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MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry's official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova described as unacceptable the actions of US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell who earlier sent letters to German companies warning them of possible US sanctions over their participation in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.

"Of course, this is unacceptable. This is not part of the ambassador's responsibilities, to say the least. In fact, it contradicts them," Zakharova told Rossiya-1 TV channel.

MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. Washington cannot force Moscow to change its policy and Russia does not have tools either to influence the US political course, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with Argumenty i Fakty weekly newspaper published on Tuesday.

"Despite the fact that the United States is the world’s largest economy, it does not have tools that could force Russia to abandon its sovereign policy," Peskov said commenting on Washington’s sanctions.

AMMAN, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Jordan is in negotiations to get 1.2-billion-U.S.-dollar soft loan from the World Bank to support its fiscal and economic reforms at low interest rate, the state-run Petra news agency reported Monday.

Jordan's Minister of Finance Ezzeddine Kanakrieh said the loan will not add any burden on Jordan's public debt as it will be used to pay some outstanding debts and it will help reduce the percentage of the public debt to the gross domestic product.

TUNIS, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said in a speech on Monday that the democratic transition in his country is still not safe.

Tunisia revived Monday the eighth anniversary of the popular uprisings which resulted in the toppling of former President Zine al Abidine Ben Ali on Jan. 14, 2011.

Essebsi said that the country is plagued with a state of official uncertainty, and continued conflicts and divisions amid political tension and social unrest.

BAGHDAD, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Monday that his government granted one billion euros (1.15 billion U.S. dollars) loan to Iraq to support reconstruction and stability efforts in the areas destroyed by the war against the extremist Islamic State (IS) militants.

"France has decided to allocate a loan of one billion euros to Iraq to contribute to the reconstruction and stabilization efforts in the country," Le Drian told a joint news conference with his Iraqi counterpart Mohammed al-Hakim.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is in New York on Monday for a takeover of the chairmanship of the Group of 77 (G77) developing countries.

Abbas is expected to attend a ceremony at UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday for the handover of the G77 chairmanship from Egypt to Palestine for the year 2019.

BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- China on Monday expressed stern opposition to participation by the United States and other countries in Taiwan's submarine production project.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks when responding to media reports saying the United States has permitted some of its military enterprises to export technology to help Taiwan build submarines.

Enterprises from the United States, Europe, Japan and India have reportedly demonstrated their interest to take part in the project.

Islamabad, Jan 14; PTI/GANASHAKTI: The US' demand for maintaining long-term military bases in Afghanistan has emerged as a sticking point in talks with the Taliban to end the 17-year-long war in the country, according to a media report here.

The report came as the US special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, stepped up efforts to bring the Taliban to negotiations, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Russia and Iran involved in discussions with the Taliban over the past few months.

BEIJING, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's foreign trade rose 9.7 percent year on year to a historic high of 30.51 trillion yuan (about 4.5 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2018, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Monday.

The value was 2.7 trillion yuan higher than that of 2017, according to the GAC.

"China effectively tackled changes of the external environment last year, and the foreign trade maintained stable and positive growth, reaching a historic high in import and export volume," GAC spokesman Li Kuiwen told a press conference.

Washington, Jan 14 (PTI) President Donald Trump has threatened to "devastate" Turkey economically if the NATO-allied nation attacks US-backed Kurdish forces in Syria following a pullout of American troops from the war-torn country, in a stern warning rejected by Ankara saying it will continue to fight the "terrorists".

Last month, President Trump surprised the world by announcing that he is withdrawing 2000 American troops from Syria. The pullout began last week.