Mladic, who was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war, died last week in a U.N. detention facility in The Hague aged 84

International News via Reuters:

A Serbian government plane brought the body of former army commander Ratko Mladic, who died last week serving a life sentence for war crimes, back to Belgrade on Thursday for what is expected to be a huge funeral.

Mladic, who was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war, died last week in a U.N. detention facility in The Hague aged 84.

The plane landed at Belgrade airport minutes before 6 p.m. (1600 GMT) carrying his coffin, which was wrapped in a Serbian flag, along with Mladic’s son, granddaughter and Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujic.

Serbian soldiers carried the coffin to a red van which Serbian media said would take it to a military hospital where the autopsy will be conducted over the weekend.

PRESIDENT SAYS TENS OF THOUSANDS ARE EXPECTED AT HIS FUNERAL

A Serbian government minister said initially that Mladic would be given a state funeral but, following an outcry by European leaders, the government has not confirmed that.

Serbian media said a commemoration ceremony will take place on Saturday in the army hall in central Belgrade and the funeral will be held in a church in a Belgrade suburb on Monday, with Mladic then buried at a cemetery beside his daughter.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday that he expected tens of thousands of people to attend the funeral and that it would be a challenge to provide security.

Mladic was found guilty by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), of genocide for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which about 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were killed after Bosnian Serb forces overran the U.N.-designated enclave.

He was also convicted over the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, during which about 10,000 people were killed.

However, he remained a revered figure among many Serbs in Serbia and in Bosnia’s autonomous Serb Republic.

His death stirred tensions in the region, with officials warning that a state funeral would put Serbia’s prospects of joining the European Union at risk.

“The glorification of Ratko Mladić as a war criminal is against fundamental European values ​​and has no place in the European Union or in the countries that aspire to become members of the Union,” EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos said on Tuesday.

“I hope that the government in Belgrade is aware of what is at stake.”

Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic put it more bluntly, saying that if “Serbia was to organise a state funeral for Mladic it would close the door to the European Union”.

The Hague-based U.N. mechanism that deals with residual cases from the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal is investigating the circumstances of Mladic’s death, a regular procedure when inmates die at the U.N. detention unit in The Hague. It is not yet clear when the results will be made public.

Mladic, who had suffered health problem for years, had been treated in the prison hospital before his death. His relatives, and Russia, had criticised his treatment. The U.N. war crimes court said his health was fragile but well managed.

Reporting by Ivana Sekularac; Additional reporting by Stephanie Van Den Berg; editing by Philippa Fletcher

Brent crude futures were up 15 cents, or 0.16%, at $95.78 a barrel by 1:00 p.m. ET (1700 GMT) while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 63 cents, or 0.69%, to $91.64

International News via Reuters:

Oil prices rose on Thursday after U.S. strikes on Iran and renewed Israeli threats against Tehran revived concerns about disruption to Middle East supplies, while comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin signalling openness to peace negotiations limited the gains.

Brent crude futures were up 15 cents, or 0.16%, at $95.78 a barrel by 1:00 p.m. ET (1700 GMT) while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 63 cents, or 0.69%, to $91.64. Both contracts were heading for their fourth day of gains and hit six-week highs earlier in the session.

Iran’s health minister said 18 people were killed and 108 wounded in Tuesday night’s U.S. strikes across Iran. The Iranian Red Crescent said four people were killed and 67 wounded at a wedding ceremony near the coast of the Strait of Hormuz. 

Three Iranian Army pilots were killed in the U.S. strikes, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

The attacks were the most substantial exchange of fire between the United States and Iran since July. The war, which began with U.S.-Israeli strikes at the end of February, is in its seventh month.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz renewed warnings that Israel would “cripple” Iran’s military and civilian infrastructure, including energy facilities, if Tehran launched attacks against it.

Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen said Katz’s comments had helped to push oil prices higher.

Comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin indicating openness to peace negotiations with Ukraine could help ease concerns about Russian fuel supply disruptions if attacks on refineries decline and production normalizes, a factor pressuring prices on Thursday, said Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group.

Putin said on Thursday there was a chance of reaching an agreement to end the war in Ukraine. Speaking at an economic forum in Russia’s far east, he said a number of countries including the U.S. and China were ready to support a peace settlement.

FEWER VESSELS TRANSIT STRAIT

Six commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, down from 11 a day earlier and well below the 10-day average of around 13, preliminary shipping data showed on Thursday.

“The oil market remains tight, with oil inventories still declining globally translating into higher prices,” said UBS energy analyst Giovanni Staunovo.

Meanwhile, Iran added ships to the list of vessels it deems non-compliant and subject to fines, confiscation or detention if they try to sail through the strait. 

Iraqi vessels are among those Iran has allowed to pass through Hormuz.

Iraq increased its oil exports to around 2.34 million barrels per day in August from about 1.35 million bpd in July, two Iraqi energy officials said on Wednesday, with September exports also expected to increase as heavy discounts and Iranian approvals for Iraqi tankers encouraged buyers.

Higher oil prices and the implications for inflation led to increased bets on a Federal Reserve interest rate hike this month. [MKTS/GLOB]

Reporting by Nicole Jao in New York and Shadia Nasralla in London; Additional reporting by Sam Li and Colleen Howe; Editing by Susan Fenton and Barbara Lewis, Kirsten Donovan

The Commission, which acts as the European Union’s competition enforcer, considers a company to be dominant if it has a more than 40% share of the market

International News via Reuters:

Companies at risk of penalties for being anti-competitive may be able to justify their dominance if their business practices are sustainable, EU regulators said on Thursday in revised guidelines.

The Commission, which acts as the European Union’s competition enforcer, considers a company to be dominant if it has a more than 40% share of the market.

Using that dominance to squeeze rivals could be acceptable, the Commission said on Thursday, if it ensures reduced use of raw materials, produces less pollution or leads to increased use of recyclable products and makes supply chains more resilient.

Enabling cost-savings for consumers would also be taken into consideration, according to the revised EU antitrust guidelines.

They relate to Article 102, one of the European Commission’s most powerful tools that has resulted in hefty fines for Apple, Google and Microsoft in recent years after EU authorities found they had used  their market power to thwart rivals.

The revised guidelines also aim to help companies assess whether they are dominant and, if so, in which markets.

Academics and other analysts were critical of the new approach.

A group of 28 leading academics and economists including former senior Commission economists in a joint open letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera said the rules could be exploited to justify unfair dominance.

The guidelines “introduce presumptions and analytical shortcuts that do not distinguish appropriately between anti-competitive conduct and pro-competitive conduct that reflects business acumen, superior skill, or efficiency by dominant firms,” the letter said. 

Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Barbara Lewis

Officials said the vessel, the Professor Molchanov, was seized late on Wednesday in Barentsburg, a coal mining settlement that Russia operates on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the terms of a 1920 treaty

International News via Reuters:

Norwegian authorities have seized a Russian cruise ship in the Arctic on behalf of Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz, which is seeking to enforce a $4.22 billion compensation award for assets that Moscow took when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

Officials said the vessel, the Professor Molchanov, was seized late on Wednesday in Barentsburg, a coal mining settlement that Russia operates on the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the terms of a 1920 treaty.

Russia called the arrest of the ship an act of piracy and said it had summoned the Norwegian ambassador to deliver a strong protest. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it would work to secure the vessel’s release.

“Amid the restrictive measures imposed by Norway against Russia on Svalbard – measures that violate international law – Russian organizations and citizens operating on the archipelago are effectively under blockade,” it said, accusing Norway of violating the treaty.

Norway said it would propose ways for crew members, passengers and others to travel home if they want to.

“We are in a dialogue with the Barentsburg leadership and are ready to find ways to safely return people to Russia,” Svalbard Governor Lars Fause told broadcaster TV2.

The conflict over the vessel itself is a matter between Naftogaz and Russia and does not involve the Oslo government, Norway’s justice ministry said.

NAFTOGAZ FIGHTS LONG LEGAL BATTLE WITH RUSSIA

Naftogaz has been pursuing Russia since 2016 to seek compensation for the expropriation of its property in Crimea. An arbitration court in The Hague ordered Russia in April 2023 to pay Naftogaz $4.22 billion plus interest and legal costs.

Russia has said it does not recognise the court’s jurisdiction in this case and that it is not going to pay.

“Russia cannot evade responsibility simply by refusing to comply with an international arbitral award,” said Naftogaz acting CEO Sergii Fedorenko.

The 71-metre (233-foot) Professor Molchanov, built in Finland in 1982, can carry 32 crew and 52 passengers and has a library, sauna, bar and two restaurants, according to the Cruisemapper website. It is used for scientific expeditions and commercial cruises.

The ship arrived on Tuesday in Barentsburg with a party of Russian scientists, according to a journalist who was accompanying them, who did not say how many people were on board.

Andrei Gorbunov, editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP) radio, said the ship had docked without incident and the expedition members had headed ashore. News did not emerge until Wednesday evening that the ship had been seized.

“No one has been arrested. We are all going about our business as usual,” Gorbunov wrote on KP’s website. “For the time being, the Professor Molchanov is simply forbidden from leaving the port of Barentsburg.”

Clovis Trevino, a partner at U.S. law firm Covington which is representing Naftogaz, said she expected Russia to fight the arrest in court.

“So we need to win another legal battle to be able to auction the vessel and get the money for our clients, which is the ultimate goal,” she told Reuters.

Trevino said Covington and its Norwegian counterpart Wikborg Rein had been monitoring the ship for months. Its likely value is only a small fraction of the total amount owed to Naftogaz, which she said now totals around $6 billion including costs and interest.

But she called its seizure a “very meaningful win”.

The seizure was ordered on Monday by a district court which required the governor of Svalbard to ensure that the ship is not moved.

“Russia can demand that the district court reassess the case,” the Norwegian Justice Ministry said.

Naftogaz said it would continue to pursue Russian assets around the world until the compensation is paid. It has listed several jurisdictions, including the U.S., France and Britain as well as Finland, where Russian assets have been frozen. Russia is appealing, saying it was given no notice.

Svalbard, a Norwegian territory since 1925, lies midway between the North Pole and the European mainland and is governed under a 1920 treaty that also allows citizens of signatory states, including Russia, to settle there without a visa.

Barentsburg is one of two Russian settlements on Svalbard which have a combined 392 residents out of a total population of 2,914, according to Statistics Norway.

Reporting by Terje Solsvik in Oslo, Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv and Mark Trevelyan in London; additional reporting by Gwladys Fouche and Maxim Rodionov; editing by Philippa Fletcher