Author: Steven Sahiounie

A senior official of Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right cabinet won’t be able to reap any benefits out of the ongoing onslaught against the Gaza Strip, stressing that fighters from his group are engaged in “fierce battles” with Israeli troops across the territory. “Netanyahu and his Nazi cabinet have not been successful in achieving their political, military, and field goals, nor will they be in the future,” Osama Hamdan, Hamas’ representative in Lebanon and also a member of the group’s politburo, said at a press briefing in the Lebanese capital of Beirut on Thursday…

Nearly half a million Israelis have fled the occupied territories since the start of Israel’s brutal aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip early in October, a report says. The Population and Immigration Authority estimated that around 470,000 Israelis have fled since October 7, and it is unclear if they will return or not. “Therefore, there is a negative migration of about half a million people, and this does not include thousands of foreign workers, refugees, and diplomats who left” the occupied territories, Zman magazine said. That period also saw a decline of more than 70 percent in the number of…

Israeli forces have dropped a large number of incendiary and smoke bombs on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, setting it on fire. Hossam Shabat, a journalist at the scene, published a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday, showing people rushing to extinguish the fire. Similar reports of widespread use of smoke bombs overnight were reported across several parts of the Gaza Strip, especially its northern part, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are living. Palestinian photojournalist, Mahmoud Abusalama, said Israeli troops had been shelling the Jabalia refugee camp for…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentatorThe administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been accused of signing an agreement with Alexander Soros, son of billionaire George Soros, allowing the disposal of toxic chemical waste in the fertile farmlands of western Ukraine. On November 7, Soros met with Andriy Yermak, the Chief of Staff to Zelensky. Yermak is a former entertainment lawyer and film producer who followed Zelensky from his days of being a TV star who comically played a Ukrainian president.Yermak’s wheeling and dealing has faced him with allegations of corruption involving himself, his brother and his deputy. In March…

Western countries have failed to destabilize the country’s economy, according to the Russian president The Russian economy grew by 3.2% in the first ten months of 2023 and will post 3.5% growth by the end of the year, beyond the levels recorded prior to the conflict in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said during his address at VTB Bank’s ‘Russia Calling’ Forum on Thursday. Putin said Western states had aimed to destabilize the Russian economy “to make the Russian people suffer,” with financial sanctions imposed on the country since February 2022. However, these goals “set by our ill-wishers have clearly not been achieved,” the president added.…

Digital assets facilitate illegal activities and should be banned, Jamie Dimon says Cryptocurrencies should be outlawed, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said at the US Senate Banking Committee’s annual Wall Street oversight hearing on Wednesday. According to Dimon, who has a long history of criticizing digital currencies, the “only true use case” for cryptocurrencies is criminal activity, from drug trafficking and money laundering to tax avoidance. “I’ve always been deeply opposed to crypto, bitcoin, etc… If I was the government, I’d close it down,” the CEO stated. Dimon and several other industry chiefs, including Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan, said the…

New technologies are threatening an archaic financial system, according to the Russian president The Western financial system is becoming outdated because of new technologies and could lose its dominant global position in the near future, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. Addressing the VTB Investment Forum in Moscow, Putin pointed out that modern tech solutions, such as blockchain, are increasingly being used in international payments. “According to experts, in the coming years this will lead to a real revolution that will finally undermine the monopoly of large Western banks,” Putin said, noting that some of those financial institutions are currently “not…

The economy is no longer dependent on energy, according to the Russian president The Russian economy, which has expanded by 3.2% so far this year, has been growing largely due to non-energy-related sectors, President Vladimir Putin said during his address at VTB Bank’s ‘Russia Calling’ forum on Thursday. According to Putin, the largest share of the country’s economic growth comes from non-resource-based industries, namely manufacturing, transport, logistics, construction, information technologies, communications, housing and communal services. “These [sectors] accounted for 54% of economic growth in the second quarter of the year, another 44% were the so-called supporting industries – trade and…

Iran has warned that the threat posed by Israel to global peace and security is now “greater than ever” amid the regime’s bloody aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani made the remarks in an X post on Thursday after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter, urging the Security Council to act on the Gaza war. Infuriated by Guterres’ move, Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen claimed that the UN chief was supporting the Palestinian Hamas resistance group and called for his resignation, charging that his tenure was “a danger to world…

The Elders, a group of independent global leaders working for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet, have penned a letter calling on Israel to stop the murder of Palestinians. The group was founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007 and includes the former UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon. As soon as a seven-day pause ended, the Israeli killing machine continued its carnage and within a little over 24 hours it managed to murder over 700 Palestinians. The rate at which Palestinians were being murdered, however, has come into focus. How could Israel kill so many Palestinians and how…