Europe

MOSCOW, January 14. / TASS /: The ruble in 2021 will strengthen to a fundamentally justified level of 65-70 rubles per US dollar, according to the forecast by the new economic survey of Credit Suisse released on Thursday.

MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/: Russia confirmed 24,763 new coronavirus cases in the past day, bringing the total caseload to 3,495,816, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Thursday.

This is a new high since January 2 when 26,301 cases were recorded.

The lowest growth rates were recorded in the past day in the Tuva Republic (0.2%), the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, the Jewish Autonomous Region, the Kostroma Region (0.3%) and the Magadan Region (0.4%).

The average growth rate stood at 0.7%.

14 Jan 2021; MEMO: The US' recent claims about Iran becoming a "safe haven" for Al-Qaeda are "baseless", Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zamir Kabulov asserted on Tuesday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped on Thursday as bullish signals from Chinese import data and U.S. crude oil stocks draws were outweighed by surging coronavirus cases in Europe and new lockdowns in China.

Brent crude oil futures fell 36 cents to $55.70 a barrel by 0917 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) dropped 26 cents to $52.65.

Brent’s six-month backwardation, whereby contracts for later delivery are cheaper, fell to its lowest since Jan. 5, indicating bullish sentiment easing.

PARIS (Reuters) - French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Thursday that resolving transatlantic trade sanctions were his priority for dealings with the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden.

“These sanctions are very detrimental. A trade war is not in the interests of the U.S. and not in the interest of Europe,” Le Maire said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference.

Le Maire said he had received no “initial signals” from the incoming administration and that he hoped to visit Washington in February.

PARIS (Reuters) - Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Thursday said a growth forecast of 6% for France’s economy in 2021 remained within reach and that he was confident of a strong recovery by the end of the year.

“I am really quite confident that the second part of 2021 will be good for the French economy,” Le Maire said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference.

But he cautioned: “We have to remain humble and cautious because we have been fooled by the virus many times.”

TALLINN, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas on Wednesday submitted his resignation to Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid.

"Today, I made a decision to resign as Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia in the current situation," Ratas said in a Facebook post.

"This decision was made in consultations with the board of the Estonian Center Party and the Riigikogu (parliament) faction, as well as with the closest colleagues," said Ratas, who is also the chairman of the party.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said a lot of nice things about Donald Trump over the years, from expressing admiration for the U.S. president to suggesting he might be worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.

But after a mob of Trump supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, Johnson has changed his tune.

Trump, he said, had encouraged the violent insurrection, had disputed the result of a “free and fair election,” and was “completely wrong.”

MOSCOW, January 13. /TASS/: Russia has never said the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement must be confined to the return of seven districts of the region to Azerbaijan without taking care of its status, the Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, special ambassador Igor Popov said in the wake of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s article Origins of the 44-Day War.

"Claims to the effect Russia called for returning seven districts ‘in exchange for nothing’ and forgetting about its status have nothing to do with the reality," the diplomat said.

MOSCOW, January 13. /TASS/: At least 31 people were killed in airstrikes carried out by Israel in eastern Syria, Al Arabiya TV channel reported on Wednesday citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based NGO.

Earlier reports said 23 people died.

According to the NGO, the Israeli Defense Forces launched a series of airstrikes early on Wednesday on weapons depots and Syrian military positions in the outskirts of Deir ez-Zor and Al-Bukamal near the Syrian-Iraqi border.