Panama’s Foreign Minister, Fernando Nunez Fabrega, announced today that the government of North Korea has agreed to pay a $667 million thousand fine to free the sailors and the North Korean ship, Chong Chon Gang which has been detained since July of last year.
The fine, which was initally set at $1 million, was imposed by the Panama Canal Authority when the ship was found to be carrying “war materials” which are prohibited by United Nations (UN) resolutions. The fine will be paid next week according to a statement by Minister Fabrega.
Fabrega notes that 32 of the 35 crew will leave the country immediately, however the remaining crew members “must answer charges of ‘acting against collective security.'”
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The prospect of a deal over Iran’s nuclear program saw oil fall sharply on Thursday. The reality is that Tehran has relatively little extra crude that it can bring back — but it could arrive in a market that’s gearing up for surplus.
Estonia said on Thursday that Moscow had briefly sent a fighter jet into NATO airspace over the Baltic Sea during an attempt to stop a Russian-bound oil tanker thought to be part of a "shadow fleet" defying Western sanctions on Moscow.
China’s widening trade surplus with the European Union is fueling fresh concerns that the 27-nation bloc risks becoming a dumping ground for cheap goods in the volatile tariff confrontation between Washington and Beijing.
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