The United States expanded its sanctions war against Russia to China on Thursday, announcing punitive measures against a Chinese military organization for buying Russian fighter jets and missiles. Source: France24
Trade Cooperation
Acting commerce and industry minister Ajmal Hamid Abdul Rahimzai on Tuesday said Afghanistan’s exports increased by 32 per cent in the first eight months of the ongoing fiscal year. Source: The Frontier Post
Russian oil producer Surgutneftegaz (SNGS.MM) is pushing buyers to agree to pay for oil in euros instead of dollars if the need arises, apparently as insurance against possible tougher U.S. sanctions, traders who deal with the firm told Reuters. Source: Reuters
The U.S.-China trade war deepened as Beijing announced retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods and the Trump administration threatened duties on virtually all Chinese imports. Source: Bloomberg
Serbian officials on Tuesday signed agreements with China worth $3 billion during a two-day visit to Beijing, which include Chinese economic investments and the purchase of new military equipment by Belgrade. Source: Balkan Insight
– U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley accused Russia on Monday of “cheating” on U.N. sanctions on North Korea and said Washington has “evidence of consistent and wide-ranging Russian violations.” Source: Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his trade war with Beijing, imposing 10 percent tariffs on about $200 billion worth of imports in a move one senior Chinese regulator said “poisoned” the atmosphere for negotiations. Source: Reuters
Gavin Williamson meeting the Ukrainian military on 19 September. Britain will commit further Royal Marine commandos and a naval attache to Ukraine in a bid to bolster defences against Russia, the Defence Secretary has announced. The extra troops will provide combat training to the Ukrainian military and help build the country’s naval capabilities. Source Forces Networks
Turkey will continue its counter-terrorism activities in Syria, according to a declaration issued by the country’s National Security Council (MGK) on Sept. 20. Source: Hürriyet Daily News
Spain’s foreign minister revealed that US President Donald Trump suggested building a wall along the Sahara desert to stem the arrival of migrants, as he plans to do on the Mexican border. Source: The Local
The EU must convince Italy, Spain and Greece to back a plan to bolster the bloc’s external borders, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Wednesday as bloc leaders met in Salzburg to discuss the controversial issue of migration. Source: The Local
EU leaders poured cold water on Theresa May’s Brexit plans at an informal summit in Salzburg on Thursday (20 September) but they remained divided over migration, with French president Emmanuel Macron launching a broadside at the EU’s ‘troublesome’ member states. Source: Euractiv
The German chancellor views the EU-Turkey migrant deal as a model for working with North African countries. Following an informal EU summit, the bloc decided to broaden engagement with Arab states to stem migration. Source: Deutsche Welle
A major bridge connecting Italy’s Abruzzi and Molise regions has been closed indefinitely by the authorities in Isernia province after it failed safety checks. Its main 185 metre pylon needs to be secured and gaps have appeared between some of the concrete segments on the top of the bridge. Source EuroNews
Saudi Arabia is the first major country Pakistan has formally invited to become a partner in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects, Minister of Information Fawad Chaudhry said on Thursday. Source Dawn
According to our source, these migrants left Algeria. Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Turkey are functioning now as transit countries while Frontex nor the European Union are showing any signs to solve the problems. A total of 152 immigrants aboard 13 pateras have been rescued while they were adrift in Cartagena waters. The navigators have been assisted by Red Cross personnel. Once identified, they have been taken into the custody of the National Police, which processes the following documents. Source Telecartagena
“There is no need for Frontex to protect the Hungarian border in our place,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Salzburg on Thursday. Arriving at a summit of European Union leaders, Orbán told journalists that the European Commission has put forward a proposal saying that “if there’s trouble”, national competencies should be “taken away from member states” and border protection should be managed by the EU. Source Hungary Today
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen voiced outrage Thursday (Sept 20) after being ordered to undergo psychiatric tests for having posted pictures of atrocities committed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group on Twitter. Ms Le Pen shared the gruesome images in December 2015, a few weeks after ISIS militants killed 130 people in attacks in Paris, sparking widespread condemnation in France. Source The Straits Times
The world’s two first hydrogen-powered trains have begun service in Germany. The trains, which operate in between northern German towns, are a step away from traditional diesel power. According to a press release from Alstom, the trains’ French parent company, they are are “equipped with fuel cells which convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity. Source Popular Mechanics
U.S. President Donald Trump linked American support for Middle Eastern countries to oil prices on Thursday as he again urged OPEC to lower prices. Source: Reuters
The United States expanded its sanctions war against Russia to China on Thursday, announcing punitive measures against a Chinese military organization for buying Russian fighter jets and missiles. Source: France24
Japanese refiners have stopped buying Iranian crude ahead of the November 4 deadline set by Washington to all countries doing business with Iran before economic sanctions return. Reuters quoted today the head of the Petroleum Association of Japan as saying, “It is my view that each firm is taking the same stance and temporarily suspending (the loading) and watching the situation carefully.” Source: Oil Price
Turkey will not allow any unilateral hydrocarbon drilling or exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, Turkey’s Energy Minister said. Minister Fatih Dönmez said that Turkey would not allow any parties to breach Turkey’s rights or those of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) based on international law. Source Hurriyet Daily News
The Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) has remarked that Al-Wafaa oilfield’s airfield has been blockaded on Wednesday morning an attempt to blackmail Mellitah Oil and Gas Company into awarding an unwarranted catering contract. Source The Lybia Observer
Acting commerce and industry minister Ajmal Hamid Abdul Rahimzai on Tuesday said Afghanistan’s exports increased by 32 per cent in the first eight months of the ongoing fiscal year. Source: The Frontier Post
The Trump administration persuaded Volkswagen AG to comply with sanctions on Iran and end almost all of its business in the country, according to a U.S. official, a symbolically charged step in undercutting European Union efforts to keep the 2015 nuclear deal alive. Source: Bloomberg
A Japanese digital currency exchange has been hacked, and 6.7 billion yen ($60 million) worth of cryptocurrencies are gone. Source: The New York Times
Russian oil producer Surgutneftegaz (SNGS.MM) is pushing buyers to agree to pay for oil in euros instead of dollars if the need arises, apparently as insurance against possible tougher U.S. sanctions, traders who deal with the firm told Reuters. Source: Reuters
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has ordered the transfer of ownership of the federal state-held company controlling Chechnya’s oil refining and petrochemical industry to the Chechen authorities. Source: Oil Price
