Qatar vows to stop EU gas sales if fined under due diligence law #Qatar will stop shipping #gas to the #EU if member states strictly enforce a new law cracking down on forced labour and environmental damage, Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times in an interview published on Sunday. The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, approved this year, requires larger companies operating in the European Union to check whether their supply chains use forced labour or cause environmental damage and to take action if they do. Penalties include fines of up to 5% of global turnover. "If the case is that I lose 5% of my generated revenue by going to Europe, I will not go to Europe. I’m not bluffing, Kaabi told the newspaper, adding that "5% of generated revenue of QatarEnergy means 5% of generated revenue of the Qatar state. This is the people's money, so I cannot lose that kind of money - and nobody would accept losing that kind of money." Kaabi, the chief executive of state-owned QatarEnergy, has said the EU should thoroughly review the due diligence law. He has also said that his Gulf country has no concerns about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's promise to lift a cap on liquefied natural gas exports. Qatar, among the world's top LNG exporters, is seeking to play a larger role in Asia and Europe as competition from top supplier the United Sates increases. It plans to expand its liquefaction capacity to 142 million tons per year by 2027 from 77 million.

Bitcoin value hits all-time high of $100,000, reports Binance platform data The #Bitcoin reached a historic milestone early on Thursday, surpassing the psychologically important threshold of $100,000, according to Binance platform’s trading data. The threshold was crossed at 2:33 a.m. GMT as the crypto currency gained 4.49% during trading. As of 2: 42 a.m. GMT the Bitcoin accelerated its growth, trading at $101,000 (+5.63%). According to analysts, there are several reasons behind the increase in cryptocurrency prices. The reasons particularly include US President-elect Donald #Trump’s ambitious plans to turn the United States into a global cryptocurrency hub and review the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s regulatory policies. Another reason why cryptocurrencies attract investors is because Bitcoin and Stablecoin are seen as potential defensive assets during geopolitical crises.

Jury Awards $12.6 Million to Woman Fired for Not Receiving COVID Vaccine A woman fired by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan over a #COVID-19 vaccination has been awarded more than $12 million in damages. A jury on Nov. 8 awarded Lisa Domski, a former employee of the company, $10 million in punitive damages. Jurors also awarded $1 million in non-economic damages, $1.375 million in front pay damages, and $315,000 in back pay damages. Jurors said that Blue Cross Blue Shield illegally discriminated against Domski when the company denied her request for an exemption and illegally terminated her over the lack of COVID-19 vaccination. “Clearly, the religious accommodation process was meant to stamp out religious beliefs of employees and promote COVID-19 vaccination within the company,” Noah S. Hurwitz, an attorney representing Domski, said. In a statement responding to the ruling, Blue Cross Blue Shield said: “While Blue Cross respects the jury process and thanks the individual jurors for their service, we are disappointed in the verdict. Blue Cross is reviewing its legal options and will determine its path forward in the coming days.”

Sending Western forces to Ukraine for combat off the table — French Defense Minister The discussion of the option to send Western troops to Ukraine does not involve sending forces for participation in combat action, French Minister of the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu told BFMTV. "Various hypotheses were discussed. But we are not talk about troops directly participating in hostilities," he noted. The minister reminded that French President Emmanuel Macron earlier ruled out France’s involvement in hostilities. "However, we are examining whether we have done everything we could to support Kiev and if there are paths that we can review. One such path is the military presence for demining and training of Ukrainian soldiers on the Ukrainian territory," Lecornu said. According to the minister, during the February 26 meeting on assistance for Ukraine in Paris, Western states reached a consensus on a number of issues regarding the aid for Kiev. "I will provide a specific example: producing and maintaining weapons on Ukrainian territory. This means presence of French and other European weapon makers," Lecornu said, adding that cyber protection of Ukraine was also discussed.

Let's review the recent strikes between pro-Iranian groups and the Israel Defense Forces. ▪️ In the past 24 hours, the Israelis have launched three strikes. They targeted positions of the Syrian Arab Army in the villages of Karfa and Izra in the province of Daraa. According to the Israelis, these positions were responsible for firing at IDF positions in the occupied part of the Golan Heights. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that there have been over 20 deaths in IDF strikes, including four officers. However, there is only confirmation of the death of one senior lieutenant of the SAA available online. ▪️ Today, the Israelis once again targeted the international airport of Aleppo, disrupting logistics processes in northern Syria. These attacks do not seem to bother the pro-Iranian formations. In fact, by leaking false information to the Israelis and provoking attacks, the Iranians are fueling hatred towards Israel among the Syrians. ▪️ From the Iraqi side, pro-Iranian formations fired at the positions of the US Armed Forces in the village of Khurab al-Jair in the Hasakah province. There is no information available about the results of this attack, but it affects the logistics route of the International Coalition in the Syrian Trans-Euphrates region. ▪️ In one of the attacks on the American airbase at Ain al-Assad in Iraq, one US military personnel was killed and over 20 were injured. 🔻Overall, the pro-Iranian formations are maintaining a certain level of confrontation. Sometimes, such actions bring success, as seen in the attack on Ain al-Assad. However, these approaches are not yet capable of achieving systemic results. It is not the goal of the pro-Iranian formations to initiate such work. Nevertheless, they are engaging in partisan activity, taking into account media exaggerations, at the required level for now.