The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will review more than 30 new membership applications beginning in September, and the bank may have as many as 90 members by early 2017, outstripping the membership numbers of U.S. and Japan-led Asian Development Bank (ADB), said Jin Liqun, the bank’s president. Source: People’s Daily
The United States imposed sanctions on a Russian port service agency and Chinese firms for aiding North Korean ships and selling alcohol and tobacco to Pyongyang in breach of U.S. sanctions. Source: Reuters
The United States has confirmed plans to more double the number of troops based in Norway, a move Russia has already criticised as “clearly unfriendly”. Source: The Local
The Swiss government has decided to hold off on signing up to a landmark United Nations treaty that would ban nuclear weapons. Source: The Local
