https://english.almayadeen.net/news/economics/russian-central-bank-lowers-interest-rate-to-8

Russian central bank lowers interest rate to 8%

The Central Bank of Russia announced on Friday that it lowered its interest rate from 9.5% to 8%. This decision was justified on the grounds that inflation has recently been slowing down.

After this reduction of 150 basis points, the Russian Central Bank's key rate is now lower than it was before the launch of Moscow's special operation in Ukraine at the end of February.

In the wake of Western economic sanctions, the Central Bank had drastically raised its rate from 9.50% to 20%, before making several cuts in recent months.

"Current consumer price growth rates remain low, contributing to a further slowdown in annual inflation. This is due to both the influence of a set of one-off factors and the subdued consumer demand," the Bank of Russia said in a statement.

The bank added it is considering the necessity of further rate cuts in the second half of 2022, and the next rate review meeting is expected to be held on Sept. 16.

Prior to the start of the war, the Central Bank had drastically raised its interest rate from 9.50% to 20%, before making five successive cuts in recent months. It did so to support financial and price stability and protect the savings of citizens from depreciation amid the sanctions that were imposed by the West.

The central bank slashed the rate to 17 percent on April 8, to 14 percent on April 29, to 11 percent on May 26, and to 9.5 percent on June 10.

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/syria:-escalation-on-the-fronts-of-idlib-hama-countryside

Syria: Escalation on the fronts of Idlib, Hama countryside

Two days ago, the Idlib fronts witnessed an escalation and shelling, after a Turkish military convoy comprising dozens of heavy vehicles and armored vehicles entered the Bab Al-Hawa crossing towards Idlib. The convoy then headed to the north of Aleppo.

On Friday, the 'Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham', 'Ansar al-Tawhid', and the 'National Army' factions announced they targetted Syrian army positions in the Al-Ghab Plain, northwest of Hama, south of Idlib, and north of Latakia, in response to what they described as the Russian bombing of the western countryside of Idlib, which led to a number of civilian deaths and injuries.

According to opposition activists, the air strike targeted a poultry farm on the outskirts of the town of El-Jadida, adjacent to a house, in the western countryside of Idlib, which led to the death of seven people and a number of injuries, only to reveal the identity of four children who were victims during the bombing.

Local sources said that the armed groups used rocket launchers to target the town of Gorin, northwest of Hama, without details on the extent of the damage and casualties caused by the bombing. In return, the Syrian army targetted the area where the rockets were launched on the Ankawi front in the al-Ghab Plain.

A few days ago, the armed groups escalated their bombing of the safe zones within the de-escalation zones, with a large number of the pro-Qaeda factions on the fronts of the Al-Ghab Plain and the southern countryside of Idlib.

>>16782631

Corruption?! What corruption?

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/un-court-rebuffs-myanmar-challenge-to-genocide-case

UN court rebuffs Myanmar challenge to genocide case

The United Nations' highest court ruled Friday that a landmark case accusing military-ruled Myanmar of genocide against minority Rohingya Muslims could proceed.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague dismissed all of Myanmar's objections to a case filed by the Republic of Gambia in 2019.

The decision opens the way for full hearings at the court on allegations relating to Myanmar's majority-Buddhist government's bloody crackdown on the Rohingya in 2017.

On his account, ICJ president Joan Donoghue said that "the court finds that it has jurisdiction… to entertain the application filed by the Republic of the Gambia and that the application is admissible."

Hundreds of thousands of minority Rohingya fled the Southeast Asian country five years ago during the operation, bringing with them horrific reports of murder, rape, and arson.

Around 850,000 Rohingya are stranded in camps in neighboring Bangladesh, with another 600,000 in Myanmar's southwestern Rakhine state.

Dawda Jallow, the Gambian Justice Minister, told reporters outside the court that he was "very pleased that the court has delivered justice."

Meanwhile, several dozen Rohingya activists protested outside the court as the verdict was read aloud.

It is also worth noting that the International Criminal Court, a war crimes tribunal based in The Hague, has also opened an investigation into the attacks on the Rohingya.

Earlier Friday, Myanmar junta troops killed at least 10 people and set fire to hundreds of houses during a raid on a village in a hotspot of opposition to the coup, according to locals and media reports.

Since the coup last year, the Northwest Sagaing region has seen fierce fighting and bloody retaliation, with junta troops struggling to crush resistance by the local "People's Defence Force" (PDF).

>> What about the other genocides? Why the UN kept silent about them for so long? As if it's not obvious.

>>16782708

On the ready.

>>16782752

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/french-mps-condemn-israeli-apartheid-against-palestinians

French MPs condemn Israeli apartheid against Palestinians

Around 40 far-left MPs in France signed a draft resolution condemning the Israeli "institutional apartheid regime" against the Palestinians, which was condemned by several associations that accused the move of being "anti-Semitic".

The text accuses the Israeli occupation of establishing a system of "systemic oppression and control by one group."

In their draft resolution, the deputies wrote: “Since its creation in 1948, Israel has pursued a policy aimed at establishing and maintaining a Jewish demographic hegemony and expanding its control over the territory for the benefit of Israeli Jews.”

The draft resolution supports a solution based on "coexistence between two states on the basis of the 1967 borders."

To help achieve this, the signatories called on the French government to “recognize the State of Palestine,” and demanded that the United Nations impose an arms embargo on the occupation, and “target sanctions” against Israeli officials “most implicated in the crime of apartheid.” They also demanded a boycott of Israeli products.

The text, which was submitted by Communist MP Jean-Paul Lecocq, was signed by about 20 deputies from his parliamentary bloc, including former presidential candidate Fabien Roussel, and deputies from the "France Proud" (radical left) party, such as Adrien Katniss, socialist Christine Pierce-Bonn, and both Aurelian Tashi and Sabrina Sabaihi of the Green Party.

The communist bloc must put the draft resolution on the agenda, to be discussed in the National Assembly.

>>16782853

>>16782994