Situation Reports

China’s exports grew by 18.1 percent year-on-year in U.S. dollar terms in December, Bloomberg reported Jan. 13.

The U.S. State Department has designated Egypt’s Hasm movement as a foreign terrorist organization and said that two of the group’s leaders were in Turkey, Egypt Today reported Jan. 15.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul that he hoped “positive steps will be taken” regarding Turkey’s participation in the F-35 program once U.S. President-Elect Joe Biden takes office, Reuters reported Jan. 15. 

The Russian government announced that it was beginning the procedure to withdraw from the international Open Skies Treaty, which permits aerial surveillance flights over military sites in three dozen participating countries, Reuters reported Jan. 15. 

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s government submitted its collective resignation after a report unveiled that Dutch tax authorities had wrongly accused families of fraud over childcare subsidies, NL Times reported Jan. 15

New imagery indicates Iran may have sent advanced Shahed-136 drones, which have an alleged range of roughly 1,300 miles (or 2,100 kilometers), to the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Newsweek reported Jan. 13. 

Chile’s central bank announced that it plans to buy $40 million a day for more than a year until its holdings reach 18% of GDP, MecroPress reported Jan. 14.

Hong Kong police have arrested 11 individuals suspected of trying to help 12 Hong Kongers flee to Taiwan to escape charges related to the 2019 protests, Reuters reported Jan. 14.

Following their second out of trilateral talks in Islamabad, the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Pakistan declared their intent to cooperate on combatting global issues such as terrorism, drug trafficking, Islamophobia and the discrimination of Muslim minorities, Dawn reported Jan. 14. 

The U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security has added the state-owned Chinese National Overseas Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to its entities list, citing the company's involvement in China's moves to enforce its sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea by harassing Vietnam and other countries’ offshore energy exploration activities in the region, according to a Jan. 14 press release.