"Saturday News" Posted by Samson at KTFA 8-15-2020
KTFA:
Samson: Qatar is the richest country in the world, Burundi is bottom and Iraq ranked 82nd
15th August, 2020
The "Global Finance" magazine, which is specialized in classifying the countries of the world, revealed that Qatar ranked first in the world in the richest countries in the world, while Burundi ranked 82nd among these countries
The magazine said in a report published on its website for the year 2020 and seen by "Al-Eqtisad News", that "Qatar ranked first out of the 191 countries listed in the list of the richest countries in the world, with the per capita income of GDP amounting to 132,886 dollars, followed by Macau and an income of 114,363 dollars. , Followed by Luxembourg with an income of 108.951 dollars, followed by Singapore ranked fourth, "noting that" the country of Burundi in Africa is among the top countries, where the per capita income of GDP reached 727 dollars, preceded by the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, respectively
And she added, "Iraq is ranked 82nd in the world in the richest countries in the world and the seventh in the Arab world, preceded by Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman
She pointed out that "the gross domestic product of a country is the total of all goods and services that a country produces within one year, and therefore it is assumed that the richest countries are exactly the ones that have the largest GDP, such as the United States, China, Japan, Germany, but these Countries have a large population density, and therefore the per capita income will be low compared to other countries such as Qatar and Luxembourg, which have less population LINK
Samson: MP: Al-Kazemi's visit to Washington is an important shift in bilateral relations
15th August, 2020
The Iraqi coalition stressed, on Saturday, the importance of the visit of the Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kazemi, to the United States of America, which brought it back with the important shift in bilateral relations.
"The relationship with the United States of America must be balanced and based on respect for the country's sovereignty and the will of the people," said a member of the coalition, Representative Hassan Fadam, in an interview reported by the Iraqi News Agency, stressing that "the importance of Iraq taking its mediating role and not being counted on the axis."
Fadam added, "The United States is an important country in the world, and it has great economic, military, security, cultural and scientific capabilities, and it can help Iraq to get out of its great crises and the challenges it faces in building its institutions." Iraqi".
He pointed out, "The presence of great obligations for the United States towards Iraq, these obligations were not in accordance with what was agreed upon between the two countries," stressing that "all the Iraqi people and political forces seek for Iraq to be an important pivotal country in the Middle East that has good relations with Everyone, and that Iraq should not be a point of conflict, but rather a point of meeting and dialogue between the different."
On the twentieth of this month, Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi will conduct an official visit to the United States of America, at the head of a government delegation, upon an official invitation. LINK
************
Samson: Iraqi MP: Arabs will normalize with Israel
15th August, 2020
On Saturday, a member of the Iraqi parliament, Fayeq Sheikh Ali, expected the normalization between all Arab countries and Israel.
Sheikh Ali tweeted that "in the middle of the twentieth century all Arabs are against Israel, and the word" normalization "does not exist in their dictionary."
He added that normalization entered Arab politics after the Camp David Accords in 1978, and increased in the 1990s in Oslo and Wadi Araba.
Sheikh Ali added, "So the Arabs were divided between normalizers and resistance fighters, adding that, “few years later, you will not find the word" resistance "on the Arabs’ street.” LINK
************
Samson: China intends to test the digital currency in a number of regions of the country
15th August, 2020
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said, on Friday, that China will work to test the digital renminbi in some selected regions across the country.
According to a circular posted on the ministry's website, the digital RMB will be piloted in the Beijing region, Tianjin and Hebei, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong Bay region, Hong Kong and Macao, and some locations in central and western China.
The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, will set relevant policies and procedures.
The circular said the cities of Shenzhen, Chengdu and Suzhou, as well as the Xiongan New District, will assist in the trial operation, which will be expanded, as appropriate, to other regions in China. LINK
Samson: Trump: The Iranian oil seized on its way to Texas amounted to more than one million barrels
15th August, 2020
US President Donald Trump said, Saturday, August 15, 2020, that the confiscated Iranian oil shipments are on their way to Houston, Texas, where there is a large fuel shipment center, and indicated that they may have already arrived there, adding that Iran should not send Shipments to Venezuela.
Trump said in a press conference at the White House that the shipments are on the way to Houston, adding: We are transporting them, and they have been transferred, to Houston.
The Ministry of Justice said in a statement: With the help of foreign partners, the confiscated shipment is now in the custody of the United States, noting that the total shipments amount to about 1.116 million barrels of petroleum products, making it the largest US seizure of Iranian fuel ever.
The US State Department attributed the credit to its special envoy to Iran, the outgoing, in the process of controlling the shipments, and said in a statement: Our diplomacy, led by the Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook, was able to stop these shipments and assist the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security in the implementation of the US detention order.
Neither the Ministry of Justice nor the State Department specified when, where, or how the confiscation took place, and the State Department also did not reveal the steps that Hook, whose resignation was announced last week, had taken to secure the confiscation.
The Wall Street Journal said that US threats of legal action and sanctions have forced the owners of the Greek ship to deliver Iranian fuel to the US government in recent days.
The report, quoting people familiar with the confiscation, said that the operation took place in international waters without the actual presence of any US authorities or the assistance of any foreign government. The newspaper added that Venezuela has already paid for the fuel, so Iran will not lose any revenue from the seizure.
And Washington imposed sanctions on the two countries to stifle their oil exports and deprive them of the main source of revenue, as part of its efforts to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and change the behavior of the Iranian government.
On Friday, August 14, 2020, the United States confiscated four Iranian fuel shipments en route to Venezuela, as an important supply line for both Caracas and Tehran was disrupted as they defied US sanctions, according to Reuters. LINK
************
Samson: Pompeo: The Proceeds Of Iran's Tankers May Be Paid As Compensation To The Victims Of Its Terrorism
15th August, 2020
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the proceeds of Iranian gasoline seized from oil tankers destined for Venezuela could be paid as compensation to the American victims of Iranian state terrorism.
This came after the US Department of Justice confirmed that it had confiscated shipments of four oil tankers, Luna, Pandey, Bering and Bella, in recent days for violating US sanctions.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump said in his White House press briefing that the seized tankers would be sent to Houston.
The seized tankers were bound to Venezuela with 1.1 million barrels of Iranian gasoline, but Iran denied the allegations, saying that the United States intended to launch a "psychological war".
Pompeo asserted that if petrol revenues were confiscated in US courts, they could go to the US state's victims of terrorism fund "instead of the hands of terrorists."
According to the US Department of Justice, the shipments were intercepted on Wednesday, based on an order issued by a US District Court regarding a July 2 complaint requesting the confiscation of all petroleum products on board the said ships. LINK
************
Samson: Indonesia expects a strong economic recovery with a record high government spending
14th August, 2020
Indonesia expects the economy to recover at a strong pace from the shock of the Corona epidemic over the next year, with government spending rising to a record high
President "Joko Widodo" said in his annual budget address on Friday that the gross domestic product is expected to grow by between 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent next year
Southeast Asia's largest economy is suffering from its worst crisis in more than two decades after shrinking by about 5.3 percent in the second quarter of 2020, as movement restrictions imposed to combat the epidemic and declining global demand have caused unrest among families and companies
The government lowered estimates of Indonesia's economy this year, ranging from growth of 0.2 percent to a contraction of 1.1 percent
The Indonesian president added that the government expects spending to rise 0.3 percent to 2747.5 trillion ($ 185.2 billion), the highest level ever, next year, while revenues are expected to rise 4.5 percent to 1776.4 trillion rupees
Widodo indicated that the fiscal deficit from GDP is expected to narrow to 5.5 percent from 6.34 percent this year. He explained that he intends to request the central bank's help in financing the budget deficit as it seeks to revive an economy suffering from the Corona epidemic LINK