The U.S. has accused Iran of stepping up violations of a UN ban on arms exports by increasingly supplying weapons to militant groups across the Middle East and continuing its missile program. Source: Radio Free Europe
Geostrategic Countries
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has condemned Russia for seizing three Ukrainian ships in the Sea of Azov. But she failed to offer any military support to Ukraine or further economic sanctions against Russia. Source: Deutsche Welle
Kosovo has spurned calls from the United States and European Union to eliminate a new 100 percent tariff on Serbian imports, saying the levy will stay until Serbia recognizes Kosovo’s sovereignty and reaches a normalization agreement with its neighbor. Source: Radio Free Europe
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Nov. 29 that Turkey could play a mediation role to ease tensions between Russia and Ukraine after the seizure of three Ukrainian ships by Moscow sparked a major crisis. Source: Hürriyet Daily News
The US Navy confirmed on Thursday that it conducted a “freedom of navigation” operation by sending a guided-missile cruiser, USS Chancellorsville, near the contested Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on Monday. Source: South China Morning Post
New Jersey introduced a new directive to curtail local police’s ability to inquire about someone’s immigration status and turn undocumented immigrants over to immigration officials for deportation. Source MSN
Facebook Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told employees to investigate financial dealings by George Soros, the billionaire who criticized the company at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. “That research was already underway when Sheryl sent an email asking if Mr. Soros had shorted Facebook’s stock,” Facebook said in a statement. Her directive was previously reported by the New York Times. Source Bloomberg
The Turkish president has announced a fresh offensive against Kurdish fighters in Syria is just around the corner. But the US has warned that such action would harm efforts to destroy the “Islamic State” in the region. Source: Deutsche Welle
Canadian businessman Michael Spavor, who worked with North Korea, is being investigated on suspicion of harming China’s security, China said on Thursday, days after a former Canadian diplomat was detained in an escalating diplomatic row. Source: Reuters
The sea phase of the bilateral Russian-Indian maritime exercise Indra Navy-2018, which involves Russia’s Pacific Fleet ships, starts in the Bay of Bengal today near the Indian port of Visakhapatnam, the Pacific Fleet press service reported on Thursday. Source: TASS
The Mars against Marrakech planned for next Sunday in Brussels should not take place. That is what the mayor of Brussels Philippe Close and Rudi Vervoort, Prime Minister of the Brussels-Capital Region, have decided today. The ban applies to the entire Brussels region.Source HLN
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
China’s port city of Zhoushan is planning to challenge Singapore’s dominance of the multi-billion dollar shipping fuel industry, relying on proximity to some of the world’s biggest ports and Beijing’s support to give it an edge. Source: Reuters
French energy company Total (TOTF.PA) said it has agreed to sell a 4 percent stake in its Australian Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) project to Japanese partner Inpex (1605.T) for $1.6 billion, following cost overruns. Source: Reuters
The European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has to tread a fine line once again as he gives his latest update on euro area monetary policy on Thursday. Source: CNBC
The United States urged Germany to drop its political support for Russian monopoly Gazprom’s Nord Stream-2 project and warned companies that are involved in the construction of the gas pipeline that they face the risk of sanctions unless they withdraw from the controversial project. Source: New Europe
A new 2019 budget plan from the Italian government to reduce its deficit is still not enough to secure EU approval, Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Thursday. Source: The Local
European Union leaders will offer Ukraine help for its regions affected by Russia’s actions in the Azov Sea when they meet on Thursday (13 December), but no new sanctions on Russia will be imposed. Source: Euractiv
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
