Author: Steven Sahiounie

Israel’s killing of an Egyptian soldier in the Rafah border crossing has shown how real the risk of a spillover of the Gaza conflict is, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said in a live presser on Tuesday. Speaking in a news conference alongside his Cambodian counterpart Sok Chenda Sophea, who is in the Turkish capital Ankara on an official visit, Fidan also criticized the US and other Western nations for their support to Israel. “It would not be possible for this genocide to continue without the support of some countries, especially the US, for Israel,” he said. The Egyptian army…

Spain, Ireland and Norway have recognized a Palestinian state, deepening the Israeli regime’s isolation. In a coordinated attempt to exert added international pressure on the regime to stop its genocidal campaign in the besieged Gaza Strip, the three major western European nations on Tuesday joined dozens of countries that have already recognized a Palestinian state. The joint declaration had already been announced the previous week. The trio is the first major Western powers to officially recognize Palestine. Spain, Ireland and Norway’s recognition marks a significant accomplishment for the Palestinian nation, confirming the international legitimacy of the State of Palestine. Prime Minister…

The UN Security Council was set to convene an emergency meeting Tuesday over an Israeli strike that killed dozens in a displaced persons camp in Rafah, as three European countries were slated to formally recognize a Palestinian state. AFP journalists on the ground early Tuesday reported fresh Israeli strikes overnight in the southern Gaza border city, where an Israeli attack targeting two senior Hamas members on Sunday night sparked a fire that ripped through a displacement center, killing 45, according to Gaza health officials. The attack prompted a wave of international condemnation, with Palestinians and many Arab countries calling it…

By: Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The days of American domination are over, and the doors in Africa are wide open for alternative help from Russia and China. Niger has demanded American troops to leave the country “no later” than 15 September, and the U.S. has agreed. The official statement said the two countries had “reached a disengagement agreement to effect the withdrawal of U.S. forces, which has already begun”. The U.S. had relied on Niger as its primary military base, but U.S. threats led to the rupture of military ties, according to Niger’s Prime Minister Zeine, who blamed…

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s space and satellite sector is set to receive a strategic boost with the Kingdom’s wealth fund establishing the Neo Space Group.

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu governorate is poised to see the development of several industrial projects following an agreement between its Royal Commission and Skytower Investments Ltd. 

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange has approved the listing of SR45.28 billion ($12.08 billion) worth of government debt instruments submitted by the Ministry of Finance. A Tadawul statement revealed that the exchange approved increasing the issuance of a government debt instrument, dated April 7, from SR15.98 billion to SR17.63 billion. Similarly, the bourse also approved the increase of another instrument, dated April 1, from SR29.29 billion to SR38.53 billion. According to a Tadawul statement, the listing commenced on May 27. On May 23, the exchange approved the Ministry of Finance’s request to list Saudi government debt instruments with a total…

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s top 10 listed banks saw their earnings surge by 8 percent in the first quarter of 2024, reaching SR18.65 billion ($5 billion) compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. 

Azerbaijan wants to borrow $5 billion from international credit institutions in the coming years for large infrastructure projects, including in territories secured in a lightning military offensive in September, the finance minister told Reuters. Azerbaijani forces regained control of the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where ethnic Armenians had enjoyed de facto independence for decades, prompting at least 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee. “Very big tasks stand before us,” Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said in an interview. He said the tasks in question were linked with the reconstruction and restoration of land now under Azerbaijan’s control, something that would also boost the country’s economic…

Redirecting the money to Kiev still poses a slew of technical and legal problems, Italy says The G7 has not reached a consensus on how to use the revenue generated by Russian central bank assets frozen abroad to help Ukraine, Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti announced on Saturday. Italy holds the group’s presidency this year, and hosted this week’s two-day meeting of the G7 finance ministers in the town of Stresa. At a press conference at the end of the summit, Giorgetti said the group made progress on the Russian assets issue, but “has yet to finalize” the process because it still “presents…