Author: Steven Sahiounie

This comes as more protests against police aggression and racial discrimination are expected to take place in the city on Sunday. US President Donald Trump took to Twitter to announce his decision over the presence of the National Guard in Washington, DC. The US president’s decision to withdraw the National Guard from Washington DC comes as more protests are expected to take place in the area later on Sunday, with people going to continue to demonstrate their outrage over the death of George Floyd in police custody.​ On Saturday, Trump thanked Washington police and the National Guard for their work…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator A thousand protesters gathered in Pittsburg on May 30 to demonstrate against the May 25th killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.  Antifa was blamed for turning a peaceful protest into a violent riot by Pittsburg Police Chief Scott Schubert.  President Trump and Attorney General William Barr blamed antifa for nationwide violent protests in May and June.  On May 31, Barr described the actions of Antifa and other similar groups as “domestic terrorism”, and Trump tweeted that “the United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization”. “Antifa has adopted the ways…

China’s crude oil imports jumped by 13 percent from April to near record-highs of 11.11 million bpd in May, due to favorable spreads of the Shanghai-traded yuan-denominated oil futures and a ramp-up in refinery throughput. There has been a steady recovery in Chinese refinery crude processing rates in recent weeks to warrant higher imports, but at least some of the increased crude intake can be attributed to the Shanghai INE crude futures trading at a premium over other deliverable grades, oil analytics firm OilX said. Since April, Chinese hedge funds have been betting big on an oil price recovery on…

As tensions between the world’s two biggest economies seep into the financial markets, Beijing has warned that pressure from Washington on its companies would severely harm the US economy. China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang accused Washington of making hasty generalizations about Chinese companies’ accounting practices, Reuters reported, citing the official’s regular press briefing. The statement comes as the Trump administration seeks ways to crack down on Chinese companies, making it harder for them to trade on foreign exchanges. On Thursday, President Donald Trump accused China of benefiting from US capital markets “without complying with critical protections” and ordered regulators to come…

Brent crude broke the $41 per barrel threshold for the first time since early March, while US crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up almost two percent on Friday ahead of a meeting of leading oil producers. Friday’s rally signaled that both key global oil benchmarks are on track for a sixth week of gains. Apart from slowly recovering global demand for the commodity, the prices were also boosted by massive output cuts, introduced by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allied major oil producers led by Russia, together known as the OPEC+ group. While the production…

The US labor market has made an unexpected rebound in contrast to earlier gloomy forecasts, with the economy gaining 2.5 million jobs as the country started lifting coronavirus lockdowns. The federal unemployment rate dropped to 13.3 percent in May from 14.7 percent a month earlier, according to figures released by the Department of Labor on Friday. This is much better that analysts predicted as it was feared that the US could have extended April’s record losses, with another 8 million jobs lost and the unemployment rate expected to spike to 20 percent. “These improvements in the labor market reflected a…

France denied on Friday that Juan Guaido, the leader of the opposition in Venezuela, is seeking asylum in its diplomatic headquarters in the capital city, Caracas, after the Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Jorge Arreaza, said Guaido was hiding inside the French embassy. “Mr. Juan Guaido is not present at the French headquarters in Caracas … We have repeatedly confirmed this to the Venezuelan authorities,” said Agnes von der Mole, spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry. In response to a question about whether the Venezuelan dissident Leopoldo Lopez was at the residence of the Ambassador of Spain, and whether Guaido was located…

In an interview with Sputnik Radio (Arabic-language version), the military expert Dr. Amin Ahteit, stated that last night’s attack by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) was not the first time that they have used Lebanese airspace to bomb Syria. “Since Syria was able to restore its air defense platforms, Israel used Lebanese airspace to launch its aggression against Syria. It has taken four air routes from the south and north, and two in the center targeting the Damascus region and its surroundings, the Homs region and its surroundings, as well as Hama and its surroundings,” the military expert said. “They…

The U.S. Coalition and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launched a new operation along the Syrian-Iraqi border on Friday, targeting a number of areas under the Islamic State’s (ISIS/ISIL/IS/Daesh) control. According to reports from eastern Syria, the U.S. Coalition and Syrian Democratic Forces began their operation in conjunction with the Iraqi Army, hitting a number of hideouts belonging to the Islamic State in the Khabour River area. The operation will attempt to clear the Islamic State zones of influence, which the terrorist group has built between the Syrian and Iraqi border. ISIS has recently resurfaced in several parts of Iraq and…

An American newspaper announced that Washington conducted the first test of what they called the ‘killer’ of the Russian S-400 air defense system. According to the newspaper The Drive, the United States conducted the first test of the “AGM-88G” missile, as it was designed to destroy enemy air defense systems. The experiment was conducted using the fifth generation F-18A Super Hornet fighter, as military experts highly evaluated the interaction of the fighter systems and the new missile. The newspaper pointed out that the test took place at the U.S. Naval Military Airport in Maryland. It is worth noting that the…