Author: Steven Sahiounie

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf says the United States’ military, media and diplomatic support for Israel is the driving force and the root cause of the regime’s genocide in Gaza. “We are still witnessing that the Zionist regime continues to kill the innocent people of Gaza and destroy its vital civilian infrastructures with the full cooperation of the United States as its main partner in crime,” Qalibaf said while addressing an open session of the parliament on Monday. On Friday, the US used its veto in the United Nations Security Council to block a draft resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian…

The Israeli military says more than a hundred soldiers have been killed since the beginning of the regime’s ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, more than two months after Israel waged a war on the besieged territory. The army announced in a statement on Monday the deaths of four soldiers, noting that three of them were killed during fighting in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday. The statement added that the latest fatalities brought the toll of slain Israeli troops in the ground offensive against fighters from the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement to 101. The figure comes a day after…

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the ongoing Israeli war on the Gaza Strip is having a “catastrophic” impact on the healthcare sector of the besieged Palestinian territory, where medics are facing an “impossible” job. “The impact of the conflict on health is catastrophic” and health workers are doing an impossible job in unimaginable conditions, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a WHO executive board special session in the Swiss city of Geneva on Sunday. He said that the WHO has verified more than 449 attacks on healthcare facilities in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank since…

Iran says the United States’ move to veto a UN resolution calling for an urgent humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza was in fact a vote for the continuation of the Israeli regime’s brutality against the Palestinian people. Nasser Kan’ani made the remarks in his weekly press conference in Tehran on Monday after the US used its veto in the United Nations Security Council on Friday to block a draft resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. “The US government showed that it stands alone in the face of the international community and does not shy away from being alone in supporting the…

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has warned that the southern part of the besieged Gaza Strip faces a “dark prospect” as Israel’s relentless bombing campaign has left growing civilian fatalities and displaced many people in the south. Borrell made the remarks on Monday in the Belgian capital Brussels, where EU foreign ministers will meet to consider possible next steps in response to the crisis gripping West Asia. He said that Israel’s tactics in southern Gaza “are the same or even worse” than those the regime used in the north despite calls from the EU not to do so. “The bombings continue with…

Consumer prices fell 0.5% year-on-year in November, the steepest decline since 2020 The pace of consumer price drops in China accelerated last month, indicating that the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery may take longer than previously expected, according to data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics published on Saturday. The consumer price index (CPI) fell 0.5% in November from a year earlier, the biggest drop since November 2020. Consumer prices have partly been affected by a decline in pork prices, a significant component in China’s CPI basket due to its popularity among the population. Overall food prices in the country plunged…

Sanctions have pushed Moscow towards expanding cooperation with Asia and the Middle East Russia’s trade with ‘unfriendly’ countries has dropped threefold since 2021 and is on course for a further decline, according to a report from the Russian Center for Strategic Research (CSR) published on Saturday. The term ‘unfriendly’ refers to Western countries and their allies that placed sanctions on Moscow in connection with the Ukraine conflict. While at the end of 2021, Russian exports to these countries amounted to 55% and imports made up some 26% of its total trade, by the end of this year both indicators are…

Christmas presents may not arrive on time this year due to drought in Panama and shipping attacks near the Suez canal Disruptions to the Panama and Suez canals, two of the world’s key trade waterways, are threatening global supply chains, Financial Times reported on Friday, citing ship owners and operators. The Panama canal, a 50-mile-long (80.5km) waterway linking the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, has been suffering from drought, which has diminished the water level and led to a reduction in the canal’s throughput capacity. Compared with 238 vessels that transversed the waterway during the first week of December 2022,…

Diesel and gasoil supplies have increased after Moscow lifted restrictions Russian fuel exports rebounded in November following the easing of export restrictions and the end of the refinery maintenance season, Bloomberg reported this week, citing ship-tracking data from Vortexa. Shipments of refined fuel surged to 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, rising by about 164,000 bpd compared to October, when supplies dropped to a three-year low, data showed. Diesel and gasoil exports rose by 12% month-on-month in November, reaching a three-month high of 894,000 bpd after Moscow eased fuel export restrictions. The bulk of cargos headed…

The cryptocurrency has rallied by more than 150% since the start of this year Top cryptocurrency Bitcoin is expected to continue its surge into 2024, and could hit fresh all-time highs of over $100,000 per token, CNBC reported this week, citing industry analysts. The digital asset has rallied more than 160% this year, trading above $44,200 on Saturday, compared to $16,500 at the start of the year. “It feels that [2023] was a year to get ready for the bull run that is yet to come. But the sentiment is very hopeful for [2024] and 25,” CEO of Ledger, Pascal Gauthier,…