Author: Steven Sahiounie

Brazil will become part of the alliance of major crude exporters in January, the country’s energy minister has revealed   Brazil is set to join the OPEC+ group of the world’s largest oil-producing countries from January 2024, Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira announced on Thursday. Led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, OPEC+ comprises the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, and together pumps around 40% of the world’s crude. Brazil’s membership announcement was made during an OPEC+ meeting to discuss oil output strategy for next year. “President Lula [da Silva] confirmed our entry into the…

Washington is committed to its sanctions policy, a senior official has told the FT Washington will pursue its sanctions policy on Russian energy “for years to come” as it seeks to halve Moscow’s oil and gas revenues by 2030, a senior US official told the Financial Times on Friday. The US has been leading international efforts to restrict Russian oil and fuel exports since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict last year. Explaining Washington’s policy aims, Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Geoffrey Pyatt told the FT: “The goal of these sanctions is to change Russia’s behavior and to ensure…

Some member states and the ECB have raised concerns over confiscating the funds The European Union may unveil a proposal to tax profits from more than €200 billion ($218 billion) of frozen Russian central bank assets in order to help rebuild Ukraine, Bloomberg reported this week. A person familiar with the discussions told the outlet that the plan, which is expected to be released on December 12, would clarify that several issues raised by member states still need to be addressed and that the EU proposal will not interfere with national taxes or other measures. According to other sources cited…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The truce in Gaza has collapsed, and Israel has resumed their attacks on the civilians of Gaza. Over 14,000 people have died in Gaza, and about half are children. On Friday, the death toll is increasing once again after days of peace. Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner General of UNRWA, recently was in the south of Gaza during the truce, and told the BBC that the families staying at a UN shelter that had been a vocational school number 35,000. According to Lazzarini, they are sleeping on bare concrete, without any blanket, and in the…

The Biden administration has conveyed to “Israel” that it will enforce visa bans within the next few weeks on Israeli extremist settlers involved in violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank. The Biden administration has conveyed to “Israel” that it will enforce visa bans within the next few weeks on Israeli extremist settlers involved in violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank. A senior State Department official revealed that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet, informed them of their intention to take action…

Montaser Al-Sawaf lost a great deal of blood and was in serious condition, and doctors – struggling with substandard conditions and a lack of supplies – were unable to save him, says his cousin Montaser Al-Sawaf, an Anadolu freelance cameraman reporting in Gaza on Friday, was killed in Israeli airstrikes, newly resumed after a one-week pause. “Sawaf, his brother Mervan, and other family members were martyred during Israeli airstrikes in the Ed-Durc neighborhood of southern Gaza,” Hassan Ismameh, the journalist’s cousin, told Anadolu. After being seriously injured in the bombing, Al-Sawaf had to wait for an ambulance for about half…

Germany’s foreign ministry says the international community must do everything in its power to ensure the continuation of the truce in Gaza. Working to ensure that Hamas does not pose a threat to Israel’s existence and that it is disarmed is necessary to end the suffering of Palestinians and Israelis, the foreign ministry said on X. “Of course, that would also mean that Hamas would have to lay down its weapons. Only in this way a political horizon can open up for a two-state solution that can provide security for both Israelis and Palestinians,” it said. Source: AlJazeera

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, has held the United States administration responsible for Israel’s resumption of its aggression on Gaza, saying the US administration has failed to compel Israel to stop its aggression. “The resumption of [Israeli] aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, coupled with the escalating crimes of the Israeli occupation forces and terrorist settlers in the West Bank, is a continuation of the crimes of ethnic cleansing and genocide,” said Abu Rudeineh in a press statement. “These actions have been ongoing since the beginning of the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people,…

Türkiye always stood for peace in all crises, worked for just, fair solutions, Recep Tayyip Erdogan says in his speech at COP28 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday labeled Israel’s attacks on Gaza a “war crime, crime against humanity.” “What is happening in Gaza is a war crime, a crime against humanity. Those who commit such crimes must be tried under international law,” President Erdogan said in his speech at the 2023 edition of the UN climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Israeli attacks killing over 16,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, can in no…

The statement of the Yemeni Saada demonstration warns the US and “Israel” of the consequences of any escalation in occupied Palestine. A few hours after the Israeli occupation renewed its savage aggression on the Gaza Strip, the statement of the Yemeni Saada demonstration renewed the continued support and assistance of the Palestinian people until they achieve their full freedom and independence and the demise of the usurping Zionist enemy. The statement warned the US regime and the Zionist enemy of the consequences of any escalation in occupied Palestine, stressing “Yemen’s principled position that necessitates escalation in support of our brothers in Gaza.”…