1. Intermediate- Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty
• Russia has confirmed that the United States of America has decided to cancel the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed between Russian and the USA in 1987.
• The USA had already announced the withdrawal decision from the INF treaty in October 2018.
• The United States first alleged in its July 2014 Compliance Report that Russia is in violation of its INF Treaty obligations “not to possess, produce, or flight-test” a ground-launched cruise missile having a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers or “to possess or produce launchers of such missiles.”
• Subsequent State Department assessments in 2015, 2016, and 2017 repeated these allegations.
• Russia denies that it is in violation of the agreement. On December 8, 2017, the Trump administration released a strategy to counter alleged Russian violations of the Treaty.
• The 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty required the United States and the Soviet Union to eliminate and permanently forswear all of their nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers.
• The treaty marked the first time the superpowers had agreed to reduce their nuclear arsenals, eliminate an entire category of nuclear weapons, and utilize extensive on-site inspections for verification.
• As a result of the INF Treaty, the United States and the Soviet Union destroyed a total of 2,692 short-, medium-, and intermediate-range missiles by the treaty’s implementation deadline of June 1, 1991.
• Despite its name, the INF Treaty covers all types of ground-launched cruise and ballistic missiles — whether their payload is conventional or nuclear. Moscow and Washington are prohibited from deploying these missiles anywhere in the world, not just in Europe. However, the treaty applies only to ground-launched systems. Both sides are free to deploy air- and sea-launched missiles within the 500-to-5,500-kilometer range.
2. New peace agreement on Yemen
• Yemen’s warring parties have agreed to an immediate ceasefire in the Red Sea port of Hodeidah in a potential breakthrough at the end of a week of peace talks in Sweden.
• The agreement includes the future deployment of UN-supervised neutral forces and the establishment of humanitarian corridors.
• Troops from both sides will withdraw from the entire Hodeidah area within a maximum of 21 days in a process overseen by a UN-chaired committee.
• The ceasefire between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi in the port city of Hodeida came into existence on December 18.
• The agreement was reached in UN-mediated talks held in Stockholm earlier this month. At the time of the negotiations, the city was almost in the hands of the Saudi-led coalition.
• The coalition had blockaded the port, the main conduit for humanitarian aid to enter Yemen, for months, and the fighters, mostly UAE soldiers, were battling the rebels.
3. Trade talks with US planned for January: China
• China`s Commerce Ministry Spokesman, Gao Feng confirmed that Beijing and Washington intended to conduct trade negotiations in January.
• He further said, the two sides working groups were in close contact. Gao added that the countries would hold meetings and arrange phone talks to implement the agreements reached by the two countries leaders.
• On December 18, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the United States and China would organize trade negotiations in January. According to Mnuchin, both sides are trying to deliver an agreement by March 1.
• Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina where they agreed to call a truce in their escalating trade war.
4. Sri Lanka: 28 Cabinet Ministers sworn
• In Sri Lanka, a total of 28 cabinet ministers were sworn in. President Maithripala Sirisena administered oath of office to the ministers.
• The swearing in comes after leader of United National Party (UNP) Ranil Wickremsinghe took over as Prime minister on Sunday. Most of the ministers who were there in Wickremsinghe government before October 26 have retained their portfolios.
• Mr. Thilak Marapana is the foreign minister while Mr. Mangala Samarweera retained the finance portfolio. Mr. Wickremsinghe has kept with himself the portfolio of national policies, economic affairs, resettlement and rehabilitation and northern development.
5. U.S. charges 2 hackers with alleged Chinese intelligence ties
• U.S. officials said two alleged Chinese hackers carried out an extensive campaign on behalf of Beijing’s main intelligence agency to steal trade secrets and other information from government agencies and “a who’s who” of major corporations in the United States and nearly a dozen other nations.
• The indictment is the latest in a series of Justice Department criminal cases targeting Chinese cyberespionage and coincided with an announcement by Britain blaming China’s Ministry of State Security for trade-secret pilfering affecting Western nations.
• The alleged hackers, one of whom is nicknamed “Godkiller,” are accused of breaching computer networks beginning as early as 2006 in a range of industries, including aviation and space, finance, biotechnology oil and gas, satellites and pharmaceuticals. Prosecutors say they also obtained the names, Social Security numbers and other personal information of more than 100,000 Navy personnel.
6. President Donald Trump to attend World Economic Forum in Davos
• White House has said President Donald Trump will attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland next month.
• White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said at a press briefing in Washington that a delegation led by U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin would travel with the president to the annual talks held at a Swiss ski resort.
• Trump`s daughter Ivanka will also participate as part of the US delegation. Jared Kushner, Trump`s advisor and son-in-law, along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross are among the members of the delegation.
• It will be the second time that the Republican president would attend Davos, after taking his "America First" agenda to the global business elite last year. The WEF Annual Meeting will take place in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland from January 22 to 25 in 2019.
7. Salome Zurabishvili is Georgia’s first female president
• With this, the country has transformed itself into a parliamentary republic with a largely ceremonial president.
• It is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia.
• Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan.
• Paris-born Zurabishvili won a run-off vote last month with 59.6 percent of the ballot, according to the Central Election Commission. Turnout was 56.23 percent.
• Georgia signed an association agreement with the EU in 2014 as part of its efforts to diversify economic ties.
8. New Zealand to phase out plastic shopping bags
• In New Zealand, regulations for mandatory phase-out of single-use plastic shopping bags will take effect from July 1, 2019.
• Retailers will no longer be able to sell or give away single-use plastic shopping bags from July next year after the cabinet agreed to the proposed regulations for a mandatory nationwide phase-out of these bags.
• Associate Minister for the Environment Eugenie Sage has said that plastic shopping bags are a hazard for nature, particularly marine wildlife. They can also introduce harmful microplastics into the food chain.
• These regulations are an important first step to tackle New Zealand`s wider waste problem, she said, adding that manufacturers, retailers and consumers all have a responsibility to reduce waste and prevent plastic pollution.
• New Zealand has recently become a signatory to the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, a global pledge to address the root causes of plastic pollution.
9. Germany to compensate hundreds who fled Nazis as children
• Germany has agreed to one-time payments for survivors, primarily Jews, who were evacuated from Nazi Germany as children, many of whom never saw their parents again.
• The New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany said the German government has agreed to payments of 2,800 US Dollars to those still alive from among the 10,000 people who fled on the Kinder transport.
• This year is the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the transport of the children to Britain from Nazi Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
• Claims Conference negotiator Greg Schneider said about 1,000 survivors are thought to be alive today, with about half living in Britain, and the payment is seen as a symbolic recognition of their suffering.
• In all, about 10,000 children from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland were taken to Britain, about 7,500 of whom were Jewish.
• In 2019, the Claims Conference will distribute approximately 350 million US Dollar indirect compensation to more than 60,000 survivors in 83 countries.
10. US conducts 6 airstrikes against Somalia extremists, 62 killed
• In Somalia, 62 extremists from the al-Shabab rebel group were killed after the United States military`s Africa Command carried out six airstrikes in the Gandarshe coast area.
• The US military said, all strikes were carried out in close coordination with Somalia`s government.
• The airstrikes were conducted to prevent al-Shabab from using remote areas as a safe haven to the plot, direct, inspire, and recruit for future attacks.
11. Nigerian military lifts ban on UNICEF operations in ravaged northeast
• The Nigerian military has lifted a ban on UNICEF operations in the ravaged northeast.
• Earlier it had suspended the aid agency and accusing it of training spies supporting Boko Haram jihadists.
• After a meeting between the military and the United Nations children`s agency late Friday, army spokesman Onyema Nwachukwu said the ban was revoked following an intervention by well-meaning and concerned Nigerians.
• Boko Haram`s insurgency has killed more than 27,000 people since in 2009 in the country.
• The Nigerian army has accused UNICEF of `aiding Boko Haram`.