NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 likely acquired at least one of its mutations by picking up a snippet of genetic material from another virus – possibly one that causes the common cold – present in the same infected cells, according to researchers. This genetic sequence does not appear in any earlier versions of the coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, but is ubiquitous in many other viruses including those that cause the common cold, and also in the human genome, researchers said. By inserting this particular snippet into itself, Omicron might be making itself look “more human,” which would help it evade attack by the human immune system, said Venky Soundararajan of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based data analytics firm nference, who led the study https://osf.io/f7txy posted on Thursday on the website OSF Preprints. This could mean the virus transmits more easily, while only causing mild or asymptomatic disease. Scientists do not yet know whether Omicron is more infectious than other variants, whether it causes more severe disease or whether it will overtake Delta as the most prevalent variant. It may take several weeks to get answers to these questions. Cells in the lungs and in the gastrointestinal system can harbor SARS-CoV-2 and common-cold coronaviruses simultaneously, according to earlier studies. Such co-infection sets the scene for viral recombination, a process in which two different viruses in the same host cell interact while making copies of themselves, generating new copies that have some genetic material from both “parents.” This new mutation could have first occurred in a person infected with both pathogens when a version of SARS-CoV-2 picked up the genetic sequence from the other virus, Soundararajan and colleagues said in the study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed. The same genetic sequence appears many times in one of the coronaviruses that causes colds in people – known as HCoV-229E – and in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, Soundararajan said. South Africa, where Omicron was first identified, has the world’s highest rate of HIV, which weakens the immune system and increases a person’s vulnerability to infections with common-cold viruses and other pathogens. In that part of the world, there are many people in whom the recombination that added this ubiquitous set of genes to Omicron might have occurred, Soundararajan said. “We probably missed many generations of recombinations” that occurred over time and that led to the emergence of Omicron, Soundararajan added. More research is needed to confirm the origins of Omicron’s mutations and their effects on function and transmissibility. There are competing hypotheses that the latest variant might have spent some time evolving in an animal host. In the meantime, Soundararajan said, the new findings underscore the importance of people getting the currently available COVID-19 vaccines. “You have to vaccinate to reduce the odds that other people, who are immunocompromised, will encounter the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” Soundararajan said. NN: A long time ago i learned when you have nothing to say say nothing. In this world of constant news editors have fallen in the trap of always having something to report. The pressure to publish means that their product is minimal at beast. Right now this new mutation is much the topic of news reports mostly speculation. I do not have enough information to give you an opinion never mind a strategy. So i have put on my librarian hat and am doing a deep dive. Thieu is a lot published little of it peer reviewed… And a lot of bullshit. So give me this next week and ill soon have something serious for you…..
Ireland sets new COVID restrictions
Ireland will reintroduce some Covid-19 restrictions for the Christmas period following “very stark” advice from health officials. Restrictions will be in place from December 7 to January 9, including new limits on household gatherings, the country’s Taoiseach Micheal Martin said. It comes amid concern about increased socialising at Christmas and the threat posed by the new Omicron variant of coronavirus. In a national address on Friday, Mr Martin said: “The risks associated with proceeding into the Christmas period without some restrictions to reduce the volume of social contacts is just too high.” Among the measures taking effect from next Tuesday include strict social distancing requirements for bars and restaurants. The rules will mean the hospitality sector will largely revert to the situation preceding October 22, with a maximum of six adults per table and no multiple table bookings. Mr Martin also said there will now be a maximum of 50 per cent capacity at entertainment, cultural, community and sporting events, with all those attending fully seated. Use of the Covid-19 pass will also be extended to gyms, leisure centres, hotel bars and restaurants. Visits to private homes, he said, should be limited to people from a maximum of three households, although he acknowledged the need for “flexibility”. “My message this evening is a difficult one,” he said. “I understand and I share the disappointment and frustration this will cause for many of you.” Mr Martin said that the appearance of the new Omicron variant as the holiday season approaches is a major cause for concern. But he said: “This is not about going back to the days of lockdowns. “Across the country, very many people in the hospitality and entertainment industries will be bitterly disappointed by this news. “Many of them will be fearing for their livelihoods. “I want to reassure them that, just as we have done since the beginning of the pandemic, the government will stand by them and ensure that they have the financial supports necessary to weather this latest storm and to stay intact until we are out of it.” Earlier, the government was warned that the number of Covid-19 cases could surge to 15,000 a day after Christmas if the Omicron variant becomes dominant. The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) said that the new variant could drive up cases during increased social activity over the Christmas period. In a letter to the government, Nphet said that greater socialising combined with the impact of Omicron could pose a “very real but as yet unquantifiable risk” to the management of Covid-19 over the coming weeks. Health officials said this presents “serious challenges” for the weeks ahead and that it is “impossible” to quantify the level of risk and its impact. In the letter, chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said that if social contact can be maintained at current levels or marginally decreased, the level of infections per day will remain below 5,000. However, if social contact increases to levels seen in December last year, cases could surge to between 6,000 and 8,000 cases per day in early January. If infection-induced immunity is low or evaded by the new variant, a “very large surge is possible”, with a peak of about 8,000 to 15,000 cases per day, Nphet added. In a pessimistic but “plausible scenario”, Nphet said that between 750 to 1,300 people could need hospital care and up to 400 people would require critical care. This week, the government agreed to new rules on travel in which all people entering Ireland will be required to show a negative result on a professionally administered antigen test 48 hours before arrival, or on a PCR test 72 hours before arrival. The rules also apply to travellers from the UK. Ireland has so far confirmed one case of the new Omicron variant.
UK study finds mRNA COVID-19 vaccines provide biggest booster impact
LONDON (Reuters) -COVID-19 vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna that use mRNA technology provide the biggest boost to antibody levels when given 10-12 weeks after the second dose, a new British study has found. The “COV-Boost” study was cited by British officials when they announced that Pfizer and Moderna were preferred for use in the country’s booster campaign, but the data has only been made publicly available now. The study found that six of the seven boosters examined enhanced immunity after initial vaccination with Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine, while all seven increased immunity when given after two doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine.
“A third dose will be effective for many of the vaccines we’ve tested and in many different combinations,” Professor Saul Faust, an immunologist at the University of Southampton and the trial’s lead, told reporters.
The study, published late on Thursday, found that a full dose or half dose of Pfizer or a full dose of Moderna gave a strong boost to both antibody and T-cell levels, regardless of whether the person initially received Pfizer or AstraZeneca. “All four of the vaccination regimes most widely deployed in the UK lead to essentially the same levels of immunity and are likely to be equally effective,” said Professor Eleanor Riley, immunologist at the University of Edinburgh. She added that a policy change in booster gaps was also supported by the data. “These data support the JCVI (vaccine committee) decision earlier this week to bring forward booster doses to 3 months after the second vaccination.” When AstraZeneca, Novavax, Johnson & Johnson and Curevac were given as boosters, they increased antibody levels for either initial vaccine, albeit to a smaller degree, the study found. However, while Valneva boosted antibodies in people initially vaccinated with AstraZeneca, it did not provide a boost for Pfizer. The COV-Boost study pre-dated the spread of the emergent Omicron variant of concern, and Faust said he had shared samples with the UK Health Security Agency to generate data on Omicron. The study did however find that booster shots also helped to generate a broad T-cell response against the Beta and Delta variants, which may play a key role in longer-term protection. A separate study by Imperial College London into how initial exposure to SARS-CoV-2 shapes immune responses, also published late on Thursday, similarly found a good T-cell response to both Alpha and Delta after infection followed by vaccination.
US nonfarm payrolls up by 210,000 in November
November jobs report misses forecasts as US adds just 210,000 new jobs amid supply-chain nightmare
- The US added just 210,000 jobs in November, badly missing the median estimate of 550,000 payrolls.
- The unemployment rate tumbled to 4.2% from 4.6%. That came in below economist estimates.
- The report shows hiring slowing as the Delta wave subsided and Omicron fears emerged.
Nonfarm employment in the United States increased by 210,000 in November, data released by the country’s Bureau of Labor Statistics showed on Friday. The figure came in significantly below market expectations. The unemployment rate was down 0.4 percentage points from the previous month, landing at 4.2% in November. The labor force participation rate was up 0.2 percentage points to 61.8%. The workforce grew the most in the professional and business services sector, with 90,000 jobs gained. Transportation and warehousing employment rose by 50,000, followed by the construction and manufacturing sectors that each added 31,000 jobs. Average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls rose by 8 cents from October to reach $31.03 in November, translating to a year-on-year increase of 4.8%. The report shows hiring slowing dramatically from October’s revised gain of 546,000. November was expected to extend the fall’s healthy job growth after the Delta wave hammered hiring through the summer. Yet new headwinds stood in the way of blockbuster gains. Virus case counts picked up through the month after sliding through October. The supply-chain crisis eased somewhat but remained a risk to the recovery. The various bottlenecks possibly delayed hiring plans at affected firms.
Current market environment ‘crazier’ than dotcom bust: Berkshire’s Munger
The S&P 500 index has more than doubled since its pandemic lows of March last year, while Bitcoin is up over 1000%
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s Charlie Munger told a conference Friday that markets are wildly overvalued in places and that the current environment is “even crazier” than the dotcom boom of the late 1990s that subsequently led to a bust. “I consider this era an even crazier era than the dotcom era,” Munger, 97, said at the Sohn conference in Sydney, The Australian Financial Review reported. Munger also said that he wished cryptocurrencies didn’t exist, and praised China for taking action to ban their use, according to the AFR. “I wish they’d never been invented,” he said. “And again I admire the Chinese, I think they made the correct decision, which was to simply ban them. In my country, English-speaking civilization has made the wrong decision, I just can’t stand participating in these insane booms, one way or another.” The S&P 500 index has more than doubled since its pandemic lows of March last year, while Bitcoin is up over 1000%. Investors have poured almost $900 billion into equity funds in 2021 — exceeding the combined total from the past 19 years — according to data from Bank of America Corp. and EPFR Global. The valuation of the U.S. stock market is now higher than before the bust induced by the health crisis, and investors have become jittery. Spiking inflation is forcing central banks to tighten monetary policy, threatening to reduce the liquidity tailwind that lifted a wide range of assets. The veteran investor also weighed in on China’s global relations, urging Australia to play a role in bridging differences between the Asian nation and the U.S. “I think Australia with its deep involvement in China can be in a constructive position, Australia can encourage the U.S. and China to be more reasonable,” he said. Munger, who was speaking after Berkshire’s cash pile hit new heights at $149.2 billion of funds in the third quarter, also said he was bullish on renewable energy. “I love the fact that we’re rapidly reducing the burning of coal and the burning of gasoline and diesel,” he said. “I think that’s a smart thing for the world to be doing and it would be smart even if there were no global warming.” NN: At 97 years old Charlie is still the most brilliant market analysis of our time. Unfortunately the Front man Warren Buffet is not so brilliant. But a great showman. He often steers their investments in the wrong direction. Bershire makes lots of mistakes and is earning little more then interest on their money. The takeaway from this story is the fact its confirmation of what i have been telling you. The greatest stock market bubble ever has been created and it will soon burst. It will be our greatest trade ever. You should know everything we have been doing is setting up for this grand event.
This Could Mean The End To Cambo Oil Field Development
The Greeneewennis have another win. they have stopped one of the largest oil and gas fields in Europe
Shell announced on Thursday that it would no longer proceed with its investment in the Cambo oil field. Shell had a 30% stake in the Cambo oilfield, in the UK’s North Sea, with Siccar Point Energy holding the remaining 70% stake. Siccar expressed its disappointment in Shell’s exit, and said it would need to review its options for Cambo. For Shell, the reason to exit the project was the potential for delay as well as a lack of strength of economics.
Cambo was estimated to be capable of producing 175 million barrels of oil in its first phase. Cambo has drawn the attention of environmental groups protesting its development.
“After comprehensive screening of the proposed Cambo development, we have concluded the economic case for investment in this project is not strong enough at this time, as well as having the potential for delays,” a Shell spokesman said on Thrusday. Nevertheless, Shell said that continued investment in the UK oil and gas sector “remains critical to the country’s energy security”, stressing that it still believes in the UK North Sea. Anti-Cambo development campaigners have hailed Shell’s move as the “beginning of the end for all new oil and gas projects,” one such campaigner from Friends of the Earth Scotland said. Oil and Gas regulator OGUK warned that the UK would still rely on new oil and gas projects. “This is a commercial decision between partners but doesn’t change the facts that the UK will continue to need new oil and gas projects if we are to protect security of supply, avoid increasing reliance on imports and support jobs,” Jenny Stanning, external relations director at OGUK said. NN: This is another shoot your self in the dick moment Europe including England are desperate for energy. And the most prolific field is the Cambo field. It is vast and has not been fully explored. It is in the North Sea very close to the coast. Stopping this project is nothing short of criminal. And obviousley very very stupid. Instead they will buy gas from their mortal eney the Russians from a pipeline that runs thousands of miles
U.S. reports first community transmission of Omicron as variant spreads across globe
WASHINGTON/BERLIN (Reuters) – President Joe Biden on Thursday laid out his strategy to fight the coronavirus as the highly contagious Omicron spread across the globe with winter coming and hours after the first known U.S. case of community transmission of the variant was reported. With authorities around the world scrambling to contain Omicron, Biden warned in no uncertain terms that infections will rise this winter. “We’re going to fight this variant with science and speed, not chaos and confusion,” he said, speaking at the National Institutes of Health medical research facility in Maryland. New York has found five cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant, its governor said, becoming the fourth U.S. state to detect the variant and bringing the total number of infections in the country to eight. New York Governor Kathy Hochul told a news conference that one of the cases involved a 67-year-old Long Island woman with mild symptoms who had recently returned from South Africa. The woman had some vaccination history but it was not yet known how many doses she had received. Further information was not yet available on the other four people, all New York City residents, Hochul said. The other U.S. states that have found Omicron cases are California, Colorado and Minnesota, one in each state. In all three cases, the patients were fully vaccinated and developed mild symptoms. In California and Colorado, the patients had recently returned from trips to southern Africa and had not gotten booster doses. The case in Minnesota is the first known community transmission within the United States. The patient in Minnesota had recently travelled to New York City for an anime convention, prompting the city to launch contact tracing to try to contain the spread. “We are aware of a case of the Omicron variant identified in Minnesota that is associated with travel to a conference in New York City, and we should assume there is community spread of the variant in our city,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said ahead of Hochul’s announcement.
Much remains unknown about Omicron, which was first detected in southern Africa last month and has been reported in at least two dozen countries, just as parts of Europe were already grappling with a wave of infections of the Delta variant.
Under Biden’s plan, the United States will require inbound international passengers to be tested for COVID-19 within one day of departure, regardless of vaccination status. Mask requirements on airplanes, trains and public transportation vehicles will be extended to March 18. The U.S. government will require private health insurers to reimburse their 150 million customers for 100% of the cost of over-the-counter, at-home COVID-19 tests, administration officials said, and make 50 million more tests available free through rural clinics and health centers for the uninsured. Less than 60% of the U.S. population, or 196 million people, have been fully vaccinated, one of the lowest rates among wealthy nations. Fears about the Omicron variant have pounded financial markets and created doubts about the speed of the global economic recovery as the pandemic rages on. Shares fell on Thursday, and crude oil futures extended losses. The variant could slow global economic growth by exacerbating supply chain problems and depressing demand, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the Reuters Next conference on Thursday.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty, but it could cause significant problems. We’re still evaluating that,” she said.
Eager to avoid derailing a fragile recovery of Europe’s biggest economy, Germany had kept businesses open to the almost 69% of the population that is fully vaccinated as well as those with proof of having recovered from the virus. But on Thursday, the country announced it would bar the unvaccinated from all but essential businesses such as grocery stores and pharmacies, while legislation to make vaccination mandatory will be drafted for early next year. “We have understood that the situation is very serious,” Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference. A nationwide vaccination mandate could take effect from February 2022 after it is debated in the Bundestag and after guidance from Germany’s Ethics Council, she said. The European Union’s public health agency said the variant could be responsible for more than half of all COVID infections in Europe within a few months. A group of South African health bodies said on Thursday their latest findings indicated the variant posed a threefold higher risk of reinfection than the currently dominant Delta variant and the Beta strain. The country also said it was seeing an increase in COVID-19 reinfections in patients contracting Omicron – with people who have already had the illness getting infected again – in a way that it did not see with other variants. Global travel curbs accelerated on Thursday in response to the threat from Omicron. In the Netherlands, health authorities called for pre-flight COVID-19 tests for all travel from outside the European Union, after it turned out that most of the passengers who tested positive after arriving on two flights from South Africa on Nov. 26 had been vaccinated. Russia has imposed a two-week quarantine for travellers from some African countries including South Africa, the Interfax news agency said, quoting a senior official. Hong Kong extended a travel ban to more countries and Norway, among others, re-introduced travel restrictions. Amid all the new restrictions, Europe’s largest budget airline, Ryanair, said it expected a challenging time at Christmas, although it was still optimistic about summer demand. NN: You know we have discussed this since August. So it is no surprise. The masses are dazed and confused at best ambivalent. It is the height of insanity to wait and see how infections and deadly the Omicron mutation is. Does this make any sense? Shut down the airlines and go into partial restrictions for just a couple weeks. We both know that is not going to happen. I call this the great experiment…… I urge you to get your booster shot if you have not already done so. Shields up. We are going into shut down mode here and we will modify our protections when we see how humanity who are nothing more then lab rats of the leaders fair. It is crazy shit not to institute a partial shutdown of airlines and crowd events……
U.S. reports first community transmission of Omicron as variant spreads across globe
“We are aware of a case of the Omicron variant identified in Minnesota that is associated with travel to a conference in New York City, and we should assume there is community spread of the variant in our city,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “We are working closely with the State and the CDC, as well as the Javits Center’s event organizers, and our Test and Trace Corps will be contacting conference attendees,” he said in a statement. The Omicron variant could slow global economic growth by exacerbating supply chain problems and depressing demand, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the Reuters Next conference on Thursday. “There’s a lot of uncertainty, but it could cause significant problems. We’re still evaluating that,” she said. Germany announced it would bar the unvaccinated from all but essential businesses such as grocery stores and pharmacies, while legislation to make vaccination mandatory will be drafted for early next year.”We have understood that the situation is very serious,” Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference. A nationwide vaccination mandate could take effect from February 2022 after it is debated in the Bundestag and after guidance from Germany’s Ethics Council, she said. Eager to avoid derailing a fragile recovery of Europe’s biggest economy, Germany kept businesses open to the almost 69% of the population that is fully vaccinated as well as those with proof of having recovered from the virus. In the United States, Biden was due to speak at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at 1:40 p.m. ET (1840 GMT) to announce steps including extending requirements https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-us-extend-transit-mask-mandate-through-mid-march-sources-2021-12-01 for travellers to wear masks through mid-March. By early next week the United States will require inbound international travellers to be tested for COVID-19 within a day of departure, regardless of vaccination status. And private health insurance companies will be required to reimburse customers for at-home COVID-19 tests, as part of a winter strategy that Biden is due to announce at 1840 GMT. “The president is going to unveil a very robust plan, pull out all the stops to prepare for the winter and to prepare for the new variant,” White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients told broadcaster MSNBC. Much remains unknown about Omicron, which was first detected in southern Africa last month and has been spotted in at least two dozen countries, just as parts of Europe were already grappling with a wave of infections of the Delta variant. The European Union’s public health agency said the variant could be responsible for more than half of all COVID infections in Europe within a few months, lending weight to preliminary information about its high transmissibility. “It’s going to take about two more weeks to have more definitive information about the Omicron variant,” U.S. Assistant Health Secretary Rachel Levine said in an interview for the Reuters Next conference. Travel restrictions could slow the spread and give authorities the time to assess what further steps could be needed, she said. South Africa said it was seeing an increase in COVID-19 reinfections in patients contracting Omicron – with people who have already had the illness getting infected again – in a way that it did not see with other variants. In the Netherlands, health authorities called for pre-flight COVID-19 tests for all travel from outside the European Union, after it turned out that most of the passengers who tested positive after arriving on two flights from South Africa on Nov. 26 had been vaccinated. The first known U.S. case https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-reports-first-case-omicron-variant-2021-12-01, announced on Wednesday, was a fully vaccinated person in California who had travelled to South Africa. Two French cases, in the greater Paris region and in eastern France, were passengers arriving respectively from Nigeria and South Africa. Russia has imposed a two-week quarantine for travellers from some African countries including South Africa, the Interfax news agency said, quoting a senior official. Hong Kong extended a travel ban to more countries and Norway, among others, re-introduced travel restrictions. Amid all the new restrictions, Europe’s largest budget airline, Ryanair, said it expected a challenging time at Christmas, although it was still optimistic about summer demand. In France, the country’s top scientific adviser, Jean-Francois Delfraissy, said the “true enemy” for now was still the more familiar Delta variant of the virus, spreading in a fifth wave. NN: It is obvious at the very least get your third shot… Get the kiddies vaccinated. And get ready to hunker down. Test test test, mask up, isolate surely do not fly or go to crowd fests. Vitamin up and get your supply of ivermectin. As a foot note Ivermectin does attack the specific spike proteins to work. It is a different process and spike mutations will not affect its ability to protect you, ivermectin acts by inhibiting the host importin alpha/beta-1 nuclear transport proteins, which are part of a key intracellular transport process that viruses hijack to enhance infection by suppressing the host’s antiviral response. In addition, ivermectin docking may interfere with the attachment of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein to the human cell membrane.
Oil rises as OPEC+ sticks to regular output increase
OPEC and its allies agreed on Thursday to stick to their existing policy of monthly oil output increases despite fears that a US release from crude reserves and the new Omicron coronavirus variant would lead to a fresh oil price rout. Benchmark Brent crude fell more than $1 after the deal was reported, before recovering some ground to trade around$70 a barrel. It is now well below October’s three-year highs above $86 but still more than 30 percent up on the start of 2021. The United States has repeatedly pushed OPEC+ to accelerate output hikes as US gasoline prices soared and President Joe Biden’s approval ratings slid. Faced with rebuffs, Washington said last week it and other consumers would release reserves. Fearing another supply glut, sources said the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and allies, known as OPEC+, considered a range of options in talks on Thursday, including pausing their January hike of 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) or increasing output by less than the monthly plan.
But any such move would have put OPEC+, which includes Saudi Arabia and other US allies in the Gulf, on a collision course with Washington. Instead, the group rolled over its existing deal to increase output in January by 400,000 bpd.
“Politics triumphs over economics. Consumer countries mounted enough pressure,” said veteran OPEC observer Gary Ross. “But weaker prices now will only mean stronger later.” Ahead of the talks, US Deputy Energy Secretary David Turk indicated there might be flexibility in the US release of reserves, telling Reuters on Wednesday that Biden’s administration could adjust the timing if oil prices dropped substantially. OPEC+ remains concerned that the COVID-19 pandemic could once again drive down demand. Surging infections have prompted renewed restrictions in Europe and the Omicron variant has already led to new clamp downs on some international travel.
“We have to closely monitor the market to see the real effect of Omicron,” one OPEC+ delegate said after the talks.
OPEC+ ministers are next scheduled to meet on Jan. 4, but the group indicated in a statement that they could meet again before then if the market situation demanded. Before this week’s talks Saudi Arabia and Russia, the biggest producers in OPEC+, had both said there was no need for a knee-jerk reaction. Commenting after the OPEC+ decision, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the oil market was balanced and global oil demand was slowly rising. OPEC+ has been gradually unwinding record cuts agreed last year when demand cratered due to the pandemic, slashing output by about 10 million bpd, or 10 percent of global supply. Those cuts have since been scaled back to about 3.8 million bpd. But OPEC+ has regularly failed to meet its output targets, producing about 700,000 bpd less than planned in both September and October, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says. The next meeting of the OPEC+ Joint Technical Committee is scheduled for Jan. 3, while the next meeting of the OPEC+ Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee is Jan. 4, a source said. NN: The oil story has not been told. Evert hing is hanging in the balance. we will know nothing until after the holidays,,,,
US: Deep concerns about Russia’s Ukraine stance
Top US diplomat Antony Blinken on Thursday warned Russia against invading Ukraine, as Moscow told Kiev that any attempt to retake the Crimean peninsula amounted to a “direct threat” to Russia.
Western powers have been sounding the alarm in recent weeks about Russia massing troops along the border with Ukraine, further stoking tensions in an area where a long-running conflict has already left 13,000 dead.
Moscow, which is accused of backing the separatists fighting Kiev, has denied preparing an attack and accuses NATO of raising the temperature.“We have deep concerns about Russia’s plans for renewed aggression against Ukraine,” Blinken told Lavrov in talks on Thursday near Stockholm, warning of “serious consequences” if Russia “decides to pursue confrontation”. Striking a conciliatory note, Blinken said the US was ready to “facilitate” the “full implementation” of the Minsk peace accords. The Minsk deal was reached after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and aimed at resolving the conflict with pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine but never enforced. “The best way to avert a crisis is through diplomacy,” Blinken said. The US, Russia and Ukraine were all in Stockholm on Thursday for a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), one of the few international dialogue forums to which both the US and Russia belong. Speaking in the plenary session, Blinken called on Moscow to “de-escalate, reverse the recent troop build-up (and) return forces to normal peaceful positions.” Lavrov meanwhile warned that the “nightmare scenario of a military confrontation was returning” in Europe, accusing NATO of inching its military infrastructure closer to Russia’s borders. He reiterated his opposition to any NATO expansion eastward — including Ukraine — but said Russia was open to dialogue. “We are interested in joint efforts toward a resolution of the Ukraine crisis,” he said. Despite the cordial tone, the OSCE meeting took place amid spiking tensions. At a NATO meeting in the Latvian capital Riga on Wednesday, Blinken accused Russia of trying to “destabilise Ukraine from within as well as large scale military operations”. He said it was not known whether Russian President Vladimir Putin had decided to invade, but added: “We do know that he’s putting in place the capacity to do so on short order, should he so decide.” Blinken warned there would be “far-reaching and long-lasting consequences” for Moscow if it pushed ahead with any aggression, including “a range of high-impact economic measures that we’ve refrained from using in the past”. Blinken also held talks on Thursday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who said his country would “demonstrate restraint”. But he called on Kiev’s partners to “prepare a deterrence package” that would make Russia think twice before resorting to military force. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had said on Wednesday that Crimea was Ukrainian territory and Kiev’s goal was to “liberate” it. “We see this as a direct threat to Russia,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday. Outside the diplomatic forum, tensions continued on the ground on Thursday. A Ukrainian soldier was killed in clashes with pro-Russian separatists, Kiev said, while Moscow announced it had arrested three Ukrainian spies, including one it said had been planning a terrorist attack. The OSCE meeting was planned long in advance but comes at a crucial moment as tensions mount on numerous issues in Europe. In addition to Ukraine, other issues on the meeting’s agenda include the migrant crisis on the Belarus-EU border and the resurgence of clashes between OSCE members Armenia and Azerbaijan. The EU reached an agreement Wednesday on new sanctions against Belarus, and the US would follow suit soon, the US State Department said. The OSCE ministers’ plenary session is not expected to lead to the adoption of any major agreements, as unanimity is required. A planned resolution on Ukraine was scrapped because of a lack of consensus. NN: This is another wildcard event. If Russia does go into Ukraine it will be off to the races especially in oil. I have seen Russia amass troops in the past, Most often its little more then sabre rattling. 13,000 troops are not a big enough force for a all out invasion when you consider it will quickly suck NATO in the fray. BUT if Putin scenes NATO will stand aside AGAIN it will be rock and roll time. This is its bringing down the price on brides from the Ukraine according to people i know that watch that sort of thing.