Breaking News, 17th of October, 2018

Venezuela stopped its trade in dollars on the foreign exchange market because of the US sanctions, Interfax reported while citing ABC News. Vice President of Venezuela, Tareck El Aissami, announced that instead of the dollars — the country will use the euro, yuan and other currencies. It was noted that the government plans to invest two billions of euros in the economy just so the residents will have an opportunity to import goods. Tareck El Aissami also noted that the sanctions, imposed by the United States, had a negative impact on the private sectors of the economy, including agricultural and pharmaceutical sectors.

In response to the recent rocket attacks of the Palestinian militants, Israel announced the closure of all checkpoints on the borderline with the Gaza Strip, and the reduction of the fishing zone in the Mediterranean Sea, near the enclave, down to three nautical miles. Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered the closure of the »Erez» checkpoint, which was used for the passage of people, and the »Kerem Shalom» checkpoint, which was used for cargo traffic. He also proposed to reduce the fishing zone of the Gaza Strip down to three nautical miles, TASS reports. Meanwhile, the alarm sirens warned the residents of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, located in the in southern Israel, about possible rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.

An explosion occurred in a college in the city of Kerch. 10 people died, about 40 more were injured. According to the preliminary information — it was an explosion of a gas tank. This was reported by a representative of emergency services. Eyewitnesses report on the video, posted on the social network website ‘VKontakte’, that the explosion occurred in the mess hall. Ambulance teams and Emergency workers are currently working at the location.

Reporters of ANNA NEWS report from Syria: the patrolling the DMZ in the Syrian province of Idlib was temporarily postponed by the request of Turkey. «Turkey asked to postpone the start of the joint patrols in Idlib for some time. The Russian side was fully ready to start the patrols» — the reporters reported. According to them — the Turkish side spoke about security conditions, which so far can’t be fully guaranteed. “We don’t know when the patrolling will start. Perhaps in the coming days” — the reporters added.

The United States plan to destroy the DPR and the LPR. Kurt Walker, the special envoy of the US State Department for Ukraine, spoke negatively about the proposal of Moscow to create a UN mission to protect the international observers currently working in the conflict zone in Donbass. The Russian diplomats stated in their response that the goal of Kurt Walker’s activity is the destruction of the Minsk agreements. It was noted that the behavior of the representative of the State Department confirms that Washington plans to destroy the DPR and the LPR.

Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, believes that the diplomatic immunity should be lifted from the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in order to investigate the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has already arrived in Riyadh to discuss with the King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey. Jamal Khashoggi, an American newspaper columnist for »The Washington Post», disappeared in Turkey on 2nd of October.

Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.