported by Russian units are slowly advancing in the town of Rubezhnoe located on the northern outskirts of the city of Severodonetsk. Units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have left residential areas and hold control over the industrial facilities on the southern outskirts of the town. Amid fierce clashes, LPR units take control over Ukrainian strongholds. On April 30, press service of the LPR People’s Militia released a video showing another Ukrainian stronghold taken by LPR units in the industrial area of Rubezhnoe. An LPR soldier who participated in the storming…

On April 30, another attempt was made to evacuate civilians from the facilities of the Azovstal plant in the city of Mariupol. According to various estimations, about a hundred civilians are taken hostage in the basements. They mainly include families of the Ukrainian Azov nationalist regiment, workers of the Azovstal plant and civilians from the neighboring districts who were lured and blocked in the facilities. There are a lot of children and women. The Russian military regularly declared a ceasefire so that Ukrainian nationalists could surrender and allow civilians to leave. The Azov commanders have not used their chances yet.…

Leader Kim Jong-un vows to preempt any nuclear threat to his country North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has promised to take decisive action and “crush” any “hostile” foreign power, just days after saying Pyongyang would advance its own atomic arsenal “at the fastest possible speed.” Speaking after a meeting with senior officials involved in organizing a major military parade earlier this week, Kim pointed to growing threats in a world where “powers clash fiercely and keep getting stronger,” including in the nuclear sphere, arguing that “overwhelming” might is the only guarantee of his country’s security. “In order to preemptively and thoroughly crush all threatening actions, including the continued and aggravated…

A violation of Russia’s airspace was averted, but several projectiles made it through, Bryansk Region Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz says Russia’s Bryansk Region has sustained yet another attack from Ukraine, Governor Aleksandr Bogomaz has said. Early on Saturday, Russian air defenses detected an attempt by a Ukrainian military plane to violate the country’s airspace, Bogomaz wrote on Telegram. The aircraft was prevented from making it into Russia, but managed to fire two projectiles, which landed in the village of Zhecha, not far from the border with Ukraine, he said. Fatalities and injuries were avoided during the attack, but the facilities of…

One martyr fell and several Palestinians were injured as a result of direct shooting by Israeli occupation forces marching against settlements expansion and in support of occupied Al-Quds. The Palestinian Health Ministry announced Saturday at dawn, the martyrdom of released prisoner Yahya Ali Adwan, 27 years old, due to injuries he sustained after the Israeli occupation forces opened fire on him in Kafr Qaddoum village, east of Qalqilya city. On Friday, nine Palestinians were wounded by rubber-coated metal bullets, including two children, and dozens suffocated as the Israeli occupation army suppressed the weekly Kafr Qaddoum march against Israeli settlements’ expansion. The march…