EUR/USD
1.17386
0.003%
Gold
4299.39
0.458%
Oil
57.266
-0.824%
USD/JPY
155.873
0.202%
GBP/USD
1.33658
-0.150%
GBP/JPY
208.340
0.053%
Real-time News
On December 13, the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius (the capital of the Republic of Lithuania) announced that Belarus had released 123 prisoners following a meeting between U.S. Special Envoy Cole and Belarusian President Lukashenko, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialyatsky. The released prisoners, who were transferred to Lithuania, included Belarusian citizens, U.S. citizens, and citizens of other countries. The U.S. will continue diplomatic efforts to release the remaining political prisoners in Belarus. The embassy stated that the U.S. is prepared to engage with Belarus in a manner consistent with U.S. interests.The Belarusian Presidential Palace announced that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has pardoned 123 prisoners in connection with an agreement reached with the United States. Those pardoned include individuals convicted of terrorism, extremism, and espionage.According to Belarusian opposition media: Belarusian authorities have released Belarusian opposition politician Maria Kolesnikova.Two Syrian local officials said that a joint US-Syrian military patrol was attacked by unidentified attackers in central Syria.December 13th - According to Japans Jiji Press, Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama essentially expressed her approval of the Bank of Japans expected interest rate hike on Saturday. Speaking in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, she stated, "There are no major disagreements between us and the Bank of Japan. Given the continued circulation of related reports, I felt it necessary to make a clear statement." Previous media reports indicated that the Bank of Japan might raise its policy rate from the current approximately 0.5% to approximately 0.75% at its two-day monetary policy meeting ending next Friday.
