Day: May 19, 2023

The European Union (EU) will restrict trade in Russian diamonds as part of sanctions imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, European Council President Charles Michel announced Friday.

“We are now focused on closing the loopholes and continuing to cut Russia off from critical supplies. We will restrict trade in Russian diamonds. Russian diamonds are not forever,” Michel said during a press conference at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.

Exports of Russian diamonds earned Moscow USD four billion in 2021. Belgium is one of the largest importers of Russian diamonds.

Antwerp is Europe’s main trading centre, with around 85 percent of the world’s rough diamonds, half of its polished diamonds and 40 percent of its industrial diamonds passing through the Belgian port city. Almost a third of these comes from Russia, Belgian news agency Belga reported on Friday.

So far, the diamond industry had managed to stay out of the sanctions packages introduced by the European Union following the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine. For months, Belgium opposed a unanimous position on such an import ban.

On Wednesday, Belgium finally adopted a resolution to ban Russian diamonds.

Source: Kuwait News Agency

Leaders of the Group of Seven (G-7) industrialized nations kicked off their annual summit on Friday in the western Japanese city of Hiroshima, amid concerns over the global economy and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The three-day meeting of leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US began with the visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which displays horrors of atomic bombing in World War II.

Japanese Prime Minster Fumio Kishida, who chairs the summit, greeted US President Joe Biden and other G-7 leaders at the Peace Memorial Park, where the museum is located.

Through their visit to the park, the G-7 leaders deepened their understanding of the reality of the atomic bombings, and reiterated their position that threats by Russia of nuclear weapon use, let alone weapon use, are inadmissible, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

The G-7 leaders are expected to discuss such issues as the global economy, the war in Ukraine, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, generative AI tools, and agricultural support for the developing and emerging nations, public broadcaster NHK said.

Source: Kuwait News Agency

Italian Defense Minister Guido Cruzetto affirmed that the stability of Libya is essential for his country.

This came in a briefing to the minister before the joint foreign and defense committees in the Italian House of Representatives and Senate, according to the Italian Nova news agency.

“So far we have achieved very little compared to the efforts made in Libya,” said Cruzetto, enumerating the different missions in which Italy will participate in Libya in 2023 at the national, international and European levels.

Cruzetto also emphasized that Italy is ready to play the role of “facilitator and coordinator” in the reunification of the Libyan armed forces, as conditions are created according to Nova.

Source: Libyan News Agency

President of the Presidential Council, “Muhammad Al-Mnifi,” affirmed that the Council is following up with the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, the efforts of the 5 + 5 Joint Military Committee in order to unify the army, and support the steps of the House of Representatives and the State through the 6 + 6 committee assigned It has consensus on electoral laws leading to holding elections that lead the country to security and stability.

In his speech at the Arab summit, which began today, Friday, in Jeddah, Al-Mnifi expressed his high appreciation for following up the situation in Libya, calling for a greater role in supporting the efforts of the African Union and the United Nations to move forward with the national reconciliation project and to move away from everything that causes national divisions, leading to holding elections in Libya within 2023.

Al-Mnifi said, “We call on our Arab brothers to adopt a unified stance towards the situation in Libya, foremost of which is the departure of all mercenaries, foreign fighters and foreign forces from Libyan lands, and to stop negative and non-constructive interference and support the democratic path and the peaceful transfer of power.”

In his speech, Mnifi affirmed Libya’s readiness to engage in efforts to resolve the crisis in Sudan, in a way that ends the fighting between brothers and preserves stability in the region.

Source: Libyan News Agency

Oil prices rebounded on Friday from losses of more than 1% the previous day as investors turned cautiously optimistic over the fading risk of a US debt default.

Brent futures rose 73 cents, or 1.0%, to $76.59 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 62 cents, or 0.9%, to $72.48.

Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy reiterated their aim to strike a deal to raise the $31.4 trillion federal debt ceiling.

So far, the United States has never defaulted on its debt, but US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that if the Congress fails to act on the debt ceiling, the US economy is likely to enter a recession due to the worsening debt ceiling crisis in the country.

Source: Qatar News Agency

The Nikkei index closed Friday at its highest level in around 33 years, boosted by hopes for a resolution to the US debt ceiling issue and the yen’s weakness that lifted exporter shares.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average climbed 234.42 points, or 0.77 percent, from Thursday to 30,808.35, its highest finish since Aug. 1, 1990, according to (Kyodo) news agency.

The broader Topix index finished up 3.84 points, or 0.18 percent, at 2,161.69, its highest close since Aug. 3, 1990.

The Nikkei advanced for the seventh consecutive trading day, and the Topix index ended at a 33-year high for the fourth day in a row, following overnight rallies on Wall Street amid hopes that a deal on the debt ceiling to avert a default by the United States could be reached as early as next week, analysts said.

Source: Qatar News Agency