October 19, 2022

*) Lafarge pleads guilty to supporting Daesh, agrees to pay $778M fine French cement maker Lafarge has pleaded guilty to a US charge that it made payments to groups designated as terrorists by the United States, including Daesh. The admission in Brooklyn federal court marked the first time a company has pleaded guilty in the US to charges of providing material support to a terrorist organisation. Lafarge acknowledged that it paid nearly 12.8 million dollars to middlemen to keep its Syrian cement factory running in 2013 and 2014. *) Biden to release 15 mln barrels from US oil reserves: official US President Joe Biden will announce Wednesday that he's putting the final 15 million barrels on the market from a record release of US strategic oil reserves. The new tranche of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will be completing the 180 million barrel release authorised in the spring. The US decision to release oil from its reserves came in response to price hikes linked to Russia's offensive in Ukraine, a senior US official said. *) Germany's cybersecurity chief sacked over links with Russian intelligence The head of Germany's national cybersecurity agency has been dismissed following reports of possible ties to Russian intelligence. The Interior Ministry said that the head of the BSI agency was dismissed following the allegations, which "damaged the necessary confidence of the public in the neutrality and impartiality" of his management. *) Pakistan backs Saudi Arabia after OPEC+ output cut riles US Pakistan has thrown its weight behind longtime ally Saudi Arabia amid an ongoing rift over global oil production cuts and the US threatening Riyadh with consequences. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said that in context of the OPEC Plus decision, Islamabad expresses solidarity with the leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Pakistan’s statement comes amid rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and the US, which had strongly opposed the proposed oil production cuts by the kingdom-led oil cartel. And fi