Author: Steven Sahiounie

Swedish multinational conglomerate IKEA has extended its trademark rights in Russia for ten years, Russian media reported on Wednesday, citing the country’s intellectual property authority.

Sales of Apple’s MacBook Air and Pro in Russia soared by 20% year-on-year last year despite the tech behemoth leaving the country in 2022, Izvestia has reported, citing retailers.

Finnish mobile phone manufacturer HMD Global, the maker of the iconic Nokia cell phones, has announced plans to launch a new product line under its own brand.

The German authorities are discussing nationalizing the local subsidiary of Russian state-controlled energy major Rosneft, which has been under a trusteeship since 2022, the company said on Thursday.

al-Qutaynat comes less than 24 hours after the US Central Command said that six missiles were fired from Yemen toward two merchant ships on Tuesday. Al Mayadeen’s correspondent reported early Thursday that a joint US-British aggression targeted the al-Qutaynat area in the border district of Baqim in the northern Yemeni province of Saada. Our correspondent mentioned that the latest aggression on Yemen did not result in significant damage, while also reporting explosions in the province of Hodeidah. This comes less than 24 hours after the US Central Command (CENTCOM) mentioned that six missiles were fired from Yemen toward two merchant ships on Tuesday,…

A drone strike on Wednesday hit a vehicle in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing two commanders of a group, a security source and a group member said.The attack comes as tensions soar with the United States carrying out strikes on pro-Iran groups in Iraq and Syria amid the war in the Gaza Strip.One of those killed was a commander of the Kataeb Hezbollah group in charge of military affairs in Syria, a member of the pro-Iran Iraqi group told AFP on condition of anonymity.The source named the commander as Abu Baqr Al-Saadi.The security source also reported the deaths of two…

The foreign ministers of Iran and Sweden weighed plans to strengthen diplomatic consultations between the two countries. In a telephone conversation on Wednesday evening, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and Sweden Tobias Billstrom talked about the course of relations between Tehran and Stockholm. Referring to the history of cooperation between Iran and Sweden, they stressed the need to strengthen diplomatic consultations and hold negotiations about issues of mutual interest. The two senior diplomats also discussed a series of consular affairs. In July 2023, Tehran suspended the exchange of ambassadors with Sweden on the Iranian president’s order following the desecration of the…

Polling for Pakistan ‘s general elections started across the country on Thursday morning, said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Pakistan Spokesperson of the ECP Syed Nadeem Haider told Xinhua that polling had started at 8:00 a.m. local time (0300 GMT) without a delay, adding that the voting process would continue uninterrupted till 5:00 p.m. local time (1200 GMT). People were seen rushing to the polling stations in the morning to cast their votes to elect members of the National Assembly, or the lower house of the country’s parliament, which will form a new government for the next five years.…

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday criticized the deployment of US troops in the Middle East, saying it “disrupts security.” “The presence of US forces in our region has no justification,” Raisi said in a Tehran ceremony ahead of the 45th anniversary of Iran’s revolution on Feb. 12. Referring to both past and present deployments, he said the US presence “in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and the region is in no way creating security. It disrupts the security in the region.” Raisi denounced what he called “Iranophobia” and “Islamophobia” and accused the US of creating it. Meanwhile, Japanese police raided a…

President Vladimir Putin told leaders of Russia’s Jewish community on Wednesday that Moscow had achieved “specific results” in diplomatic efforts to free hostages caught up in Israel’s conflict with Hamas, Russian news agencies reported. The agencies said Putin made the comments at a meeting with Russia’s chief rabbi, Berl Lazar, and the head of the Federation of Jewish Communities, Alexander Boroda. Putin said Russia had made use of its contacts with the political wing of Hamas.“You know, since the situation became more tense in the Middle East, Russia has been doing everything to help people who became hostages,” Putin was…