Author: Steven Sahiounie

The number of migrants and refugees detained in a major crackdown in Western Libya has exceeded 5,000 people, including hundreds of women and children, according to a United Nations tally.Of those detained, 215 are children and more than 540 women, at least 30 of whom were pregnant, the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) told The Associated Press on Monday. The UN agency counted 5,152 migrants who have been detained in the raids since Friday, with numbers likely to increase as the crackdown continues in the Western town of Gargaresh, a major hub for migrants in the North African nation, and…

The gas price in Europe at the opening of trade on October 5 once again broke a record and nearly reached $ 1250 per 1,000 cubic meters according to the ICE exchange data released on Tuesday. The price of November futures on the TTF hub in the Netherlands reached $ 1247.4 per 1,000 cubic meters during trading or 102.45 euros per MWh (based on the current exchange rate of the euro to the dollar, prices for ICE are presented in euros per MWh), TASS reports. On Monday, after breaking the record price of $ 1200 per 1,000 cubic meters, the…

Economic growth in the United States of America is slowing as the country’s trade deficit rises, reaching a record level last August. The US trade deficit jumped to a record high in August due to an increase in imports as companies rebuild inventories, after recording a slow economic growth in the third quarter of the year. The US Commerce Department said on Tuesday that the trade deficit rose 4.2% to $73.3 billion last month, the highest level since the government began monitoring trade deficit data. Economists had expected the trade gap to widen to $70.5 billion. Goods imports increased 1.1%…

Bureaucratic procedures to supply Lebanon with gas in a few weeks are completed. The Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek el-Molla, announced that the necessary procedures to supply Lebanon with Egyptian natural gas are set to be completed within the next few weeks. The Minister also confirmed that he reached an agreement with the Lebanese side on the timeframe to finalize the procedures and to coordinate with Jordan and Syria to allow the passage of natural gas through their territories. According to a statement issued by the Egyptian Petroleum Ministry, the Lebanese Minister of Energy and Water, Walid…

In protest of the harsh conditions of his detention and the punitive measures by the Israeli prisons authority, Palestinian detainee Mohammed al-Arida initiates an open hunger strike. Karim Ajwa, the lawyer of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs, stated that prisoner Mohammed al-Arida began an open hunger strike on Monday in protest of the harsh conditions of his detainment. Ajwa pointed out in a statement that the Askalan Prison administration conducted an internal trial for al-Arida last Friday and imposed more penalties on him. The prisoner is detained under harsh isolation conditions in a CCTV-monitored dirty, unventilated cell. Karim Ajwa:…

Drug maker Johnson & Johnson asked the US Federal Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday to authorize booster shots of its Covid-19 vaccine for people over the age of 18. “Our clinical program has found that a booster of our Covid-19 vaccine increases levels of protection for those who have received our single-shot vaccine to 94 percent,” said Mathai Mammen, global head of research and development at J&J. J&J said that when a booster was given six months after the first shot, “antibody levels increased nine-fold one week after the booster and continued to climb to 12-fold higher four weeks after…

TEHRAN, Oct. 05 (MNA) – The spokesman for Iran’s Customs Administration reported a fire on Tuesday at Iran-Afghanistan Dogharoon shared border crossing, while the latest reports suggest the fire has been brought under control. The spokesman for Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) Rohollah Latifi reported a fire on Tuesday at the Dogharoon border crossing in Iran’s Khorasan Razavi province, which is called Islam Qala on the other side of the border in Afghanistan’s Herat Province. According to Latifi, a lorry carrying fuel that had caught fire started the fire at around 12:00 Tehran local time after spreading it to few other…

The Taliban says its fighters have captured 11 members from “ISIS” in Kabul. The raid took place after a bomb went off outside a mosque during a gathering of Taliban officials.A spokesperson for the Taliban government, Bilal Karimi, said Islamic State operatives were detained in the capital’s Fifth Police District. The raid came after a bomb was detonated at the entrance of the Eid Gah Mosque in Kabul on Sunday, as Taliban officials gathered to mourn the passing of the mother of one of the group’s senior members. The militants said that at least five people were killed in what…

Natural gas prices jumped to historic highs in recent weeks, hitting a new all-time high of $1,427 per 1,000 cubic metres on Tuesday thanks to growing energy demand, competition with Asia, cold weather, and lower-than-expected returns on investments in energy sources such as wind and solar power.The current “hysteria and confusion” in the European energy market is the result of poor policy, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. “You see the hysteria and confusion taking place in Europe’s energy markets. Why? Because nobody is approaching this issue seriously, someone is engaging in speculation on the problems of climate change, someone…

Amid reported efforts by Azerbaijan to lean further towards the Israeli regime by hosting Israeli elements, a former Iranian foreign minister has strongly warned the Caucasus republic against trying to import security from abroad. Kamal Kharrazi, currently the head of the Islamic Republic’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, made the remarks on Tuesday, urging Baku to rather depend on its own people to meet its national security requirements. He denounced dependence on overseas’ sources for security as an illogical and irrational solution, “because, given their illegitimate goals and interests, this can lead to arms race in the region and even…