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UN to hold urgent meeting after North Korea missile launch

The UN Security Council will hold a meeting later today to discuss North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch after requests by the US, Japan and South Korea.

North Korea carried out its first nuclear missile test of the year on Sunday, launching the missile into international waters. It is thought to have flown about 310 miles before going down in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

This is part of efforts by North Korea to continue to expand its nuclear weapons and missile programme. The North’s Korean Central News Agency said the country’s leader Kim Jong Un watched from an observation post and gave the order to fire Pukguksong-2, described as a “Korean-style new type strategic weapon system.”

US president Donald Trump and Japanese prime minister Shinzo both condemned the launch, which occurred while the leaders were meeting in Florida.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau meeting Trump later today

Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau will travel to Washington today for his first meeting with Donald Trump. This meeting will set the tone of Canada-US relations for the next few years.

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Despite being neighbouring countries, the two leaders could not be more different. Trudeau has gained a global reputation for his views on gender equality, LGBT rights and immigration, whilst Trump has made efforts to curb abortion and halt the admission of refugees to the US.

Trudeau told reporters of the responsibilities he has when it comes to US relations:

“The first is, of course, to highlight Canadian values and principles and the things that keep our country strong. The second responsibility that I have … is creating jobs and opportunity for Canadian citizens through the continued close integration on both sides of the border.”

The meeting today will help to establish a personal relationship between the two leaders, as well as find out Trump’s intentions around Nafta – the North American Free Trade Agreement, which eliminated most tariffs and trade barriers on products and services passing between the US, Canada and Mexico.

During his presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly said he wants to renegotiate Nafta with Trudeau and the Mexican president, Enrique Pena Nieto.

The White House said on its website: “If our partners refuse a renegotiation that gives American workers a fair deal, then the president will give notice of the US’s intent to withdraw from Nafta.”

Opec monthly report will be released today

Opec’s monthly oil market report will be released later today, covering the major issues affecting the world oil market and providing an outlook for crude oil market developments for the coming year.

Currently, there is an ongoing multi-country effort to cut back oil production. If more production cuts are ordered in the monthly report, we could see oil prices pushed higher.

Global crude supply dropped nearly 1.5m barrels a day in January and 730,000 barrels a day less from the same month last year, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency.

Both Opec and non-Opec countries are producing less at the moment – which caused oil prices to rise nearly two percent over the weekend.

Collective production from non-Opec countries, including Brazil, Canada and the US, is expected to grow by 750,000 barrels a day in 2017.

Rapid improvements in drilling technology and increased market innovation means production from the US could threaten to derail Opec’s plan to move the market into a deficit.