VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

FILE PHOTO: Petroleum pump jacks are pictured in the Kern River oil field in Bakersfield, California November 9, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Alcorn - 

Oil prices were mixed on Monday, with Brent edging up while U.S. crude futures slipped after airlines called off thousands of flights in the United States over Christmas holidays amid surging COVID-19 infections.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 41 cents, or 0.6per cent, to US$73.38 a barrel by 0053 GMT. The contract did not trade on Friday because U.S. markets were closed for the Christmas holiday.

Brent crude rose 40 cents, or 0.5per cent, to US$76.54 a barrel after settling down 0.92per cent on Friday.

Both contracts jumped 3per cent to 4per cent last week after early data suggested that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 may cause a milder level of illness.

However, the highly transmissible variant is causing COVID-19 case numbers to surge across the world.

In the past three days, thousands of passengers travelling during Christmas have been stranded after U.S. airlines cancelled flights due to COVID-related staffing shortages.

In Europe, natural gas prices touched record highs last week on tight supplies, supporting Brent crude prices.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the European Union can only blame its own policies for record gas prices, saying some of its members resell cheap Russian gas at much higher prices within the bloc.

Looking ahead, oil investors are focused on the next OPEC+ meeting on Jan. 4.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC and allies including Russia, known as OPEC+, will meet to decide whether to go ahead with a 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) production increase in February.

Russia believes oil prices are unlikely to change significantly next year with demand recovering to pre-pandemic levels only by the end of 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday//CNA

A medical worker stands in front of ambulance for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Pristina, Kosovo, on Mar 16, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS/Laura Hasani) - 

Kosovo's health ministry said on Sunday it had registered its first nine cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in the Balkan country.

The ministry said that out of 22 people who tested positive to COVID-19 in the past 10 days, nine had been identified as Omicron variant.

The ministry said that out of the nine, two people came from the United States, two from the UK, one from France and four other cases were Kosovars who have not travelled outside the country.

The ministry added that “the Omicron variant is expected to worsen the epidemiologic situation in the country.”

Kosovo has seen a relatively calm period in the past weeks with only 12 positive cases and one death on Sunday//CNA

Travellers wait for their luggage at Changi Airport in Singapore. (File photo: iStock) - 

Singapore has lifted its ban on passengers from 10 African countries from entering or transiting in the country, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said late on Sunday (Dec 26).

The countries are: Botswana, Eswatini, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

From 11.59pm on Sunday, passengers arriving in Singapore with travel history to these countries within the past 14 days will come under the country's Category IV border measures.

This means they must take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within two days before departure to Singapore, as well as an on-arrival PCR test. They will also have to serve a 10-day stay-home notice at a dedicated facility. Another PCR test will be administered at the end of their quarantine period. 

Previously, long-term pass holders and short-term visitors with recent travel history to these African countries were not allowed to enter or transit following initial reports on Omicron cases there. Singapore citizens and permanent residents returning from these countries would have to serve a 10-day stay-home notice at a dedicated facility.

MOH said it initially addoped a "more cautious risk containment approach" to reduce the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant into Singapore. 

"The Omicron variant has since spread widely around the world," it said, adding that Singapore is updating its travel restrictions accordingly. 

"As the global situation evolves, we will continue to adjust our border measures in tandem with our roadmap to becoming a COVID-resilient nation."//CNA

The Russian flag is seen through barbed wire as it flies on the roof of the Russian embassy in Kiev, Ukraine, on Mar 26, 2018. (Photo: REUTERS/Gleb Garanich) - 

Russia has received a NATO proposal to commence talks on Moscow's security concerns on Jan. 12 and is considering it, TASS news agency quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying on Sunday (Dec 26).

Russia, which has unnerved the West with a troop buildup near Ukraine, last week unveiled a wish list of security proposals it wants to negotiate, including a promise NATO would give up any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine.

"We have already received this (NATO) offer, and we are considering it," TASS quoted the foreign ministry as saying.

The United States and Ukraine say Russia may be preparing an invasion of its ex-Soviet neighbour. Russia denies that and says it is Ukraine's growing relationship with NATO that has caused the standoff to escalate. It has compared it to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, when the world came to the brink of nuclear war.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Russia wanted to avoid conflict but needed an "immediate" response from the United States and its allies to its demands for security guarantees. Moscow has said it expects talks with US officials on the subject to start in January in Geneva.

US President Joe Biden's administration has said some of Russia's security proposals are obviously unacceptable, but that Washington will respond with more concrete ideas on the format of any talks.

In an interview on CBS' Face The Nation television show, Vice President Kamala Harris said Washington has been in direct conversations with Moscow about the issue and reiterated the US commitment to Ukraine's territorial integrity.

"We've been very clear that we are prepared to issue sanctions like you've not seen before," Harris said, but declined to elaborate on the specifics of the sanctions.

The United States, the European Union and the Group of Seven have all warned Putin that he will face "massive consequences" including tough economic sanctions in the event of any new Russian aggression.

The Kremlin's demands contain elements - such as an effective Russian veto on future NATO membership for Ukraine - that the West has already ruled out.

Others would imply the removal of US nuclear weapons from Europe and the withdrawal of multinational NATO battalions from Poland and from the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania that were once in the Soviet Union.

A Biden administration official in a call with reporters on Friday said Washington has taken note of the concerns that Moscow has raised and was ready to engage with Russia as soon as early January but a specific date and location were yet to be set//CNA