President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urged Muslim countries to use their national currencies in order to liberate the countries from the burden of exchange rates. Source: Hürriyet Daily News
Economics
A Russian navy ship, the Vice-Admiral Zakharin minesweeper, was moving towards the Sea of Azov from the Black Sea on Wednesday, a Reuters reporter said. Source: Reuters
raq has allocated 67 percent of its 2019 oil sales to Asia, the country’s oil ministry said on Tuesday, as OPEC’s second-biggest producer aims to sell more of its oil on the prized Asian markets. Source: Oil Price
Austria has mulled over the possibility of new sanctions against Russia due to the detention of three Ukrainian Navy vessels that sailed toward the Kerch Strait in what Moscow has described as an unequivocal provocation committed in violation of international law. At a secret meeting of the Political and Security Committee in Brussels on Tuesday, French and German diplomats spoke out against stepping up existing EU sanctions against Russia in light of the growing rift between Moscow and Kiev over the Kerch Strait incident. Source: Sputnik
The French government will not close any of its nuclear reactors besides Fessenheim before the end of the current presidential mandate which runs until 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday. Source: Reuters
China’s state-owned energy major CNPC has replaced France’s Total in Iran’s South Pars gas project, according to Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh. The French company withdrew from Iran under pressure of US sanctions. Source: RT
The European Commission’s new rejection of the Italian budget is the first step in disciplinary procedures that may lead to hefty fines. In its report, the Commission said Italy has “seriously violated” EU budget rules. Source: Deutsche Welle
An Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander said: “Iran needs no permission from foreign countries” to test missiles. The US, Britain and France claim the tests flout restrictions on Tehran’s military program. Source: Deutsche Welle
Three people have been killed and 12 people injured, some critically, in a shooting on Tuesday near a Christmas market in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, police said, adding that the suspected gunman was on the run. Source: The Local
UK Prime Minister Theresa May has set off on a whistle-stop tour of Europe, after postponing a parliamentary vote on the Brexit deal. May had been faced with the possibility of a crushing defeat on the bill. Source: Deutsche Welle
Even as it grapples with violent demonstrations over living costs, the French government is hunkering down for a “Black Tuesday” of protests by high-school students who have jumped onto the Yellow Vest bandwagon. Source: France24
Serbia and Montenegro opened more accession chapters on December 10 in their negotiations with the European Union for eventual membership in the bloc. Source: Radio Free Europe
Russia’s Defense Ministry has sent two nuclear-capable strategic bombers to Venezuela, in an unusual display of Russian military force in South America. The ministry said in a statement that the two Tu-160 bombers had arrived at an airport outside of Caracas on December 10. The statement did not say if they were carrying weapons. Source: Radio Free Europe
China has threatened to ramp up its aggression towards the US in the South China Sea, after military and government officials discussed the tensions and relations between the world’s two largest economies on Saturday. Source: Daily Express
Groups of yellow vest protesters across France responded scathingly to the “crumbs” offered by President Emmanuel Macron in a speech intended to defuse their revolt, but others acknowledged his efforts. Source: The Local
Israeli and Russian experts may gather for another meeting to discuss coordination on Syria in the coming days in Moscow, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a government meeting on Sunday. Source: TASS
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen – stung by her party’s crushing defeat in last month’s local elections – could be in for another disappointment at the polls in 2020 if she tries to win a second term as the self-ruled island’s president by playing the “America card”, analysts have warned. Source: South China Morning Post
Belgium’s Prime Minister Charles Michel was left leading a minority administration on Sunday after the Flemish nationalist party quit the ruling coalition over his support of a UN migration pact. The New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), the largest of the coalition’s four parties, had earlier threatened to leave if Michel backed the accord, which has become a cause celebre for European anti-immigration parties. Source: France24
Shanghai’s new yuan-denominated derivatives contract is set to propel global crude oil futures trading volumes to a record high in 2018, eating into the market share of the two most active crude contracts, Brent and WTI. Source: Reuters
Russia is planning to reduce its oil production by 50,000 bpd to 60,000 bpd in January as part of the new OPEC+ deal, and will not be cutting its 228,000-bpd share outright at the start of the agreement, Russia’s Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday. Source: Oil Price
India hopes to attract around US$300 billion in investments in its energy sector in the coming decade, including in refineries, natural gas infrastructure and trade, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, India’s Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said at an energy conference in Delhi on Tuesday. Source: Oil Price
Iraq has increased production at its southern Halfaya oilfield by 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to a total of 370,000 bpd, an oil official told Reuters on Wednesday. Source: Reuters
The European Union has a vested interest in promoting technology exchanges with China, but any transfers should be regulated, said the trade bloc’s ambassador to China on Wednesday. Source: CNBC
Energy costs, overtaxation, non-salary costs, problematic financing and licensing are the five main obstacles preventing Greek manufacturing from gaining sustainable momentum, according to a Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) survey. Source: Ekathimerini
A rally was held outside the office of the United Nations in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Monday to protest against measures of the Saudi-led coalition to hold and prevent ships carrying oil products from docking at Yemen’s ports, the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency reports as the warring parties in the nearly four-year-long conflict hold UN-brokered peace talks in Sweden. Source: Oil Price
A Chinese court has banned the sale and import of most iPhone models in a stunning decision amid the trade war between the United States and China. Source: CNN
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro said on state television that Venezuela would put in place in 2019 a program to sell all its oil production in the Petro cryptocurrency, which the leader is touting as the first state-backed oil-backed digital currency. Source: Oil Price
After Russia agreed on Friday to cut its oil production as part of the non-OPEC group tasked with cutting 400,000 bpd of oil production, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said it would take Russia “months” to get down to its requested level. Source: Oil Price
China’s 2018 crude steel output is expected to set an annual record of 923 million tonnes before slipping back to 900 million tonnes next year, a government consultancy said on Monday. Source: Reuters
