Author: Steven Sahiounie

The President of Guinea, Alpha Conde (83) has been arrested along with additional senior officials by rebels who staged a military coup. Heavy gunfire has been reported surrounding the presidential palace in the capital, Conakry. Jeune Afrique magazine reported that the coup was led by special army forces. Furthermore, Mamadi Domboi, a former member of the French Foreign Legion, reportedly staged the coup. On his account, Domboi confirmed the dissolving of the constitution and the government in the West African state. A local military source reported to Sputnik that the presidential guard, backed by defense and security forces, contained the threat and repelled…

The US Treasury Department has told financial institutions that they may process personal remittances to Afghanistan, a Treasury spokesperson said on Thursday. The news could provide some relief for the Afghan economy, which is nearing collapse after moves by the United States and other countries to halt foreign aid and freeze some $9 billion in Afghan assets after the Taliban takeover on August 15. Many Afghans rely heavily on payments from migrant workers overseas, with such remittances amounting to an estimated $789 million in 2020, or just over 4% of the country’s gross domestic product, according to World Bank data.…

The oil arm of Russia’s major gas corporation Gazprom – Gazprom Neft – has begun to abandon the US dollar in favor of the Chinese yuan in settling payments for fueling planes throughout China, the company’s CEO says. Alexander Dyukov said Friday that a deal has been reached with China’s national jet fuel operator to switch all fuel payments to yuan, saying, “We start from September and may switch to all the settlements on jet fuel to yuan.” Dyukov further announced that Chinese airlines in Russian airports may soon begin making payments for their purchase of fuel in Russian roubles. He…

NEW YORK (Sputnik) – Wall Street’s tech sector had its biggest winning week since mid-July after a dismal US jobs report on Friday reinforced bets that stimulus money will continue flowing to the US economy. The Nasdaq Composite Index, which includes stocks of technology giants such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google, settled at 15,363, up 32 points or 0.2 percent. Nasdaq has gained 19 percent this year, with nearly 4 percent, or a quarter of that, coming in August alone on expectations that the Federal Reserve will continue with its monthly buying of $120 billion of stocks and…

In a breathtaking new picture of the Hubble Space Telescope, a flashing blue sword looks to pierce a great cosmic heart. The sword consists of two jets of ionized superheated gas that fly out of opposite poles of a newborn star named IRAS 05491+0247 into space. According to Hubble team members, the heart is the cloud of the remaining stain and gas which surrounds the protostar. This spectacular interplay between jets and clouds produces a rare celestial phenomenon known as a Herbig-Haro object, the Space.com website reported. The image was captured by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) sensor, which observes light…

On Thursday, a federal judge ruled that Apple Inc must confront nearly the entirety of a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging that its voice-activated Siri assistant violates users’ privacy, according to Reuters. When users of mobile devices say “hot words” like “Hey, Siri,” voice assistants typically reply. But, the lawsuit says that users noticed their devices recording data even when they didn’t call out the hot words. The recorded data would then be sold to third-party contractors, which would use it to target advertisements towards the users. Companies in the tech industry have long pushed for the placement of listening devices in…

US tech giant Google has “temporarily” closed the email accounts of the Afghan government, according to Reuters. The agency reported that representatives of the Taliban are attempting to gain access to electronic messages and digital documents, indicating that there are more than two dozen accounts, including ones affiliated with the ministries of finance, industry, higher education, and mines. A government employee disclosed that the Taliban have already asked him to preserve the data on the servers of the ministry he worked at, saying: “If I do so, then they will get access to the data and official communications of the previous…

The Algerian judicial authorities have arrested Nabil Karoui, the president of the “Qalb Tounes” party. According to Ennahar Algerian newspaper, today, Saturday, the final investigation in the case of the Karoui brothers, Nabil and Ghazi, led to the arrest of 4 people who illegally entered Algeria. The identities of two Tunisians involved in the case were identified, as the case file and the detainees were transferred to the Specialized Criminal Judicial Section in Constantine. The investigation was carried out by the criminal division of the state administration of the judicial police in Tebessa governorate, east of Algeria.

Former Barcelona player Miralem Pjanic said that he chose to lower his salary at his new club Turkish side Besiktas to play more than he did at Camp Nou. In an interview with Spanish newspaper Marca, the 31-year-old midfielder revealed that Barcelona’s manager Ronald Koeman has disrespected him after transferring to his new club on loan. The Bosnian player explained that he wasn’t having enough chances to prove himself on the field, and this issue was killing his confidence because he had no communication with Koeman. He expressed that he had “always wanted to play for Barca” but didn’t expect…

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, announced today that the organization will hold, on September 13, an international conference on Afghanistan in Geneva to help it avoid a looming humanitarian catastrophe. Antonio Guterres tweeted that he would seek an immediate boost in humanitarian funds, adding that the international community must unite to support the Afghan people. The UN also calls for full and unhindered humanitarian access to ensure that Afghans continue to receive the basic services they need, noting that the United Nations stands in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan and is committed to staying and providing…