europe
13 killed in Russian cafe fire
A fire in a cafe in the Russian city of Kostroma killed at least 13 people and injured five others on Saturday, local authorities said.
The governor of the Kostroma region, Sergei Sitnikov, said 13 people died in the fire and five more were slightly injured. Russian news agency Interfax cited local emergency officials as saying that the death toll stood at 15. The contradicting numbers couldn’t be immediately reconciled.
Read: Tragedies in Asia: Over 400 die in one month
The blaze erupted in the early hours after someone apparently used a flare gun, according to the authorities. The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported that a brawl erupted in the cafe shortly before the fire, but it wasn’t immediately clear if it had anything to do with the use of a flare gun.
Russia rejoins key deal on wartime Ukrainian grain exports
Diplomatic efforts salvaged a wartime agreement that allowed Ukrainian grain and other commodities to reach world markets, with Russia saying Wednesday it would stick to the deal after Ukraine pledged not to use a designated Black Sea corridor to attack Russian forces.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that Ukraine formally committed to use the established safe shipping corridor between southern Ukraine and Turkey “exclusively in accordance with the stipulations” of the agreement.
“The Russian Federation believes that the guarantees it has received currently appear sufficient, and resumes the implementation of the agreement,” the ministry said, adding that mediation by the United Nations and Turkey secured Russia’s continued cooperation.
Russia suspended its participation in the grain deal over the weekend, citing allegations of a Ukrainian drone attack against its Black Sea fleet in Crimea. Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the attack, which some Ukrainian officials blamed on Russian soldiers mishandling their own weapons.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the renewed deal would again come on stream Wednesday, prioritizing shipments to African nations, including Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan. That’s in line with Russia’s concerns that most of the exported grain had ended up in richer nations since Moscow and Kyiv made separate agreements with Turkey and the U.N. in July.
Read more:As winter approaches, Ukraine struggles with power outage
U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said Monday that 23% of the total cargo exported from Ukraine under the grain deal went to lower or lower-middle income countries, which also received 49% of all wheat shipments.
The U.N. and Turkey brokered separate deals with Russia and Ukraine in July to ensure Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia would receive grain and other food from the Black Sea region during Russia’s now eight-month-old war in Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia are key global exporters of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food to developing countries where many are already struggling with hunger. A loss of those supplies before the grain deal pushed up global food prices and helped throw tens of millions into poverty, along with soaring energy costs.
The grain agreement brought down global food prices about 15% from their peak in March, according to the U.N. Losing Ukrainian shipments would have meant poorer countries paying more to import grain in a tight global market as places like Argentina and the United States deal with dry weather, analysts say.
After the announcement of Russia rejoining the deal, wheat futures prices erased the increases seen Monday, dropping more than 6% in Chicago.
At least a third of the grain shipped in the last three months was going to the Middle East and North Africa, while plenty of corn was sent to traditional buyer Europe, said Joseph Glauber, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington.
He added that more wheat was going to sub-Saharan Africa and Asian markets that have become increasingly important buyers of Ukrainian grain.
Meanwhile in Ukraine, thousands of homes in the Kyiv region and elsewhere remained without power, officials said Wednesday, as Russian drone and artillery strikes continued to target the country’s energy infrastructure.
Read more:Russia halts grain deal over Ukrainian drone attack
Kyiv region Gov. Oleksiy Kukeba said 16,000 homes were without electricity and drones attacked energy facilities in the Cherkasy region south of the capital, prompting power outages.
Although power and water were restored to the city of Kyiv, Kuleba didn’t rule out electricity shortages lasting “weeks” if Russian forces continue to hit energy facilities there. In a Telegram post, he accused Russian forces of trying to prompt a serious humanitarian crisis.
Power outages were also reported in the southern cities of Nikopol and Chervonohryhorivka following “a large-scale drone attack,” Dnipropetrovsk Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko said.
The two cities are located across the Dniper River from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility. Russia and Ukraine have for months traded blame for shelling at and around the plant that the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog warned could cause a radiation emergency.
In a development easing such fears, Ukraine’s state nuclear company Energoatom said the Zaporizhzha plant has been reconnected to the country’s power grid after Russian shelling forced the facility to rely on generators to cool its spent nuclear fuel.
Energoatom’s press service told the Associated Press in a written statement that some of the eight power lines serving the Russian-held plant have been restored, but wouldn’t specify the number citing fears of renewed Russian shelling.
With its six reactors inoperative, the plant relies on outside electricity to cool its spent fuel. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree transferring the plant to Russian ownership, Ukrainian staff continues to run it.
Energoatom has repeatedly called for the withdrawal of Russian from the plant and for the creation of a demilitarized zone around it.
The company also said Russian soldiers have cordoned off the plant’s spent nuclear fuel storage facility and began unspecified construction there. It alleged that inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, who have been present at the site since early September have been barred from the area.
“The Russians are building incomprehensible things at the nuclear fuel storage facility. They don’t let anyone in, they don’t report anything,” the company said.
On a visit to Kyiv Wednesday, Spain’s Foreign Minister José Albares pledged a new military aid package to help Ukraine’s air defenses. Speaking after talks with Kuleba, Albares didn’t disclose specifics about the arms or when they’ll be delivered, citing security concerns.
Continued Russian shelling across nine regions in southern and eastern Ukraine caused at least four civilian deaths and wounded 17 others between Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The shelling also pounded cities and villages retaken by Ukraine last month in the northeastern Kharkiv region, wounding seven people.
Russian fire damaged a hospital and apartment buildings in the Donetsk region city of Toretsk. Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said Wednesday Ukrainian and Russian forces continued to fight for control of the cities of Avdiivka and Bakhmut, both key targets of a Russian offensive in the region.
In southern Ukraine, Russian-installed authorities in the occupied Kherson region relocated civilians some 90 kilometers (56 miles) further into Russian-held territory in anticipation of a major Ukrainian counterattack to recapture the provincial capital of the same name. Russian forces dug trenches to prepare for the expected ground assault.
The Kherson region’s Kremlin-appointed officials on Tuesday expanded an evacuation area to people living within 15 kilometers (9 miles) of the Dnieper River. They said 70,000 residents from the expanded evacuation zone would be relocated this week, doubling the number moved earlier.
As winter approaches, Ukraine struggles with power outage
The decorative candles Yaroslav Vedmid bought more than a year ago were never meant to be lit, but the dried wax that now clings to them attests to how they’ve been used almost nightly — a consequence of power cuts across Ukraine.
Seated at the dinner table with his wife in a village on the outskirts of the capital, Kyiv, the two can’t count the number of times they’ve eaten in the dark since Russian attacks triggered the blackouts beginning in early October. Moscow has openly declared its intention to target the country’s energy infrastructure and drive the nation into the cold.
“When you’re relying on electricity, the worst thing is that you can’t plan … Psychologically it’s very uncomfortable,” said Vedmid, a 44-year-old business owner in Bilohorodka. The cuts are getting longer — nearly 12 hours of outages a day, he said.
So far, Russia has destroyed about 40% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, affecting 16 regions, according to the Ukrainian government.
The latest assault came Monday, when a massive barrage of Russian cruise missile and drone strikes hit Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities, knocking out water and power supplies in apparent retaliation for what Moscow alleged was a Ukrainian attack on its Black Sea fleet.
Read: Russia halts grain deal over Ukrainian drone attack
The unpredictable rolling blackouts are increasing as the government scrambles to stabilize the energy grid and repair the system ahead of winter. The cuts add another layer of angst and uncertainty to a population already struggling with the stress of nearly nine months of war.
To try to ease people’s burdens, energy companies are publishing daily schedules of when neighborhoods won’t have power. But it’s not consistent, especially as strikes intensify. Last week a power station in the central region was damaged, causing an emergency shutdown and prompting the government to warn citizens of tougher and longer outages.
“Unfortunately, the destruction and damage are serious,” Kyiv region Gov. Oleksiy Kuleba said in a Telegram post. “It is necessary to prepare for emergency power outages for an indefinite period,” he said.
Across the capital, residents are stocking up on heaters, blankets, warm clothing and power banks to charge electronics. While most say they’re willing to bear the brunt of the blackouts for the sake of the war, the frequency and fluidity of the outages are taxing.
Starting Tuesday, the government plans to change the schedule of the Kyiv subway to include longer wait times to save energy.
All you need to know about Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline
Nord Stream 2 is a gas pipeline designed to deliver Russian natural gas from Russia to Germany through the waters of the Baltic Sea.
The gas artery's construction ended in September 2021. The project is controlled by the operating company Nord Stream AG office in Switzerland's Zug.
Last year, Nord Stream 2's certification was delayed by Germany, with the process halted indefinitely in February 2022.
Just six months later, a major breakdown hit the gas artery, with underwater blasts detected on the pipeline. The European Union saw the incident as "sabotage," and Moscow called it an act of "international terrorism."
Read more: Despite Russian supply cuts German gas storage over 90% full
Designed to carry Russian "blue fuel" to Germany through the Baltic Sea, Nord Stream 2 was founded by Russia's Gazprom.
The project's cost stands at about $9.2 billion. European companies chipped in to pay half the sum. Among these companies are France's Engie, Austria's OMV, Holland-UK's Shell, and Germany's Uniper and Wintershall.
Initial plans stipulated that Gazprom would receive 51 percent of the company's shares, while the rest should have been granted to its above-mentioned European partners.
In 2017, however, Gazprom bought out all 100 percent shares of Nord Stream 2 AG, with the European companies starting to act as the project's investors.
In June 2021, Famil Sadygov, deputy chairman of Gazprom's board of directors, pointed out that "the project is fully provided with financing to complete its investment stage and move to the operational one."
Where is Nord Stream 2 Pipeline situated?
The 1,234km project passes through the territories of Russia, Germany, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden.
Nord Stream 2 bypasses transit countries, including Ukraine, Belarus, and Poland.
Why is US against Nord Stream 2?
The US, along with its allies in Eastern Europe, especially Poland and Ukraine, has repeatedly opposed the construction of Nord Stream 2.
Washington previously imposed two rounds of sanctions on the project, arguing that once Nord Stream 2 is operational, Europe will become even more dependent on Russia's energy resources, something the White House claims will help Moscow obtain political leverage.
Former US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell described Nord Stream 2 as "an unceremonious attempt" by Russian authorities to increase the strangulation of European allies and partners in terms of energy supply in 2019.
Last year, the Biden administration decided to waive sanctions against Nord Stream 2, citing its understanding of the fact that the sanctions would not work and referring to its unwillingness to alienate Berlin, one of Washington's key allies.
Moscow has repeatedly underscored that the project is purely economic and that the way the White House opposes it is an example of unfair competition.
Read more: Russia’s Gazprom keeps gas pipeline to Germany switched off
How expensive would gas be for Germany without Nord Stream 2?
On September 16, Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper сited the German Public Utilities Association as reporting that next year may see a 60 percent increase in gas prices in the country due to a reduction in supplies from Russia amid the suspension of the Nord Stream 2 project.
According to the newspaper, with electricity prices in Germany increasing by more than 10 percent, the so-called ultimate consumers now have to pay 30-60 percent more for gas than before the beginning of the ongoing Russian special military operation in Ukraine, which was launched on February 24 and followed by western countries slapping packages of "severe sanctions" on Moscow.
Klaus Ernst, head of the Bundestag's Committee for Economics and Energy, said it is worth considering launching Nord Stream 2 due to what he called the absence of other alternatives.
According to him, "In general, it does not matter through which pipeline the gas is delivered to Germany because the fuel remains Russian anyway. In this sense the issue of Nord Stream 2 is rather symbolic."
Difference between Nord Stream 1 and 2
Both pipelines are parts of the single Nord Stream gas transportation network.
Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which entered into service in 2011, starts its route in the northern Russian town of Vyborg, while Nord Stream 2, which has yet to start running, begins its path near Russia's northwestern Ust-Luga.
Most recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that one Nord Stream 2 branch was in working condition, adding that "the decision to launch it is not being made and is unlikely to be made, but this is not our (Russia's) business."
Russia halts grain deal over Ukrainian drone attack
Russia announced Saturday that it will immediately suspend its implementation of a U.N.-brokered grain deal that has seen more than 9 million tonnes of grain exported from Ukraine during the war and has brought down soaring global food prices. Ukraine accused Russia of creating a world "hunger games.”
The Russian Defense Ministry cited an alleged Ukrainian drone attack Saturday against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet ships moored off the coast of occupied Crimea as the reason for the move. Ukraine has denied the attack, saying that the Russians mishandled their own weapons.
The Russian declaration came one day after U.N. chief Antonio Guterres urged Russia and Ukraine to renew the grain export deal, which was scheduled to expire on Nov. 19. Guterres also urged other countries, mainly in the West, to expedite the removal of obstacles blocking Russian grain and fertilizer exports.
The U.N. chief said the grain deal — brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July — helps "to cushion the suffering that this global cost-of-living crisis is inflicting on billions of people,” his spokesman said.
U.N. officials were in touch with Russian authorities over the announced suspension.
“It is vital that all parties refrain from any action that would imperil the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is a critical humanitarian effort that is clearly having a positive impact on access to food for millions of people,” said Guterres' spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the Russian move “predictable.” He accused Moscow of “blockading” ships carrying grain since September. Currently, he said, 176 vessels are backed up at sea, carrying more than 2 million tons of food.
“This is a transparent attempt by Russia to return to the threat of large-scale famine in Africa and Asia,” Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly video address. He called for a tough response against Russia from international bodies like the U.N. and the G-20.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, accused Russia of playing “hunger games” by imperiling global food shipments.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the suspension was regrettable and urged “all parties to keep this essential, life-saving Initiative functioning.”
“Any act by Russia to disrupt these critical grain exports is essentially a statement that people and families around the world should pay more for food or go hungry,” Blinken said in a statement Saturday night. “In suspending this arrangement, Russia is again weaponizing food in the war it started, directly impacting low- and middle-income countries and global food prices, and exacerbating already dire humanitarian crises and food insecurity.”
Russia's Foreign Ministry on Saturday accused British specialists of being involved in the alleged attack by drones on Russian ships in Crimea. Britain’s Defense Ministry had no immediate comment on the claim.
“In connection with the actions of Ukrainian armed forces, led by British specialists, directed, among other things, against Russian ships that ensure the functioning of the humanitarian corridor in question (which cannot be qualified otherwise than as a terrorist attack), the Russian side cannot guarantee the safety of civilian dry cargo ships participating in the Black Sea initiative, and suspends its implementation from today for an indefinite period,'' the Russian statement said.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure said that Ukraine has never threatened the Black Sea grain corridor which “is exclusively humanitarian in nature,” and would continue to try to keep shipments going. It said since the first ship left Odesa on Aug. 1, more than 9 million tons of food have been exported, including more than 5 million tons to African and Asian countries. As part of the U.N. World Food Program, it said, 190 thousand tons of wheat have been sent to countries where there is hunger.
Russia also requested a meeting Monday of the U.N. Security Council because of the alleged attack on the Black Sea Fleet and the security of the grain corridor, said Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s first deputy representative to the U.N.
Russia's agriculture minister said Moscow stands ready to “fully replace Ukrainian grain and deliver supplies at affordable prices to all interested countries.” In remarks carried by the state Rossiya 24 TV channel, Dmitry Patrushev said Moscow was prepared to “supply up to 500,000 tons of grain to the poorest countries free of charge in the next four months,” with the help of Turkey.
Earlier Saturday, Ukraine and Russia offered differing versions on the Crimea drone attack in which at least one Russian ship suffered damage in Sevastopol, a key port on the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.
The Russian Defense Ministry said a minesweeper had “minor damage” during an alleged pre-dawn Ukrainian attack on navy and civilian vessels docked in Sevastopol, which hosts the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. The ministry claimed Russian forces had “repelled” 16 attacking drones.
The governor of the Sevastopol region, Mikhail Razvozhaev, claimed the port saw a “massive attack” by air and sea drones. He provided no evidence, saying all video would be seized for security reasons.
But an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry claimed that “careless handling of explosives” had caused blasts on four warships in Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Anton Gerashchenko wrote on Telegram that the vessels included a frigate, a landing ship and a ship that carried cruise missiles used in a deadly July attack on a western Ukrainian city.
In other developments on Saturday, Russian troops moved large numbers of sick and wounded comrades from hospitals in Ukraine's southern Kherson region and stripped the facilities of medical equipment, Ukrainian officials said as their forces fought to retake the province.
Kremlin-installed authorities in the mostly Russian-occupied region have urged civilians to leave the city of Kherson, the region's capital — and reportedly joined the tens of thousands who have fled to other Russia-held areas.
Zelenskyy said the Russians were “dismantling the entire health care system” in Kherson and other occupied areas.
“The occupiers have decided to close medical institutions in the cities, take away equipment, ambulances. just everything," Zelenskyy said.
Kherson is one of four regions in Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed last month and where he subsequently declared martial law. The others are Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.
As Kyiv's forces sought gains in the south, Russia kept up its shelling and missile attacks in the country's east. Three more civilians died and eight more were wounded in the Donetsk region, as Russian soldiers try to capture the city of Bakhmut, an important target in Russia's stalled eastern offensive.
Russian shelling also hit an industrial building in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region.
In the latest prisoner exchange, 50 Ukrainian soldiers, including two former defenders of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, and two civilians were released Saturday as part of a swap with Russia, who received 50 Russian soldiers, both sides reported.
Russia to suspend UN-brokered grain deal with Ukraine
Russia announced Saturday that it will move to suspend its implementation of a U.N.-brokered grain deal that has seen more than 9 million tons of grain exported from Ukraine during the war and has brought down soaring global food prices.
The Russian Defense Ministry cited an alleged Ukrainian drone attack against Russia’s Black Sea Fleet ships moored off the coast of occupied Crimea, which Russia says took place early Saturday, as the reason for the move. Ukraine has denied the attack, saying that the Russians mishandled their own weapons.
The Russian declaration came one day after U.N. chief Antonio Guterres urged Russia and Ukraine to renew the grain export deal. Guterres also urged other countries, mainly in the West, to expedite the removal of obstacles blocking Russian grain and fertilizer exports.
The U.N. chief said the grain deal — brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July and which expires on Nov. 19 — helps “to cushion the suffering that this global cost-of-living crisis is inflicting on billions of people,” his spokesman said.
A Guterres spokesman said U.N. officials were in touch with Russian authorities over the announced suspension.
“It is vital that all parties refrain from any action that would imperil the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is a critical humanitarian effort that is clearly having a positive impact on access to food for millions of people,” said the spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday accused British specialists of being involved in the alleged attack by drones on Russian ships in Crimea.
“In connection with the actions of Ukrainian armed forces, led by British specialists, directed, among other things, against Russian ships that ensure the functioning of the humanitarian corridor in question (which cannot be qualified otherwise than as a terrorist attack), the Russian side cannot guarantee the safety of civilian dry cargo ships participating in the Black Sea initiative, and suspends its implementation from today for an indefinite period,″ the Russian statement said.
Britain’s Defense Ministry had no immediate comment.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, accused Russia of playing “hunger games” by imperiling global food shipments.
“We warned about Russia’s plans to destroy the (grain agreement). Now, under false pretenses, Moscow is blocking the grain corridor that ensures food security for millions of people,” he tweeted Saturday.
The head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, denounced the suspension as “primitive blackmail.”
Turkish officials said they haven’t received any official notice of the deal’s suspension.
Russia’s agriculture minister said Moscow stands ready to “fully replace Ukrainian grain and deliver supplies at affordable prices to all interested countries.” In remarks carried by the state Rossiya 24 TV channel, Dmitry Patrushev said Moscow was prepared to “supply up to 500,000 tons of grain to the poorest countries free of charge in the next four months,” with the help of Turkey.
Patrushev also reiterated the Kremlin’s earlier allegations that a disproportionate volume of grain exported from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports was bound for European destinations.
Earlier Saturday, Ukraine and Russia offered differing versions on the Crimea drone attack in which at least one Russian ship suffered damage in the port on the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.
The Russian Defense Ministry said a minesweeper had “minor damage” during an alleged pre-dawn Ukrainian attack on navy and civilian vessels docked in Sevastopol, which hosts the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. The ministry claimed Russian forces had “repelled” 16 attacking drones.
The governor of the Sevastopol region, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said the port saw “probably the most massive attack” by air and sea drones. He provided no evidence, saying all video from the area would be held back for security reasons.
But an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry claimed that “careless handling of explosives” had caused blasts on four warships in Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Anton Gerashchenko wrote on Telegram that the vessels included a frigate, a landing ship and a ship that carried cruise missiles used in a deadly July attack on a western Ukrainian city.
In other developments on Saturday, Russian troops moved large numbers of sick and wounded comrades from hospitals in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region and stripped the facilities of medical equipment, Ukrainian officials said as their forces fought to retake the province.
Kremlin-installed authorities in the mostly Russian-occupied region had previously urged civilians to leave the city of Kherson, the region’s capital — and reportedly joined the tens of thousands who fled to other Russia-held areas.
“The so-called evacuation of invaders from the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson region, including from medical institutions, continues,” the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russians were “dismantling the entire health care system” in Kherson and other occupied areas.
“The occupiers have decided to close medical institutions in the cities, take away equipment, ambulances. just everything,” Zelenskyy said.
Kherson is one of four regions in Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed last month and where he subsequently declared martial law. The others are Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.
As Kyiv’s forces sought gains in the south, Russia kept up its shelling and missile attacks in the country’s east, Ukrainian authorities said Saturday. Three more civilians died and eight more were wounded in the Donetsk region, which has again become a front-line hotspot as Russian soldiers try to capture the city of Bakhmut, an important target in Russia’s stalled eastern offensive.
Russian shelling also an industrial building in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region. Around a quarter of the region — including its capital, also called Zaporizhzhia — remains under Ukrainian military control.
In the latest prisoner exchange, 52 Ukrainians, including two former defenders of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, were released Saturday as part of a swap with Russia, according to Yermak. The steelworks in that bombed-out port city now symbolize Ukrainian resistance.
Also released, he said, was a sailor who defended Ukraine’s Snake Island, a strategic Black Sea outpost seized by Russia in the opening hours of the war. Others coming home were Ukrainian soldiers captured by Moscow near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant — the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986 — which Russian forces briefly occupied from February to March.
UK’s foreign aid may be suspended for 2 more years under PM Sunak: Reports
According to The Telegraph, the new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is considering keeping the nation’s foreign aid budget frozen for two more years.
British foreign aid spending is limited to 0.5 percent of national income. Since the country’s public finances had taken a significant hit as a result of the coronavirus pandemic two years prior, the British government reduced its spending on international aid.
By 2024–2025, according to Sunak, who was the finance minister at the time, foreign spending should revert to its previous level of 0.7 percent of GDP.
Read More: Rishi Sunak as UK PM: What are the expectations?
The Telegraph, however, reported that officials are considering extending the cut in foreign aid funding by a further two years, until 2026–2027.
The report also noted that there was room for even larger cuts and the possibility of indexing future foreign aid spending for three years to inflation.
The report is released at a time when the UK is planning expenditure reductions and eliminating tax breaks due to the increasing cost of housing, food, fuel, and heating.
Read More: Rishi Sunak becomes UK's 3rd PM this year by King Charles III
UN nuclear agency to probe Russia claim of `dirty bombs'
The U.N. nuclear chief said Thursday he is sending inspectors to two locations in Ukraine where Russia alleged that activities related to the possible production of “dirty bombs” was taking place and expects them to reach a conclusion “in days — very fast.”
Rafael Grossi said inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency would be traveling this week to the two sites, which are under IAEA safeguards, following a written request from the Ukrainian government.
Russia’s U.N. ambassador alleged in a letter to Security Council members this week that Ukraine’s Institute for Nuclear Research of the National Academy of Sciences in Kyiv and Vostochniy Mining and Processing Plant “have received direct orders from (President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy’s regime to develop such a dirty bomb.”
The envoy, Vassily Nebenzia, said that information was from Russia’s Ministry of Defense. He said the ministry reported that work on a dirty bomb, which uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste in an effort to sow terror, is “at their concluding stage.”
Grossi said: “The purpose of this week’s safeguards visits is to detect any possible undeclared nuclear activities and materials related to the development of `dirty bombs.’”
The IAEA inspected the nuclear research institute in Kyiv a month ago “and no undeclared nuclear activities or materials were found there,” he said.
But Grossi said the inspectors are going to revisit the facility with a different aim.
Normally inspectors look for nuclear material such as enriched uranium, plutonium and thorium, he said, but in this case “there is mention of certain isotopes, cesium and strontium. So, we are going to be performing a different kind of work to determine whether the fuel there has been reprocessed in some way to extract this.”
Grossi came to U.N. headquarters in New York to brief Security Council members behind closed doors on nuclear issues related to Ukraine. The IAEA earlier issued a statement from him and he spoke to reporters after the council meeting.
Russia's Nebenzia said he told Grossi that “he should be vigilant" because the two sites are not the only places where dirty bombs can be produced.
Grossi said he remains “extremely concerned” about the possibility of a nuclear accident.
He said that in the coming weeks the IAEA is going to be deploying more experts at other nuclear power plants in Ukraine — Rivni, Khmelnytskyi South Ukraine and Chernobyl. The latter was the scene of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986, and it was occupied by Russian forces soon after their Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, though they left at the beginning of April.
The nuclear issue was heightened by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s unsubstantiated allegation that Ukraine was preparing to launch a dirty bomb in weekend calls to his British, French, Turkish and U.S. counterparts. Britain, France and the United States rejected the claim out of hand, calling it “transparently false.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin repeated the unsubstantiated claim on Wednesday,
Ukraine dismissed Moscow’s claim as an attempt to distract attention from the Kremlin’s own alleged plans to detonate a dirty bomb.
Energoatom, the Ukrainian state enterprise that operates the country’s four nuclear power plants, said Russian troops have carried out secret construction work over the last week at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Russian officers controlling the area won’t give access to Ukrainian staff running the plant or monitors from the U.N.’s atomic energy watchdog that would allow them to see what the Russians are doing, Energoatom said in a statement Tuesday.
Grossi said in the statement that nuclear safety and security at Zaporizhzhia “remains precarious” and engineers have been working “to stabilize the plant’s fragile external power supplies following repeated outages earlier this month that forced it to temporarily rely on its emergency diesel generators for electricity.”
The IAEA chief said he made clear that he considers Zaporizhzhia “a Ukrainian plant” and expressed concern at possibe confusion about the chain of command following Russia’s announcement that it has taken control of the facility.
This “could negatively affect nuclear safety and security,” Grossi's statement said, pointing to plans by senior Ukrainian operating staff to restart a reactor unit that remain on hold because Russian officials haven’t agreed.
Grossi reiterated that establishing a protection zone around Zaporizhzhia “remains of paramount importance.”
He said his consultations “are making progress, although not as fast as I would like,” pointing to the need for agreement on technical and other parameters of the zone.
“I hope to be able to do it in a matter of days if possible,” he said. “I will keep on pushing.”
Zaporizhzhia has seen repeated shelling, which Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of carrying out.
Sunak won’t go to UN climate conference: UK
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will not attend a major United Nations climate conference next month, the government said Thursday.
Sunak’s office said the decision was made because of “pressing domestic commitments” including preparations for an emergency budget on Nov. 17 and does not reflect a downgrade in the Conservative government’s commitment to combating climate change. Other senior U.K. government ministers are expected to attend.
Sunak took office on Tuesday, replacing Liz Truss, who stepped down after a seven-week term in which her tax-cutting plans sparked economic and political mayhem.
Officials from almost 200 countries are due to gather in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, starting Nov. 6 to discuss how to tackle global warming at the conference known as COP27. Britain hosted last year’s COP26 conference in Glasgow, Scotland, which was attended by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Read: Rishi Sunak becomes UK's 3rd PM this year by King Charles III
A Sunak spokeswoman said Britain remained committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050, “and to leading international and domestic action to tackle climate change.”
Opposition Labour Party spokesman Ed Miliband said Sunak had made “a terrible decision.”
“These summits matter,” he told the BBC. “They are forcing mechanisms for action on the biggest issue we face as a world.”
Europe sees fastest pace of rate hikes since euro launched
The European Central Bank piled on another outsized interest rate hike aimed at squelching out-of-control inflation, increasing rates at the fastest pace in the euro currency’s history and underscoring the bank’s determination to control prices despite the threat of recession.
The 25-member governing council raised its interest rate benchmarks by three-quarters of a percentage point at a meeting Thursday in Frankfurt, matching its record increase from last month and joining the U.S. Federal Reserve in making a series of rapid hikes to tackle soaring consumer prices.
ECB President Christine Lagarde acknowledged the risk is growing that the 19-country eurozone may plunge into recession but says “inflation remains far too high” and will stay high for an extended period, so the bank expects to keep hiking.
“We are not done yet. There is more ground to cover,” she told reporters, despite bank expectations that the economy will weaken the rest of this year and beginning of next.
“In the present state of uncertainty, with the likelihood of recession looming much more on the horizon ... everyone has to do their job,” Lagarde said. “Our job is price stability. This is our primary mandate, and we are riveted to that.”
Central banks around the world are rapidly raising interest rates that steer the cost of credit for businesses and consumers. Their goal is to halt galloping inflation fueled by high energy prices tied to Russia’s war in Ukraine, post-pandemic supply bottlenecks, and reviving demand for goods and services after COVID-19 restrictions eased. The Fed raised rates by three-quarters of a point for the third straight time last month.
Quarter-point increases have usually been the norm for central banks. But that was before inflation spiked to 9.9% in the eurozone, fueled by higher prices for natural gas and electricity after Russia slashed gas supplies during the war in Ukraine.
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“A long-lasting war in Ukraine remains a significant risk,” Lagarde said. “Confidence could deteriorate further and supply side constraints could worsen again. Energy and food costs could also remain persistently higher than expected. A weakening world economy could be an additional drag on growth in the euro area.”
Inflation robs consumers of purchasing power, leading many economists to pencil in a recession for the end of this year and the beginning of next year in the 19 countries that use the euro as their currency. While inflation in the U.S. is near 40-year highs of 8.2%, fueled in part by more pandemic support spending than in Europe, the American economy grew in the third quarter after shrinking in the first half of 2022.
The ECB has now raised rates by a full 2 percentage points in just three months, distance that took 18 months to cover during its last extended hiking phase in 2005-2007 and 17 months in 1999-2000. The benchmark for short-term lending to banks now stands at 2%, a level last seen in March 2009.
The next meeting in December may see a smaller rate increase, analysts say.
“We expect the pace of hiking to slow, given that the window of opportunity to raise interest rates is narrowing with a recession in the euro area looming,” said Nicolas Sopel, senior macro strategist at Quintet Private Bank.
Higher rates can control inflation by making it more expensive to borrow, spend and invest, lowering demand for goods. But the effort to raise rates also has raised concerns about their impact on economic growth and on markets for stocks and bonds.
To sop up economic stimulus efforts that have outlived their purpose now that rates are rising, Lagarde encouraged banks to repay the cheap, long-term loans they received from the ECB to help them keep lending to businesses. The central bank raised the interest rates on the loans and said it would let banks voluntarily repay the money.
Another potentially fraught issue in drawing down stimulus without triggering turmoil in nervous markets is what to do with the bank’s 4.9 trillion euro ($4.9 trillion) pile of bonds bought under earlier efforts to lower market borrowing costs. That will be not be outlined until the December meeting, Lagarde said.
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For now, the bank is maintaining the size of its holdings by using money from maturing bonds to buy new ones. Because the ECB is such a large bondholder, shrinking the bond pile could roil bond markets and make government borrowing costs more expensive.
The risks of bond market trouble were illustrated last month when then-U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss announced tax cuts and spending increases that raised questions about state finances, triggering a sudden selloff in British government bonds and forcing her resign after 45 days in office.
Bond market turbulence also threatened to break up the eurozone during its 2010-2015 debt crisis. Now, borrowing costs for indebted eurozone governments such as Italy have risen along with ECB interest rates.
The euro flirted below parity with the dollar after the ECB decision and remains near its lowest levels in 20 years. A weaker euro worsens inflation by raising the price of imported goods.
Reasons for the drop in the exchange rate include higher U.S. interest rates that attract money into investments priced in dollars and, more broadly, the dwindling prospects for Europe’s economy.