Author: Steven Sahiounie

Egypt is sending a high-level delegation to Israel in the hope of reaching a ceasefire agreement with Hamas in Gaza, while warning a possible new Israeli offensive focused on the southern city of Rafah on the border with Egypt could have catastrophic consequences for regional stability, two officials said Friday.While in Israel, Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel plans to make clear that Egypt “will not tolerate” Israel’s deployments of troops along Gaza’s borders with Egypt, an Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to freely discuss the mission.Earlier Friday, Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group fired anti-tank missiles and artillery shells…

China’s special envoy to the Middle East says Iran is a “special partner” of Beijing in West Asia, appreciating Tehran’s measures in the region. Zhai Jun made the remarks on Friday during a meeting with Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Ali Bagheri Kani in Moscow, on the sidelines of the Consultations of Deputy Foreign Ministers/Special Envoys of the BRICS group of emerging economies on the Middle East Affairs. Zhai condemned the Israeli regime’s recent terrorist attack against the Iranian diplomatic premises in Syria and thanked Tehran for its actions in defense of the Palestinians’ rights, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported. China is…

Japan is concerned about negative effects of the weak yen, finance minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Friday, in a fresh warning to speculators as the currency fell further after the central bank’s widely expected decision to hold rates steady.

Chinese tech giant ByteDance has said it has no plans to sell TikTok after a new US law put it on a deadline to divest from the hugely popular video platform or have it banned in the United States.

Argentinian President Javier Milei’s controversial “shock therapy” has bolstered the country’s currency in a key foreign-exchange market, performing at levels unmatched across the globe, according to Bloomberg.

The decision by Sunak’s government to block legal procedures further showcases the UK ‘s unwavering and unconditional support for the Israeli occupation’s genocide in Gaza. It has been reported that the UK has blocked legal assessments into “Israel’s” violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) during its genocidal in Gaza, which comes two weeks after the UK refused to stop exporting arms to the occupation. The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), a UK-based pressure group that aims to end the global arms trade, referred to Trade Government lawyer James Eadie who admitted to a “hiatus” in legal assessments over whether “Israel” is…

Iran’s permanent ambassador to the United Nations has denounced Israel’s destabilizing activities in West Asia, urging the UN Security Council to hold the Israeli regime accountable for its atrocities in Gaza and elsewhere. “Israel’s ongoing destabilized and irresponsible actions and atrocities against the nations in the region are a real threat to regional and international peace and security,” Amir Saeid Iravani said as he addressed a UN Security Council session in New York on Thursday. He noted that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to expand and escalate the conflict in the region to stay in power, emphasizing that the members of the Security Council…

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has suspended public duties to “stop and reflect” on whether to remain in the job, after a court opened a preliminary inquiry into alleged illegal activities by his wife. The prime minister issued a four-page letter on Wednesday, saying he was taking a five-day break from public duties and would announce his decision to stay or quit on Monday. Sanchez has been in office since 2018 and last year secured another term for his Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) as leader of a minority coalition government. “I urgently need to answer a question that I keep asking…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet with Bolivian Foreign Minister Celinda Sosa in Moscow on Friday. The top Bolivian diplomat is paying a two-day visit to Russia on April 26 and 27. The Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said earlier the two ministers would discuss bilateral ties, political dialogue, ways of broadening cooperation in various sectors and improving the legislative and contractual framework. “Special attention will be paid to a discussion on ways to improving bilateral cooperation on the international arena,” the diplomat said. Celinda Sosa was appointed Bolivia’s top diplomat in November 2023. Her upcoming visit to…

The US is challenging China ’s core interests and suppressing the country’s development, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated on Friday during talks with his US counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The “giant ship” of China-US ties had stabilized, “but negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building,” Wang said during a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. Blinken arrived in Beijing on Thursday from Shanghai, where he urged the Chinese government to provide a level playing field for US firms in the country. Bilateral ties face “all kinds of disruptions. China’s legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core…