Strong explosions in Al-Quneitra

1 Syria

The Syrian state-owned TV channel Al-Ekhbariya reported that on Tuesday night, strong explosions took place in the Syrian province of Al-Quneitra, 40 kilometers south from the Syrian capital. The TV channel later reported that the explosions, heard in Quneitra, actually took place on the Golan Heights. No other details were reported.

2 Libya — Egypt

The commander of the Libyan National Army, Khalifa Haftar, went to Cairo to discuss with the Egyptian leaders a possible escalation of the conflict by the pro-government groups that support the Government of National Accord — the ’TASS’ reports while citing a source in the command of the LNA. Haftar’s aides have previously stated on several occasions that they continue to monitor the Turkish actions that support the GNA based on their memorandum of military cooperation. It was noted that they have information that Turkey is transferring additional mercenaries and military equipment to the Al-Vatia airbase, 100 km south-west of Tripoli. Earlier, the LNA forces, stationed in the Sirte region, announced an increase of their combat readiness due to the ’’influx of the Turkish military reinforcements into western Libya», as well as the mobilization of the mercenaries in various areas.

3 Turkey — Hungary — The EU

The Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that Turkey wants to improve their relations with the EU, with a plan for a full EU membership for Turkey. Cavusoglu said so during a press conference after the negotiations with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations of Hungary, Peter Siyarto. Cavusoglu underlined that the problems between the EU and Turkey «can only be solved via a dialogue and diplomacy». He added that Athens stopped the participation in the negotiations with Ankara, within NATO, on the situation in the Mediterranean Sea.

4 China — the USA

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, stated during a briefing that the Chinese government will announce tough counter-measures in a response to the US sanctions against 14 Chinese parliamentarians. She didn’t specify the nature of the counter-measures. Hua Chunying called on the USA to stop «interfering in the Chinese internal affairs, and stop walking that risky and erroneous path». On Monday, the USA added 14 members of the leadership of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress to the Hong Kong sanctions list. All the sanctioned persons are deputy chairmen of the committee. The US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo stated that the US State Department also imposed their own sanctions against those persons.

5 Russia — Iran

The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, stated that the Iranian intention to launch 3 cascades of the improved centrifuges ’IR-2M’ in the underground uranium enrichment plant in Natanz isn’t a positive step, given the difficult situation with the Iranian nuclear program. He reminded that it isn’t the first case of a leak of the secret documents of the IAEA secretariat. «This creates questions, at least in the matter of ensuring of the confidentiality of the correspondence in the agency. We have questions about this matter» — Ryabkov underlined, and noted that in order to increase the chances to keep the JCPOA — all parties are required to show some restraint and responsibility. On 4th of December the Reuters reported while citing an IAEA report, that the Iranian authorities intend to launch 3 additional cascades of improved centrifuges ’IR-2A’ in the underground uranium enrichment plant in Natanz.

6 India

Over the past 3 days, more than 500 people have been hospitalized in the city of Eluru, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, in south of India. A panic-causing outbreak of an unknown disease has been reported in the region. «By Monday evening, 476 people were taken to the hospital. 332 of them were later discharged. 125 patients are being treated in our hospital, 18 more were admitted to the hospitals in Vijayawada and Guntur» — the «Times of India» quoted the head of the governmental hospital of Eluru, Dr. Mohan. A number of media outlets reported that since the weekend, more than 800 people have complained about poor health in the city of Eluru and nearby areas. Earlier the Indian Ministry of Health sent a group of 3 experts to Eluru, including a virologist. According to «The News Minute» — the experts suspect that the cause of the disease could be the organochlorine substances, which are used on a large scale to control the population of mosquitoes that carry malaria and Dengue fever. Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.