Gergely Gulyas, the minister in charge of PM Viktor Orban’s office, says that Moscow has a major advantage over Kiev
Given Russia’s clear upper hand in Ukraine, the Kremlin can define what constitutes victory and declare that it has been achieved whenever it sees fit, a Hungarian minister has claimed.
On Friday, Gergely Gulyas, the minister in charge of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office, shared his view of the conflict in Ukraine at a roundtable discussion at the University of Public Service in Budapest, which was held to promote a new book titled ‘Russian Great Power Policy 1905-2021.’
The official said that Ukraine and Russia have both found themselves in a situation that they are having a hard time getting out of. He added that the “chances of peace” right now are “poor” – though Moscow “has such an advantage” in the conflict that it could define what would constitute victory and declare it “almost at any time.”
He went on to warn against any direct involvement by NATO, adding that the EU sanctions on Russia have so far backfired, hurting the bloc more than the intended target. Gulyas noted that the Western restrictions have “brought incredible income” for Moscow so far. Furthermore, the EU’s policies, he believes, could result in Russia drifting further away from Europe while becoming closer with Asia.
While Budapest joins the US in condemning Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, this does not mean that Hungary is prepared to impose similar sanctions on Moscow, as this would go against the country’s own national interests, the minister noted.
On the topic of Ukraine, Gulyas accused Kiev of failing to protect the basic rights of ethnic minorities, particularly Hungarians.
In 2017, the Ukrainian government adopted a law aimed at removing minority languages from Ukrainian schools, which Budapest sees as discriminatory.
Kiev has long accused its Western neighbor of fanning secessionism among Ukraine’s Hungarian diaspora, including by allegedly secretly granting citizenship to ethnic Hungarians.
Brazil, Sri Lanka, and South Africa are among the countries that could take the EU’s place as markets for Russian energy
Moscow will be able to find new markets for half of the crude oil exports subject to Brussel’s looming embargo, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing analytics company Kpler.
Under the embargo, most imports of Russian crude will be banned from entering the EU starting in December, while oil product exports to the bloc will be banned starting in February. According to the International Energy Agency, this means that about 2 million barrels of Russian oil a day will be left unclaimed, unless Russia redirects their delivery.
According to Kpler, however, Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and a number of Middle Eastern countries could together buy up to 1 million barrels of Russian crude a day this coming winter.
Moscow has already started redirecting some of its oil to Asia, boosting exports to India and China, after some European buyers rejected further deliveries. Russia has offered large discounts to attract buyers.
Analysts say the discount may prove tempting, and the Middle East, which could take as much as 500,000 barrels per day of Russian crude, could even decide to redirect the oil previously used domestically to export markets.
Earlier, reports emerged that Indonesia is considering buying Russian oil at a 30% discount, but is waiting to see if China and India agree to join the price cap initiative pitched by the Group of Seven (G7) in order to curb Russia’s profits from oil exports.
The UEFA-organised event will be hosted in the country, with the final in Berlin
German interior minister Nancy Faeser has demanded that Russia and Belarus be banned from the Euro 2024 football tournament, according to Der Spiegel. The magazine reports that she has written to UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin on the matter.
Germany is set to host the competition for the first time as a united entity, although the Western part staged the 1988 tournament.
Three weeks ahead of the draw for the qualifying groups in Frankfurt, the letter reportedly notes how Russia is already banned from international competitions and demands the same treatment for its close ally.
Faeser allegedly argues that Belarus, who have never qualified for a major tournament and played their UEFA Nations League home games in Serbia in June without fans present, should be excluded from all international football matches and tournaments due to its government being "essential supporters of the Russian leadership" in the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine.
Furthermore, the German politician apparently added that UEFA should also suspend Russian and Belarusian officials from "the influential bodies of international sports federations" because football should "live up to its responsible role and show a united stance against this form of disregard for human rights".
"All those responsible must be deprived of any possibility of sporting participation, influence or other representation," she reportedly continued
Meanwhile, the Athletic sayss that UEFA has already received the correspondence and will respond in due course.
Faeser and Germany's request follows a similar move from Ukrainian FA (UAF) president Andriy Pavelko, who has requested that Russia be excluded from the qualifying group draw on October 1.
Russia should be "completely isolated on the international stage, including in football" Pavelko wrote on the association's official website, adding that his organization is "currently making efforts at the UEFA level" in that regard.
UEFA and FIFA excluded all Russian teams from international football competitions in February.
This saw Russia's men's team thrown out of contention for the Qatar 2022 World Cup in November, and the women's team removed from the group phase of the Euro 2022 won by hosts England.
In early May, UEFA then announced that its sanctions would be extended to the 2022/23 season, but it hasn't yet made any formal statements on whether Russia can take part in Euro 2024 qualifying matches.
In the same statement on the UAF's website, Pavelko also repeated calls for UEFA and FIFA to step in and stop a planned friendly between Russia and Bosnia and Herzegovina scheduled to take place in Saint Petersburg in November.
"We are doing everything possible to prevent the match from taking place," he explained.
People are planning to cut back on dining out, vacations and new clothes
The vast majority of Italians are planning to reduce spending in the coming months in order to be able to pay soaring energy bills, an Ipsos survey for the Italian business association Confesercenti showed.
According to the survey, 73% of Italians said they are having difficulty or are simply unable to cope with the rise in energy bills. Meanwhile, in order to pay their bills 92% of respondents said they plan to cut spending, starting with restaurants, bars, holidays and clothing.
“The shadow of high bills and inflation extends over Christmas and beyond. The reduction in household purchasing power will translate into a sharp slowdown in consumption,” Confesercenti states in its report on the survey results, noting that it expects a €2.5 billion drop in spending in the third quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2021.
The company expects businesses, especially in the service sector, to be hit along with households, “as they find themselves squeezed between the increase in costs for electricity and gas and the slowdown in consumption.”
“Energy is a primary asset, which is the basis for the performance of any economic activity. If this becomes a rare asset, it destroys the business network and undermines social cohesion,” Confesercenti President Patrizia De Luise commented. She called on the government to take further measures to support the economy, noting that they should be focused on “ensuring the stability of economic activity.”
Inflation in Italy reached 8.4% in August, the highest in over 36 years, driven by price increases for energy goods (44.9% against 42.9% in July) and processed food (10.5%).
Moscow had earlier warned that the move would “cross the red line”
Ukraine and the US are discussing deliveries of long-range missiles that would enable Kiev to strike deep into Russia, Foreign Ministry Dmitry Kuleba said on Friday. Earlier, Moscow had warned that this would make Washington “an actual party” to the Ukraine conflict and prompt a response.
Speaking to PBS, Kuleba claimed that Ukrainian generals “have [an] excellent line of communication with American generals” and they “are discussing this issue” of supplying Kiev with longer-range ammo for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
The minister noted that Kiev “appreciates everything the United States [has] done,” adding that it needs specific weapons to “get things done on the battleground.”
“I do not exclude the option that the United States will make a positive decision on this specific type of weapon,” he added, referring to HIMARS longer-range munitions.
As of September 15, the US has provided 16 HIMARS systems to Ukraine to help it counter Russia’s military operation, which started in late February. Washington has openly supplied Kiev with GMLRS rockets that can hit targets from up to 80km away, but has resisted calls to send long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) munitions with a range of fire of up to 300km, arguing that Ukraine does not need them.
On Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that if the US decides to supply these types of munitions to Ukraine, “it would cross the red line and become an actual party to the conflict.” She added that the move would trigger “an adequate response” from Russia, which “reserves the right to defend its territory using any means available.”
On the same day, CNN reported, citing sources, that Washington does not intend to supply Kiev with the long-range HIMARS rockets that Ukraine has been requesting for months, fearing the move would be escalatory.
Energy giant EDF expects lower electricity production this year
French state energy firm EDF said this week that it expects much lower electricity production due to maintenance of nuclear reactors this year, which will cost the company approximately $29 billion in pretax earnings.
According to a company statement, 26 of EDF's 56 nuclear reactors are currently offline, partly due to corrosion issues. The firm, the world’s largest operator of nuclear plants, estimates it will produce “on the low end of a range between 280-300 terawatt-hours” of electricity from its operating nuclear plants this year, which is a 30-year low for French nuclear power output.
EDF executive director Cedric Lewandowski told lawmakers this week that five reactors are to restart in September, and the rest are expected to gradually go online by February. However, the company still forecasts its nuclear output to be below 2021 levels (360 terawatt-hours) in both 2023 and 2024.
EDF is currently in the process of being fully nationalized. The French government, which already owns 84% of the company’s shares, made an offer of €9.7 billion ($9.7 billion) to nationalize the power provider in July to save it from mounting debt.
Rosneft reports $7 billion in net income through June
Russian oil giant Rosneft has increased its net profit by 13% in the first half of 2022 despite Western sanctions. The company’s net income rose to 432 million rubles ($7.22 billion), while debt decreased by 12%, compared to the beginning of the year, strengthening the company’s “financial resilience,” the oil major said in a statement this week.
Rosneft like other Russian companies has been affected by Western sanctions. According to the oil major, tight controls helped it deal with a sharp rise in the cost of logistics, rail transport and electricity, which account for 30% of total expenses.
According to Rosneft’s CEO Igor Sechin, during the first half of the year the company “was under unprecedented pressure of adverse external factors and unlawful sanctions. However, thanks to high operational efficiency and appropriate management decisions, we were able to ensure business continuity and demonstrate stable results.”
Rosneft processed 45.8 million tons of oil through June with sales increasing by 5.7% year on year. One reason is growing demand from some of the world’s biggest economies which has helped Russia to export almost as much crude as it did before the conflict in Ukraine.
At the same time, oil sales on the domestic market have also more than doubled compared to the same period in 2021.
The oil major also noted that it had paid out dividends worth more than 441 billion rubles ($7.4 billion) for 2021 to its shareholders, including BP, despite the company’s announced plans in February to abandon its 19.75% stake in Rosneft.
South Africa’s president insists it’s not up to Washington to determine his country’s diplomatic ties
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged the US to not “punish” African nations by pressuring them to cut ties with Moscow, pointing to legislation passing through Congress which calls for more US intervention on the continent.
After meeting with US President Joe Biden on Friday, Ramaphosa spoke with reporters about the bill, the Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act, saying the measure “will harm Africa and marginalize the continent.”
“We should not be told by anyone who we can associate with,” he added, noting South Africa’s long-held policy of non-alignment among world powers.
Though the two leaders exchanged pleasantries during their sit-down and did not mention the Russia legislation – as detailed in the White House readout of the discussion – Ramaphosa separately spoke with the Congressional Black Caucus during his visit and again offered criticism of the bill.
South Africa is “concerned [about] the possible implications for the African Continent if the ‘Countering Malign Russian Activities Bill’ were to become US law,” he said, adding that it could have “the unintended consequence of punishing the continent for efforts to advance development and growth.”
Pretoria considers both Washington and Moscow to be “strategic partners,” the president continued, urging American lawmakers not to “punish those who hold independent views,” especially at a time when “President Biden has sought to engage African countries on the basis of respect for their independence and sovereignty.”
However, US policymakers have insisted the bill does not propose any punishments for African states that opt to continue ties with Russia, with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby saying “the United States isn’t making anybody choose between us and somebody else, either when it comes to Ukraine or in the Indo-Pacific region.”
“Broadly speaking, there’s no punishment here intended for anybody,” Kirby told reporters on Friday, adding “We respect sovereignty.”
Elvira Nabiullina called the dollar and euro 'toxic,' but says Russians will always be able to convert them into rubles
Foreign currency conversion to rubles will always be possible in Russia, central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina said during a press conference on Friday.
“It will always be possible to change currency into rubles, and there are absolutely, as they say, liberal rules,” she was cited as saying by RIA news agency.
At the same time, the head of the regulator noted that the US dollar and the euro have become “toxic” for Russian holders due to the risks they carry.
“As for currency conversion, indeed, the currencies to which we are used to, the reserve currencies – the dollar, the euro – have become toxic for many holders. Freezing risks arise, and the countries that issue [these currencies] are not very willing for us to actively use them,” she stated.
On August 1, the Central Bank extended restrictions on foreign currency withdrawals introduced earlier this year until March 9, 2023. Currently, depositors can withdraw a maximum of $10,000 or its equivalent in euros from each foreign currency account they hold.
Washington has offered Seoul the “full range” of its military capabilities to deter North Korea, including US nuclear forces
The US and South Korea say Pyongyang would face an “overwhelming decisive response” in the event of a nuclear strike, issuing the warning after North Korea codified its own nuclear doctrine into a new law.
Security officials from both nations gathered for an ‘Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group Meeting’ on Friday to discuss ways to “strengthen deterrence against DPRK aggression, and more broadly counter the DPRK threat,” using the North’s formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Much of the summit focused on nuclear issues, with the two sides pledging immediate retaliation to a potential future attack by North Korea.
“The United States and [South Korea] made clear that any DPRK nuclear attack would be met with an overwhelming and decisive response,” officials said in a joint statement, also voicing “serious concern over the DPRK’s escalatory and destabilizing messaging related to nuclear weapons use, including its adoption of the new nuclear policy law.”
Late last week, the North clarified its nuclear weapons policies in new legislation, saying it would launch a nuclear strike “automatically and immediately” if its own arsenal ever came under threat, though stressed that it keeps the bomb for defensive purposes only.
In response to the law, Washington reiterated its “ironclad and unwavering commitment to draw on the full range of its military capabilities” – including “nuclear, conventional, missile defense, and other advanced non-nuclear capabilities” – to defend South Korea, adding it would “continue to deploy and exercise strategic assets in the region.”
The US has long maintained a force of around 30,000 soldiers in South Korea and holds regular joint drills with Seoul, which have been repeatedly denounced by Pyongyang as provocative, and ‘rehearsals’ for an invasion.
Western officials have been predicting an imminent North Korean nuclear test in recent months, claiming the military is preparing to hold its first trial since 2017 despite no official announcement. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, however, recently vowed to advance his country’s atomic arsenal “at the fastest possible speed,” and has insisted the military must be prepared for a nuclear deployment against “hostile” foreign powers “at any time.”
Norway’s soaring profits come as energy prices spike due to Western sanctions on Russia over the conflict in Ukraine
A Norwegian lawmaker has urged officials to share the country’s soaring gas profits with Ukraine, saying it would be “morally wrong” to gain from the military conflict raging in Eastern Europe. The government, however, insists its top priority is to boost output as other EU states look to curtail Russian energy imports.
Former Green Party spokesperson and current MP Rasmus Hansson has floated a profit-sharing scheme to convert gas revenues into foreign aid for Ukraine, telling Politico that “Norway is being short-sighted and too selfish.”
“We are getting a windfall profit which is very big, but the question is: does that money belong to us as long as the most obvious reason for that price increase and that extra income is the disaster that has befallen the Ukrainian people?” he added, referring to the ongoing conflict with Russia.
Hansson said experts with Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, which manages state energy profits, must determine a “normal” gas price, and that all earnings above that level should be donated to a “solidarity fund” for post-war rebuilding efforts in Ukraine.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt pushed back against the wealth-sharing idea, however, saying the country’s main goal is to increase energy outputs to meet a growing supply crisis in Europe.
“Norway has been asked by the EU and our European partners to step up its production to cover as much of the shortfall from Russia as we can and we have done our utmost to do so,” Huitfeldt told Politico.
The FM went on to accuse Moscow of manipulating gas prices and reducing exports, despite a slew of EU states demanding outright embargoes on Russian energy and imposing rafts of economic sanctions on Russian oil and gas companies.
Still, as some regions face sevenfold price increases, Huitfeldt said “many suggestions” are now being considered to meet shortages, though refused to elaborate on any particular plans.
“I’m hesitant to go into specific proposals at this time. One should carefully evaluate the implications of different measures so that the result is not a reduction of supply or less focus on energy savings,” she said.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store claimed that it is “not in Norway’s interest that we have these extraordinary gas price spikes,” following a meeting with gas companies on Thursday. The meeting was “useful” but brought no concrete results, according to Reuters, as Norwegian gas companies are hesitant to commit to any long-term deals with the collapsing European energyproviders.
Though the EU has floated a potential price cap for energy to limit the rising costs, Oslo was skeptical about the idea, arguing it would not solve supply shortages.
After taking Russia’s spot as Europe’s top gas exporter, the government has come under fire from other nations, with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stating it should share the “gigantic” profits made during wartime. More recently, a Spanish environmental minister said Norway’s high-price sales were “disturbing.”
Denmark’s former defense intel chief has been indicted for allegedly revealing state secrets
Prosecutors in Denmark have formally charged the country’s former foreign intelligence chief, Lars Findsen, with leaking highly classified state secrets to six people, including two journalists.
Findsen, who was suspended from his job as head of the Danish Defense Intelligence Service (FE) in August 2020, faces a six-count indictment in Viborg, according to a statement by Denmark’s Police Intelligence Service (PET). Prosecutors are pursuing the case at a magistrate level, suggesting that Findsen would be sentenced to less than four years in prison if he’s convicted, and they will seek to keep any trial behind closed doors.
The leaks occurred over a period of 16 or 17 months, the PET said. Before being suspended, Findsen had headed the FE since 2015 and previously oversaw domestic intelligence as director of PET from 2002 to 2007. He was among four people arrested last December in connection with a “long and extensive” investigation by PET and East Jutland Police.
“It is of course serious when secrets or other confidential information that is essential for the intelligence services’ work to protect Denmark's security is passed on to unauthorized persons,”said Jacob Berger Nielsen, state attorney in Viborg. “It carries a risk of further spread to a wider public. It can damage the relationship with the intelligence services’ partners, and it can make it more difficult for them to carry out their work if their working methods are revealed.”
Danish officials have been tight-lipped about the type of information that Findsen allegedly leaked, other than to say it was highly classified. The six alleged recipients of the information weren’t identified.
Findsen was previously caught up in a scandal over accusations that the FE was unjustifiably spying on Danish citizens and withholding information to prevent proper oversight of the intelligence agency.
Federal judges ruled that social media platforms don’t have a constitutional right to “muzzle” speech
A US appeals court has cleared the way for Texas to begin enforcing a landmark anti-censorship law, ruling that Twitter, Facebook and other social media giants don’t have a constitutional right to silence opinions that they find objectionable.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans issued its ruling on Friday, shooting down what it called an “odd inversion of the First Amendment” by Silicon Valley trade groups, who argued that by barring social media companies from censoring objectionable views, Texas infringed on their freedom of speech.
“The platforms argue that buried somewhere in the person’s enumerated right to free speech lies a corporation’s unenumerated right to muzzle speech,” the three-judge panel said in its ruling. The implications of that claim are “staggering,” the judges added, inasmuch as it would mean that email providers, mobile-phone carriers and banks could cancel the accounts of anyone who sent a message, made a phone call or donated money in support of a “disfavored” political party, candidate or business.
“Today, we reject the idea that corporations have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say,” the judges said, noting that a platform could obtain a dominant market position by billing itself as open to everyone – as Twitter did by claiming to be “the free speech wing of the free speech party” – then turn around and dictate the conversation as “the monopolist of the modern public square.”
HB20, which prohibits platforms with more than 50 million users from censoring content posted by residents of the state based on viewpoint, marks one of the boldest efforts by Republican-controlled states to push back against Big Tech’s alleged anti-conservative bias. Texas had argued that Silicon Valley went so far as to muzzle federal elected officials – such as President Donald Trump – and even censored a congressional hearing that featured disfavored viewpoints.
Rather than directly responding to such concerns, the platforms argued that the law would prohibit them from censoring “pro-Nazi speech, terrorist propaganda and Holocaust denial.” The appellate court described such claims as “fanciful hypotheticals” and said the Texas law expressly allows the companies to censor any speech that incites criminal activity or makes specific threats.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called Friday’s ruling a “massive victory for the constitution and free speech.”
BREAKING: I just secured a MASSIVE VICTORY for the Constitution & Free Speech in fed court: #BigTech CANNOT censor the political voices of ANY Texan! The 5th Circuit “reject[s] the idea that corporations have a freewheeling First Amendment right to censor what people say. pic.twitter.com/UijlzYcv7r
Silicon Valley trade groups have vowed to appeal to the US Supreme Court, which has previously refused to allow HB20 to go into effect until a lower court had ruled on the merits of the case – which the Fifth Circuit just did.
Proposal aimed at those who would work with “enemy state” envisions sentences of 5-15 years
A law proposed by the government in Kiev on Friday would see some Ukrainians who take out Russian passports punished with lengthy prison terms. Deputy Prime Minister Irina Vereshchuk insisted the measure is not aimed against ordinary Ukrainians, but officials who worked with the “enemy state.”
The draft calls for a sentence of 10-15 years for any local or regional government employees who accept an “enemy” passport. Engaging in “propaganda for an enemy state” would carry a sentence of 5-8 years, while “compelling” Ukrainian citizens to accept an “enemy” passport would be punishable by 8-12 years behind bars.
Any Russian citizens engaging in “illegal passportization on the territory of Ukraine” would also be subject to these penalties, said Vereshschuk, whose portfolio is “reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories.”
She added that such a law “should have been passed in 2014.” After a US-backed coup in Kiev in February that year, Crimea voted to rejoin Russia while the Donbass regions of Donetsk and Lugansk declared independence. Kiev brutally suppressed protests in the Kharkov and Odessa regions, while sending the army into the Donbass.
Ukraine has been working on the draft since July, after blasting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to implement a fast-track citizenship procedure for any citizen of Ukraine. Many residents of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions have since availed themselves of the opportunity.
Earlier this month, Vereshschuk threatened anyone who would organize or participate in a vote to join Russia in the “occupied territories” with up to 12 years in prison and a confiscation of property, under the existing “collaboration” statute.
Last week, after Ukrainian troops moved into several cities in the Kharkov Region, following a “redeployment” of Russian forces, Vereshschuk also announced any teachers who had used the Russian curriculum would also face criminal charges. Meanwhile, Ukrainian state police said that “a reckoning” was coming for any civilians suspected of “collaboration” and set up “filtration” operations in the northeastern region.
Multiple missiles reportedly targeted Damascus airport and areas south of the capital
At least five Syrian servicemen have been killed in an “Israeli air aggression” after midnight on Saturday, the state news agency SANA reported citing a military source.
“At approximately 0:45am this morning, the Israeli enemy carried out an air aggression with rockets from the northeastern direction of Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee), targeting Damascus International Airport and some points south of Damascus,” a source told SANA.
While the Syrian air defenses “shot down a number” of missiles, the military acknowledged the deaths of at least five “military personnel and some material losses” on the ground.
The Israeli military neither confirms, nor denies its reported raids in line with its long-standing policy to not comment on operations conducted outside the country’s borders.
Over the past several weeks, Israel conducted multiple strikes against various targets in Syria, and its two remaining major airports in particular, as confirmed by the Russian Defense Ministry. On August 31, a missile attack temporarily disabled Aleppo international airport and also caused damage to the one in Damascus. A week later, on September 6, another missile struck the runway of the Aleppo airport.
Back in June, a series of Israeli strikes took the Damascus Airport out of service for several weeks, with traffic being rerouted to Aleppo – which had only reopened in February 2020, after being damaged in the decade-long civil war.
Israel has repeatedly targeted Syria with missiles, usually fired from Lebanese airspace or the occupied Golan Heights, wary of air defense systems provided by Russia to Damascus. On the rare occasions that Israel has acknowledged the attacks, its government said it was exercising preemptive self-defense against the Iranian presence in the neighboring country.
Tehran has offered military aid to Damascus in recent years against both Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorists and other jihadist militants. Israel claims Iran is using civilian flights to Syria to smuggle weapons and missile parts to Hezbollah in Lebanon.
A senior Israel Defense Forces officer told reporters on Thursday that Hezbollah and other “Iran-backed militias” seemed to be withdrawing from Syria as “a result of the IDF strikes.”
The shipping giant’s stock suffered a hit after its chief made a grim prediction
The global economy is headed for a recession, FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam told CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday. The shipping behemoth's executive predicted that the financial issues that forced his company to withdraw its full year guidance after missing earnings and revenue estimates for its first quarter will soon befall the rest of the world.
“I’m very disappointed in the results that we just announced here, and you know, the headline really is the macro situation that we’re facing,” Subramaniam told the Mad Money host, explaining that FedEx cut its projections for second-quarter earnings by nearly half after seeing weaker-than-expected demand “in every segment around the world.”
“We are a reflection of everybody else’s business, especially the high-value economy in the world,” he said.
Asked more directly if “we” were “going into a worldwide recession,” Subramaniam clarified his prediction of doom. “I think so. These numbers don’t portend very well.”
Subramaniam said FedEx has been seeing weekly declines in demand since June, despite anticipating an increase after Chinese factories that had shut down for the Covid-19 pandemic reopened. FedEx has announced major cost-cutting measures, including shutting 90 retail locations and five corporate office facilities, canceling some projects, reducing flights and postponing hires.
FedEx’s stock dropped a further 21.4% on Friday – its worst daily drop ever – after plummeting 15% on Thursday, vaporizing $11 billion in market capitalization.
Subramaniam’s predictions for the global economy come on the heels of a dismal week for Wall Street, in which the S&P 500 and Nasdaq had their worst performance in months. The latest US inflation report, released on Tuesday, signaled the Federal Reserve is likely to impose further rate hikes, compounding the economic pain already felt by consumers and businesses alike.
Zelensky aide says civilian officials in Russian-controlled territory are “legitimate targets”
The government in Kiev was behind the deadly shelling in Kherson and organizing the murder of two pro-Russian civilian officials in Berdyansk on Friday, Mikhail Podoliak, an aide to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, confirmed in an interview. However, Podoliak insisted these were not acts of terrorism but legitimate strikes against purely military targets.
“Everything that happened in Berdyansk, in Melitopol, in Kherson — those are all absolutely legitimate military targets. Those are certainly not terrorist or, strictly speaking, criminal acts,” Podoliak said.
At least three people were killed and 13 were wounded on Friday morning when five missiles from the US-supplied HIMARS launchers struck the administration building in Kherson, which is under Russian control. Most of them were civilian passers-by, local authorities said.
Kirill Stremousov, the deputy chair of the military-civilian administration, says the strike was intended to take him out. He survived only by chance, having accepted an invitation to appear in a TV talk show at the time of the shelling.
In Berdyansk, in the Russian-controlled part of the Zaporozhye Region, two officials of the local military-civilian administration were murdered on Friday morning. Oleg Boyko was in charge of housing and utilities, while his wife Lyudmila headed the local elections commission.
An explosion that could be heard in Melitopol on Friday was a controlled demolition of unexploded ordnance, local official Vladimir Rogov said. However, the city headquarters of the organization ‘Together With Russia’ was damaged by a bomb last week.
Podoliak did not take credit for the assassination of the Lugansk People’s Republic head prosecutor Sergey Gorenko and his assistant Yekaterina Steglenko. They were killed on Friday when an improvised bomb detonated at the Prosecutor General’s Office in Lugansk. Assassinations by Ukrainian agents have claimed the lives of a number of Donetsk and Lugansk officials over the past seven years.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Ukraine has engaged in “terrorist attacks” against civilians and infrastructure, including attempts to damage nuclear facilities inside Russia. This behavior was unacceptable, he said, and if Kiev persists it will receive a “more serious” response from Moscow than a handful of “sensitive strikes” that damaged power stations and dams this week.
Vladimir Putin reiterated the goals of Russia’s military operation and blasted the Western elite’s attitude
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to the media on Friday following the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Earlier, he met with the leaders of China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia.
In his first press conference since July, the president was asked about the conflict with the West, the ongoing military operation in Ukraine, and the energy crisis in the European Union, among other things.
Here are some of the key moments from Putin's press conference.
However, the officials insisted that given enough time, Russia will suffer
American officials admitted to CNN on Friday that US-led sanctions haven’t crashed Russia’s economy. Despite Russia’s record energy revenue and the strength of its currency, the officials insist that the effects of the sanctions are yet to be felt.
The US and its NATO and EU allies responded to Russia’s military operation in Ukraine by applying unprecedented economic sanctions to its economy. Russia became the world’s most sanctioned country within two weeks of the offensive, yet after successive rounds of penalties, energy embargos and excommunication from the SWIFT banking system, Moscow is reaping record profits from its fossil fuel exports, the ruble is as strong against the dollar as it was in 2019, and Russia’s inflation rate has fallen.
"We were expecting that things like SWIFT and all the blocking sanctions on Russia's banks would totally crater the Russian economy,” one unnamed US official told CNN. Another said that Washington “hoped to see the Russian economy suffering more by now, given the unprecedented severity” of the sanctions, CNN paraphrased.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed the same sentiment during an economic meeting earlier this week, declaring that the West’s “economic blitzkrieg” had failed.
Despite the apparent failure, the US officials told CNN that they expect to see Russia’s economy faltering by mid-2023. Shortages of foreign raw materials and components will be apparent by then, the officials said, with one saying that the US “has always seen this as a long term game.”
As far back as March, however, US President Joe Biden was claiming that sanctions had already “caused the Russian economy to crater,” citing a dip in the value of the ruble that proved to be short-lived.
Europe, however, has suffered immense economic damage as a result of its own sanctions on Russia. Fuel prices have skyrocketed across the continent, inflation in the EU is at its highest level in history, and even Germany, the bloc’s foremost industrial power, risks “deindustrialization” as a result of the energy crisis.
Like their American counterparts, European officials have insisted that on a long enough timeline, their sanctions will affect Russia. Addressing the European Parliament earlier this week, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said that sanctions “may not have an immediate impact,” adding: “It’s like going on a diet to lose weight and being upset that you haven’t lost kilos and kilos after just a couple of weeks.”
Biden’s press secretary has argued that Republicans who send migrants to Democrat-run areas use the tactics of human traffickers
The White House has ratcheted up its political feud with Republicans over the US border crisis, suggesting that GOP governors who send illegal aliens to Democrat-run communities in faraway states resemble human traffickers.
“These vulnerable migrants were reportedly misled about where they were headed . . ., misled about what they would be provided when they arrived, promised shelter, refuge, benefits and more,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday. “These are the kinds of tactics we see from smugglers in places like Mexico and Guatemala.”
The statement came two days after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sent two planeloads of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, a Massachusetts island known as a playground of the rich and famous, where former President Barack Obama owns a beachfront mansion. Also this week, Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent two busloads of newly arrived migrants to Washington, where they were dropped off near the residence of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Republican governors have been transporting illegal aliens to areas that are staunchly pro-Democrat and pro-immigration for weeks. DeSantis and Abbott have argued that so-called sanctuary cities that prevent deportations of illegal aliens should share in the consequences of a fourfold surge in migrant traffic at the US-Mexico border since Biden took office last year.
The tactic has apparently struck a nerve with the White House. Biden responded to the latest transports of illegal aliens by calling DeSantis and Abbott “un-American” and accused Republicans of “playing politics with human beings.” Speaking at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Gala on Thursday night, he added that it’s “long overdue” for Republican lawmakers to help pass legislation that would enable illegal aliens to obtain US citizenship.
The migrants dropped off on Martha’s Vineyard didn’t have a long stay on the affluent island. Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, a Democrat, called out the National Guard on Wednesday to move the illegal immigrants to a military base. In Chicago, another target of the migrant transports, Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot reacted last week by sending dozens of the recent arrivals to a predominantly Republican suburb of the Windy City.
Biden: "We have a process in place to manage migrants at the border ... Republican officials should not interfere with that process..." pic.twitter.com/FrcQuCDySz
Jean-Pierre accused DeSantis and Abbott of perpetrating a “cruel, premeditated political stunt,” adding, “These governors care more about creating political theater than creating actual solutions to help folks who are fleeing communism.”
The EU attempt to cap Russian gas price means “everyone will freeze” this winter, said Aleksandar Vucic
Moscow might decide to shut off gas supplies completely, if the European Union moves ahead with plans to impose a price cap, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic warned on Friday.
“If the EU makes such a decision, then Russia could decide to turn off the gas to Europe entirely, and then there will be none of it and everyone will freeze,” Vucic said, adding that the price of electricity would in that case also skyrocket from today’s €400 per megawatt-hour.
The Serbian leader’s comments came in a TV interview after his meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Among the topics they discussed, Vucic said, was the upcoming autumn and winter, which Orban thinks will be “decisive survival in economic terms.”
At their joint press conference in Belgrade, Orban took aim at the EU embargo against Russia, saying that it amounted to “energy dwarfs imposing sanctions against the energy giant.”
Elaborating on the Hungarian PM’s statement, Vucic told TV Pink that the energy crisis will mean hardship for households, but “the main problem will be whose companies and economies will survive” the winter.
Germany can afford to “throw money” at the problem, Vucic said, along with France and maybe Spain – but not the smaller EU members, or Serbia.
Earlier this week, French PM Elisabeth Borne warned that the price of electricity on the spot market could rise tenfold over last year, while the price of gas for 2023 has already increased fivefold since 2021.
Brussels has moved to ban all imports of Russian oil – though some members, such as Hungary, received exemptions – and cut the amount of natural gas, citing the need to support the government of Ukraine in the ongoing conflict and “diversify” its energy sources, at the urging of Washington. However, the US has been unable to step in with deliveries of its liquefied natural gas – at a much higher price, even – to make up the difference.
“There is simply no appropriate alternative to the supply of Russian pipeline gas for Europe. No country is capable of providing resources comparable to the resources and fields of Siberia and the Yamal Peninsula. No one can increase supply using pipeline systems on the terms offered by Gazprom,” the company’s deputy chairman Oleg Aksyutin said on Thursday.
Kiev will allow the transit of Russian ammonia through its territory only if Moscow turns over POWs, the Ukrainian president has said
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky will allow Russia to resume sending ammonia exports through his country, thus easing a global fertilizer shortage, only if Moscow releases Ukrainian prisoners of war, he told Reuters on Friday.
“I am against supplying ammonia from the Russian Federation through our territory. I would only do it in exchange for our prisoners,” Zelensky told the outlet. “This is what I offered the UN.”
The Kremlin quickly dismissed the offer. “Are people and ammonia the same thing?” spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded, as reported by the news agency TASS.
While Zelensky has claimed Ukraine took hundreds of Russian troops as prisoners during its recent counter-offensive in Kharkov, he has acknowledged Russia holds more Ukrainian POWs.
The UN had suggested Russian fertilizer producer Uralchem pump ammonia gas by pipeline to the Ukrainian border, where it could be purchased by Trammo, a US-based commodities trader.
The pipeline can pump as many as 2.5 million tons of ammonia per year from the Volga region to the port of Yuzhny on the Black Sea. However, the port has been closed since the start of Russia’s military offensive in February.
Ammonia is a vital ingredient in nitrate fertilizer, and a shortage in supply threatens to compound the global food crisis, itself already exacerbated by the conflict as much of the world’s wheat comes from Ukraine and Russia.
As many as 70% of European ammonia plants have reduced or halted production in recent months due to record-high energy prices, according to the Russian fertilizer industry.
Russia, Ukraine and Turkey signed a UN-brokered deal in July to resume grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports to alleviate the shortage. However, Russia’s representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, recently blamed Western sanctions for holding up shipments of both grain and fertilizer.
He accused EU officials of hypocrisy for blocking Russian shipments to Africa, Asia and Latin America while allowing the critical resources to reach the bloc’s own shores. Of the 136 ships that have left Ukrainian ports carrying grain, just six went to the poorest countries suffering food crises.
The government has suggested that a US central bank cryptocurrency could be faster and more “inclusive”
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has called for President Joe Biden’s administration to consider creating a central bank cryptocurrency and to start laying the technical groundwork for the so-called digital dollar right away.
The new digital currency, as proposed by the Treasury Department, could “help preserve US global financial leadership and support the effectiveness of sanctions,” the White House said in a statement on Friday. It could also make the US payment system more “environmentally sustainable” and “promote financial inclusion and equity,” according to the statement.
“Right now, some aspects of our current payment system are too slow or too expensive,” Yellen told reporters. She added that advance work on a US central bank digital currency (CBDC) should go forward now, “in case one is determined to be in the national interest.”
Unlike existing digital money, such as commercial bank deposits held by consumers and businesses, a CBDC would be a direct liability of the US Federal Reserve Bank. It would be a digital form of sovereign US currency and would be convertible on a one-for-one basis to paper dollars or reserve balances, the Treasury Department said.
However, as the administration noted, there could be “unintended consequences” of a US CBDC, including runs on the crypto dollar during “times of stress.” The White House urged the Federal Reserve to continue its research into a potential digital dollar and said the Treasury Department would lead an interagency working group to study the implications of such a tool.
The Federal Reserve has suggested that it would take years to design and launch a CBDC and that even with the existence of a public token, there would likely be room for private groups to operate dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies.
The Treasury Department proposal came in response to Biden’s executive order last March calling on federal agencies to submit recommendations for ensuring responsible development of digital assets. Based on the agencies’ reports, the administration may increase regulation of digital assets, such as imposing “common sense efficiency standards” on cryptocurrency mining, and crack down on “unfair, deceptive or abusive practices.”
Expressing ‘anti-authority’ beliefs in messages on Facebook can trigger an FBI investigation, DOJ sources told the New York Post
Facebook has been reporting users to the FBI’s domestic terrorism unit for nothing more than anti-authority sentiment, the New York Post reported on Wednesday, citing Justice Department (DOJ) sources.
“Facebook provides the FBI with private conversations which are protected by the First Amendment without any subpoena,” the sources claimed, explaining this is done “outside the legal process and without probable cause.”
Merely expressing concern about the legitimacy of the 2020 US election results was enough to get users flagged, they said.
Excerpts from those messages, often highlighting the “most egregious-sounding comments out of context,” were offered to nearby FBI field offices as “leads.”
Upon receiving them, the local offices could request subpoenas from their partner US attorney’s office in order to legally obtain the private messages they had already been shown by Facebook outside the legal process, the Post’s sources claimed.
None of the subsequent FBI investigations turned up any criminal or violent activity, the sources said.
“It was a waste of our time,” one source complained, describing a “frenzy” of subpoena requests and other activity over the last 19 months aimed at backing up the claims made by the administration of President Joe Biden about the threat posed by domestic terrorism in the aftermath of the January 6 Capitol riot.
The users targeted by Facebook for this kind of surveillance were all “gun-toting, red-blooded Americans who were angry after the election and shooting off their mouths and talking about staging protests,” the source said, adding there was “nothing criminal, nothing about violence or massacring or assassinating anyone.”
Facebook initially called the DOJ sources’ claims “false” before releasing a second statement to the Post an hour later characterizing them as “wrong,” insisting the company's relationship with the FBI was “designed to protect people from harm” rather than to “proactively supply” law enforcement with the names of users expressing anti-government sentiment.
“We carefully scrutinize all government requests for user information to make sure they’re legally valid and narrowly tailored and we often push back,” Erica Sackin, a spokesperson for parent company Meta, said in the statement.
The FBI admitted it receives information “with investigative value” from social media providers and that it “maintains an ongoing dialogue to enable a quick exchange of threat information,” but would neither confirm nor deny the specific allegations made by the DOJ whistleblowers.
The agency does not believe that President Xi is set on military action, however
CIA Deputy Director David Cohen said that Chinese President Xi Jinping wants his military to be capable of seizing Taiwan by 2027, according to a CNN correspondent. However, Cohen is reported to have said that the agency still believes China wants a peaceful reunification with the island.
Cohen’s statement was reported by CNN journalist Katie Bo Lillis, who herself said that Xi is not preparing for a certain invasion of Taiwan, but rather wants “the capability to take control of Taiwan by force.”
“He has not made the decision to do that, but he has asked his military to put him in a position where if that's what he wanted to do, he would be able to,” Lillis quoted Cohen as saying. “It's still the assessment of the [Intelligence Community] as a whole that Xi's interest in Taiwan is to get control through nonmilitary means.”
Beijing has publicly stated that it intends to reunify Taiwan with the Chinese mainland by peaceful means. In a white paper published in August, the Chinese government affirmed this commitment to non-military means, but reserved “the option of taking all necessary measures.”
Taiwan rejected the “one country, two systems” approach set out in the white paper, with Taipei stating that only the people of Taiwan would decide their future.
Taiwan has governed itself since nationalist forces led by Chiang Kai-shek fled to the island in 1949, after they lost the civil war to the Communists. The US government has officially recognized, but not endorsed, China’s sovereignty over Taiwan since the 1970s.
Tensions in the Taiwan Strait reached a boiling point last month, following a visit to Taipei by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. With Pelosi a member of US President Joe Biden’s political party and second in the presidential line of succession, China considered the visit a tacit endorsement of Taiwanese independence, and responded by launching large-scale military exercises around Taiwan. US warships answered these drills by sailing through the strait, while Taiwan held military drills of its own.
At the time of writing, Beijing has not commented on the latest claims.
Officials reported three dead and over a dozen injured after shelling by Kiev’s forces
At least three people were killed in Friday’s strike on the civilian administration building in the city of Kherson, officials said. They added that the Ukrainian attack also left 13 people injured, most of whom were ordinary passers-by.
The Kherson Health Ministry reported that three of the wounded civilians are currently in critical condition. One of the people killed in the attack was the driver for a local official, authorities claim.
The deputy head of the Kherson administration, Kirill Stremousov, suggested on his Telegram channel that the target of the Ukrainian strike was the acting head of the Kherson military-civilian administration, Sergey Eliseev, as well as local municipal authorities of the region who were holding a meeting in the building at the time of the attack.
Local officials claim there were only civil servants and no military personnel in the building at the time of the shelling, which was allegedly carried out with five US-made HIMARS rockets.
The deputy head of the administration, Ekaterina Gubareva, has called the incident “a vile terrorist attack in broad daylight,” and urged residents to stay at home citing threats of further attacks.
The city of Kherson has been under Russian control since early March, shortly after the country launched its military operation in Ukraine. Late last month, Kiev began a counteroffensive in the region, which, according to Moscow, failed completely and left the Ukrainian military with heavy casualties.
The situation is aggravated by Kiev’s refusal to negotiate, the Russian president told India’s PM
Russia is prepared to do everything possible to end the conflict in Ukraine “as soon as possible,” but Kiev refuses to talk, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday. The first in-person meeting of the two leaders since 2019 took place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
Putin told the prime minister that he is aware of his “concerns” over the conflict in Ukraine and pledged to “do everything to ensure that all of this stops as soon as possible.”
“Unfortunately, the opposite side, the leadership of Ukraine, has refused the negotiation process. {They} declared that they want to achieve their goals by military means, or, as they say, ‘on the battlefield,’” Putin explained.
The Indian prime minister, who has been sticking to neutrality about the military conflict in Ukraine, reiterated his calls for peace during the meeting with Putin. Citing the challenges facing the world now, including food security issues and the energy crisis, Modi said that “today’s era is not an era of war.” He also said that he views his meeting with Putin as a chance to discuss progress on “the path of peace.”
“India and Russia have stayed together with each other for several decades,” he said. The US and its partners, meanwhile, have been calling on New Delhi and on Beijing to take a tougher stance on Russia amid its offensive in Ukraine.
Kiev and Moscow haven’t returned to the negotiating table since talks in Istanbul in late March fell through. Ukraine’s Western partners, meanwhile, continue supplying it with arms. Moscow, however, insists that it has not given up on the idea of peace talks with Kiev. Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made it clear that the longer the process is delayed the harder it would be to come to an agreement.
In July, Lavrov’s Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitry Kuleba, said that Kiev would only be eager to resume talks after Moscow suffers “defeat on the battlefield.” According to Kuleba, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is not ruling out “the possibility of negotiations,” but believes “there is no reason” for it at the moment. Kiev’s stance has largely remained the same ever since.
Ecuador will not be prevented from featuring at Qatar 2022 as things stand
Chile's national football team have lost their appeal to replace fellow South American rivals Ecuador at the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar, though the case is now likely to head to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Chile had argued that Ecuador's Byron Castillo is actually Colombian and was therefore ineligible to play in eight of their World Cup qualifying games, yet FIFA deemed in a ruling on Friday that "on the basis of the documents presented, the player was to be considered as holding permanent Ecuadorian nationality in accordance" and therefore threw the complaint out.
Chile claimed to have evidence that proves Castillo is Colombian, but will now have to take their campaign to the CAS in Lausanne, Switzerland which might order an urgent hearing given the World Cup starts in around nine weeks.
Chile started preparing their case after the World Cup draw on April 1 placed Ecuador in Group A with hosts Qatar – against whom they will play the competition's opening game – as well as the Netherlands and Senegal.
If Ecuador are forced to forfeit the eight matches that Castillo starred in, Chile would rise to fourth in the South American qualifying group and pinch the last automatic qualifying spot.
Should Chile prove successful in their plight, many Ecuador fans will be left out of pocket after thousands of them bought tickets and paid for accommodation to see their country's fourth World Cup appearance.
Chile's appeal was heard remotely on Thursday with three judges present via video link from FIFA's headquarters in Zurich.
The chief judge was former White House Counsel from the Barack Obama administration Neil Eggleston, who continued a trend of FIFA rarely overturning a ruling handed down by its disciplinary committee.
The complaint is Chile's second in back-to-back World Cup qualifying campaigns.
In 2018, on the road to Russia, Bolivia had to forfeit two games after fielding an ineligible player. Along with Peru, Chile claimed that late substitute Nelson Cabrera was Paraguay-born and had also been capped by its national team.
Bolivia lost a CAS appeal, but Chile still didn't qualify for Russia after Peru were awarded three extra points and rose above them in the South American qualifying group.
FIFA created stricter rules for Qatar 2022 in response to the furor, requiring all players in qualifying matches to produce "valid permanent international passports" for match officials to check.
But as things stand, 2015 and 2016 Copa America kings Chile look certain to miss out on featuring at FIFA's showpiece international tournament for the second time running.
A Chicago Bulls jersey worn by the basketball icon has fetched over $10 million
Michael Jordan can boast another world record after the sale of his old Chicago Bulls jersey made history this week.
Sotheby's auction house has revealed that a jersey worn by the 59-year-old in Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Finals, as featured on the well-received documentary 'The Last Dance', had been sold for $10.1 million.
It is said that the popularity of the documentary has also re-triggered an interest in Jordan and the Bulls that has now stretched to memorabilia.
And though the Bulls lost the game in question 88-85 to the Utah Jazz, the jersey from the series which the Bulls won 4-2 – helping Jordan and the franchise complete their second 'three-peat' of NBA championships – eclipsed the $9.28 million recently paid for Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' jersey worn at the 1986 World Cup in a memorable win over England in the quarter-finals.
A record-breaking day. Michael Jordan's iconic 1998 NBA Finals 'The Last Dance' jersey has sold for $10.1 million, setting records for a basketball jersey, any game-worn sports memorabilia, and most valuable #MichaelJordan item ever sold at auction. pic.twitter.com/7t8G98N5pW
While the jersey has broken the previous record for game-worn items in sports, this stretches to memorabilia related to Jordan overall with the previous record held by an autographed 1997-98 Upper Deck Game Jersey patch card that sold for $2.7 million in October last year.
A fortnight later, on October 25, Jordan's Nike Air Ships from his rookie season were also sold for $1.47 million.
As for the most expensive piece of sporting memorabilia, bragging rights in this aspect go to New York Yankees slugger Micky Mantle's 1952 Topps card sold for $12.6 million late last month.
The migrants lasted less than two days on the affluent island of Martha’s Vineyard
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker activated the National Guard to deal with 50 illegal immigrants flown into the “sanctuary” of Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The migrants were removed from the island and sent to a military base.
DeSantis sent two planeloads of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday, in a bid to draw attention to President Joe Biden’s apparent failure to secure the US’ border with Mexico, and to protest his administration’s practice of shipping large groups of migrants from the border to towns and cities across the US, often without the permission of state authorities.
The new arrivals lasted less than two days on the affluent island. After declaring the situation a “humanitarian crisis,” Governor Baker called up 125 members of the Massachusetts National Guard on Friday and loaded the immigrants onto buses, bound for Joint Base Cape Cod.
HAPPENING NOW: Migrants, flown into Martha’s Vineyard by Fl’s governor, are boarding buses. They’ll be heading to Joint Base Cape Cod, according to officials. 125 Mass National Guard members are being activated to assist. @NBCNewspic.twitter.com/RLwxNPu8GM
Baker said that the migrants, who mostly hail from Venezuela, will be given “temporary shelter and humanitarian services” at the base.
Martha’s Vineyard is a popular summer retreat for America’s elite. Sitting in the Atlantic just south of Cape Cod, it is around 90% white, and its residents overwhelmingly voted for Biden in 2020. The median home value on Martha’s Vineyard is just under $800,000, and former President Barack Obama owns a $12 million mansion on the island.
While Martha’s Vineyard did not declare itself a ‘sanctuary’ jurisdiction – as some US cities and municipalities did during the Trump administration to signify that they would not enforce federal immigration laws – Massachusetts is a de-facto sanctuary state, and signs dotted around the island proclaim that authorities there “stand with immigrants [and] refugees.”
Once the two planeloads of immigrants arrived, however, Baker declared that “the island communities are not equipped to provide sustainable accommodation,” and locals told reporters that “they have to move somewhere else.”
Republicans countered that 50 migrants represent just a fraction of the tens of thousands who enter border communities every month. “We are not a sanctuary state,” DeSantis declared on Thursday, adding that Florida would “gladly facilitate the transport of illegal immigrants to sanctuary jurisdictions.”
"Republicans are playing politics with human beings,” Biden said on Thursday, claiming that there is “a process in place to manage migrants at the border.”
New sanctions target supplies of chemicals that are “potentially useful” for the country’s military
The US has imposed further sanctions on Russia and its ally Belarus over the conflict in Ukraine, restricting exports of various chemicals, including the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. The move was announced by the US Commerce Department on Friday.
“In response to the Russian Federation’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine, the Department of Commerce is expanding the existing sanctions against Russia and Belarus by imposing new export controls,” the department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said in a statement.
The restrictions target various “lower-level” chemicals that Washington deems to be “potentially useful” for Russia’s “production capabilities” of chemical weapons. The chemicals therefore “may be useful” for Moscow to support its “military aggression,” the department claimed.
Notably, the list includes fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, as well as its derivatives. The chemical is primarily known as an illicit drug, and the US itself is suffering from rampant use. In 2021 alone, the use of fentanyl caused more than 71,000 overdose deaths across the US, according to official statistics.
Russia has destroyed its stockpile of chemical weaponry, which was inherited from the Soviet Union, and has long maintained that it neither possesses nor seeks to procure them.
The Russian president has said that liberating Donbass remains a key goal
There are no changes to the Russian plan for the military operation in Ukraine, and the main objective remains to liberate the entire territory of the two Donbass republics, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday. The statement comes amid an ongoing counter-offensive by Kiev.
“There are no adjustments to the plan. The General Staff makes operational decisions in the course of the campaign as to what is considered a key objective,” Putin told reporters on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
“The main goal is the liberation of the entire territory of Donbass. This work continues, despite the attempted counterattacks by the Ukrainian army,” the Russian president added.
Putin pointed out that the Russian army continues to make “incremental” advances in the Donbass itself. He also said Moscow is “not in a hurry” in Ukraine.
Commenting on the “Kiev Security Compact”presented by Ukraine this week, the Russian president noted that the two countries had worked out a set of security guarantees and terms for ending the conflict back in March at the Istanbul talks – but then Kiev walked away from the table.
“Now they say they don’t want any agreements with Russia, but wish to win on the battlefield. Well, flag in hand,” Putin said, using a Russian idiom for ironically wishing someone success in a hopeless endeavor.
Though his spokesman Dmitry Peskov had described Kiev’s proposal as proof that Russia is being threatened by NATO, Putin said he wanted to wait and see what the Ukrainians actually come up with, as “their position on almost every issue changes almost every day.”
The West does plan to break up Russia – and has had such plans for decades – the president noted, but one of the reasons the special military operation began is that some Western countries decided to use Ukraine to achieve that.
Moscow has responded “with restraint” to Ukrainian “terror attacks” against civilian infrastructure and officials, including the targeting of nuclear facilities inside Russia, Putin said. Such behavior is unacceptable, and if Ukraine continues with it, the Russian response will be “more serious” than the recent “sensitive strikes,” which represented a warning of sorts, the Russian president added.
The German chancellor pledged more money for the country’s military to help counter a perceived Russian threat
The German military should assume a leading role in beefing up European security, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said. He also pledged more funding for the country’s armed forces while naming Russia as the primary adversary for the foreseeable future.
Speaking at a Bundeswehr conference in Berlin on Friday, Scholz said his government’s priority was to turn the country’s military into a “foundation pillar” of Europe’s defense. He cited Russia’s offensive against Ukraine as the turning point that prompted Berlin to reassess its role on the continent and within NATO.
“Germany is ready to take on the responsibility in a leading position,” Scholz said, adding that the German military should become the “best equipped strike force in Europe” in the months and years ahead.
The chancellor noted that the Bundeswehr is already playing a key role in providing security on NATO’s eastern flank. Another “Herculean task” awaits Berlin next year, when the country leads the military alliance’s Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, he said.
Scholz went on to say that he expected Russia to remain Europe’s main adversary in the foreseeable future. To effectively counter this perceived threat, the German military needs to address the existing “capability gaps,” the chancellor said.
Berlin’s first task at hand will be to provide the Bundeswehr with more weapons, ammunition, spare parts and maintenance as soon as possible. Germany has created a special fund of €100 billion to upgrade its military.
Scholz admitted that Germany has long “avoided the genuine prioritization” of improving the state of its military. While the military did a good job of providing humanitarian assistance at home during the Covid 19 pandemic and floods last year, its “core mission” should always be the “protection of freedom in Europe,” Scholz argued.
He pledged to continue boosting funding for the military, and vowed that Germany’s annual defense budget would reach the target of 2% of the country’s GDP – a level the US has long called for within NATO.
The Russian digital currency could be used in test mode transactions next year, according to the central bank
The Bank of Russia (CBR) plans to start testing the digital ruble in transactions with real clients starting in April, CBR Governor Elvira Nabiullina said at a press conference on Friday.
“We are now testing the digital ruble with fifteen banks, this is really a test mode on how to open wallets on the digital ruble platform, how to make transfers between customers, how to pay for goods and services, including via QR codes,” she explained, adding that test mode transactions with real clients but in limited volumes could gradually be launched on April 1, 2023.
Nabiullina noted that despite some technological issues, “it is very important for us that there is trust in this new form of digital ruble, all cybersecurity issues have been resolved so that it is seamless, convenient for people and comfortable.”
The concept of a national digital currency was unveiled by the CBR in late 2020. The new form of money is expected to coexist with cash and non-cash rubles. Unlike virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, the digital ruble is projected to pose minimal risk, as it will be issued by the state monetary regulator and backed by traditional money.
Moscow is eager to significantly strengthen trade ties with Ankara in all areas of interest
Russian gas supplies to Turkey will be partly paid for in rubles, President Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Friday. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
“We are ready to significantly increase supplies to Turkey in all directions that are of interest [to the country]. Our agreement on natural gas supplies of Russian origin to Turkey with the payment of 25% of these supplies in Russian rubles will start working in the nearest future,” the Russian president stated.
Earlier, reports emerged that Erdogan intends to ask Putin for a 25% discount on gas supplies. According to a report by Bloomberg, citing sources among senior Turkish officials, Erdogan also intends to make it possible to pay for part of the deliveries in Turkish liras.
R. Kelly was found guilty on child porn and sex abuse charges, but acquitted on conspiracy charges
Disgraced R&B star R. Kelly was convicted on six counts of child pornography and enticing a minor into sexual activity on Thursday in Chicago. However, he was acquitted on charges that he and his associates had conspired to obstruct justice by fixing a 2008 state trial on child porn charges.
Kelly was specifically convicted of three counts of coercing minors into sexual activity and three counts of producing sex tapes involving a minor. Each count carries a 10-year minimum sentence, and he faces up to 90 years in prison.
The Grammy-winning sex predator was accused of producing three videos of himself sexually abusing underage girls, including his goddaughter, who was 14 years old at the time. Four other women took the stand to testify that they too engaged in sexual activity with the star while underage.
A 2008 trial that ended with Kelly acquitted of producing child sexual abuse imagery centered on one of the same videos, in which prosecutors said he is seen sexually abusing and urinating on his goddaughter.
At the time, the girl had testified that she was not the girl in the film. However, prosecutors in the current trial presented evidence of years’ worth of payments to her and her family indicating that Kelly’s team had been buying their silence, and she testified that not only had she lied in the previous trial, but that Kelly and his team had put her up to it.
The singer’s former business manager and former employee were accused of trying to hide incriminating videos of Kelly in sexual activities with minors.
However, they were acquitted of all charges against them, including arranging payments to people attempting to recover the “stolen” videos and conspiring to recover child sexual abuse imagery, and Kelly was acquitted of conspiring to obstruct an earlier investigation and two other counts of enticing minors into sex.
Kelly is already serving a 30-year sentence on sex trafficking and racketeering charges after he was convicted of nine criminal counts in New York last year. He faces further charges in Minnesota and another trial in Chicago.
The star, who did not testify in his own defense, continues to proclaim his innocence. His lawyer Jennifer Bonjean has described him as a “victim of extortion and financial exploitation” targeted by the excesses of thes #MeToo movement.
Deliveries have soared under a barter deal between the two countries
Russia has significantly increased exports of fertilizers, among other commodities, to India, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday while meeting with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
“Commodity turnover is growing, including due to additional deliveries of Russian fertilizers to the Indian market,” Putin said, noting the supplies have increased by more than eight times.
“I hope that this will help Indian farmers to solve the difficult tasks of providing food to the country's population,” the Russian president stated.
In May, New Delhi finalized a barter agreement with Moscow for the supply of fertilizers. The Indian government assured its farmers that there would be no fertilizer shortages in the country despite the soaring global prices. India is the second largest importer chemical fertilizers after China.
What is believed to be a Ukrainian missile strike hit the office of a pro-Russian official in Kherson when he was away for a TV appearance
Deputy head of the Kherson military-civilian administration managed to avoid almost certain death in a suspected Ukrainian attack on his office on Friday as he had left for a TV talk show.
“Today I could have died, but God saved me,” Kirill Stremousov wrote on his Telegram channel, adding that he was alive “thanks to chance and all those who need me.” The official claims that one of the five US-made HIMARS rockets reportedly launched by Ukrainian troops on Kherson city center landed right on his office.
Stremousov was invited to appear on the 'Speak the Truth' talk show on Crimea 24 TV by Oleg Kryuchkov, an advisor to the head of the peninsula.
“When I told the editors on Monday that Kirill Stremousov should be invited to the talk show [...] I could not even imagine that it would be saving his life.” Kryuchkov said on social media.
Stremousov claims that the target of the Ukrainian forces was the acting head of the Kherson military-civilian administration Sergey Eliseev as well as a meeting of municipal authorities of the region. None of the high-ranking officials were injured in the attack, the official said, but several other people lost their lives or were injured.
According to the local health authority, at least 13 people sustained injuries in the attack on the city center on Friday, of which three are currently in a critical condition. They also reported that the attacks left three people dead – two passersby and a driver for a region official.
The city of Kherson has been under Russian control since early March, shortly after the country launched its military operation in Ukraine. Late last month, Kiev troops began a counteroffensive in the region, which, according to Moscow, has failed completely, with the Ukrainian military suffering heavy casualties.
President added that celebrations over Kiev's recent progress are premature
Russian President Vladimir Putin has commented on Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive and warned of consequences for Kiev over its attempts to stage what he described as “terror attacks.”
So far, Moscow has shown “restraint” in its reaction, Putin insisted, but he warned that this may change. The president was speaking at a press conference in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.
“The special military operation is not a warning of some sort, but a special military operation. We’re witnessing attempts to stage terror attacks, attempts to damage our civilian infrastructure. We respond to this with restraint, but only for the time being,” Putin stated.
Quite recently, the Russian armed forces delivered a couple of sensitive strikes, let’s say they were a warning. If the situation continues to develop in such fashion, the response will be more serious.
While the president did not specify which specific incidents he was referring to, over the past week the Russian military has targeted several key infrastructure sites across Ukraine.
The president also touched on the ongoing counteroffensive launched by the Ukrainian military, which is already celebrated as a great success by Kiev and its Western backers. Before drawing any conclusions, one should wait and see “how it ends,” Putin suggested.
Massive amounts of fertilizers are held up at EU ports, the Russian president has said
Russia is prepared to provide 300,000 tons of fertilizers currently amassed at EU ports due to Western sanctions to developing nations free of charge, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.
Speaking at a summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Uzbekistan, the Russian leader said he had discussed agricultural export issues with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“The day before yesterday I informed Mr. Guterres that 300,000 tons of Russian fertilizers had piled up in the European Union’s seaports,” Putin said, adding that Moscow is “ready to give them to developing countries for free,” and that such deliveries would be instrumental in alleviating the global food crisis.
In late July, Moscow and Kiev signed a deal unblocking Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea at UN-brokered talks in Istanbul. The agreement is also supposed to allow Russia to deliver fertilizers and food goods to global markets. However, Russian officials have repeatedly criticized the West for not honoring the deal.
While Putin welcomed the decision to allow Russian fertilizers into the EU, he criticized Brussels for only allowing the bloc’s member states to buy them.
“It turns out that only they could purchase our fertilizers. What about the developing countries, the poorest countries of the world?” he asked.
Putin asked the UN Secretariat to leverage the EU Commission so that “not in words, but in deeds, [it] demands the removal of these discriminatory restrictions against developing countries” by allowing Russian fertilizers to reach emerging markets.
On Thursday, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said that the “illegal unilateral sanctions” the West has imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict are still blocking the export of Russian food products and fertilizers to global markets despite earlier agreements.
He also accused EU officials of “selfishness, cynicism and hypocrisy” for prohibiting European carriers from transporting Russian fertilizers to Africa, Asia or Latin America, while allowing deliveries to EU countries.
Paul Ashworth is reportedly set to take over as Spartak Moscow's sporting director
Spartak Moscow will hire Paul Ashworth as their new sporting director in the near future, according to reports in Russia.
Championat says it has spoken to sources familiar with the situation, and that Ashworth will soon fly to the Russian capital and sign his contract with one of the biggest football clubs in the country.
Fellow Russian sports outlet Metaratings reports that Ashworth has already obtained a visa, and that the 52-year-old's arrival is expected next week on September 20 or 21.
This week, Spartak CEO Evgeny Melezhikov also declared that Spartak would soon have a new foreign sports director.
Englishman Ashworth is a well-traveled professional who has worked in Russia before in 2005 as the sporting director at Rostov, where he also became acting manager when Gennady Stepushkin was undergoing treatment.
Starting his career as a youth coach at Cambridge United in 1992, he also boasts passages through Latvia, Kazakhstan and Nigeria, where he explained in an anecdote to The Athletic that he was once held hostage for "four or five hours" by 50 young men who came to the Sunshine Stars FC's stadium with sticks and baseball bats while he was head coach.
Ashworth is set to arrive at Spartak after a successful 18-month tenure at Astana in Kazakhstan as their CEO and sporting director.
Overseeing their arrival into the Europa League, a historic win over Manchester United at home in the group stage in 2019 was also achieved on his watch.
He is also due to join Spartak Moscow in a moment of general change at the club.
The Muscovites are Russia's most successful domestic team of all time with 22 top-tier titles, yet currently lie fifth in the Russian Premier League on 16 points, seven behind leaders and reigning champions Zenit.
Last month, Russian energy company Lukoil announced that it had acquired total control of the club, and also confirmed that long-serving president Leonid Fedun would step down from his role as it attempts to "reinforce Spartak's competitive position and lead to new victories."
"There will be big changes at Spartak," Melezhikov vowed.
Border skirmishes between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan reportedly continued shortly after a deal to withdraw forces was reached
The leaders of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan met on Friday and agreed to withdraw their troops and cease hostilities amid an ongoing border flare-up between their countries.
Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit underway in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
“The parties discussed the situation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik part of the state border. The leaders of the two countries agreed to order the respective forces to cease fire and withdraw troops and hardware from the line of contact,” a spokesperson for the Kyrgyz president told RIA Novosti in a statement.
The two leaders also agreed to set up a joint commission to investigate the triggers of the latest border flare-up.
The truce, however, was apparently short-lived, as some two hours after the agreement was reached, the Kyrgyz border guard accused the neighboring country of continuing the attacks.
“Breaching the reached agreement, the Tajik side has yet again opened fire on the Kyrgyz border guard,” the guard's press service said in a statement, claiming that Tajik troops had used heavy weaponry, including multiple rocket launch systems to shell the country’s territory.
The two Central Asian nations have experienced border tensions over the past few days and have traded blame for the latest renewal of a long-running conflict. Early on Friday, the skirmishes escalated into full-blown fighting involving the use of heavy weapons, as tanks and artillery were reportedly deployed at the border by both sides.
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have engaged in repeated border clashes since gaining independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The two nations share a 1,000km border, the demarcation of which they are unable to full agree on.
Kiev’s Western-assisted advance raises some questions for decision makers in Russia
After Russia and its local allies liberated Severodonetsk and Lisichansk in early July, the fighting in Ukraine subsided somewhat. It seemed as if Moscow was deliberately letting the conflict settle into something with an air of the routine. Relatively little resources were being spent on it, while the state apparatus was working to overcome the effects of sanctions and to adapt the economy.
During this time, the military operation was taking place in a kind of ‘standby mode’ against the background of turbulence in the global economy and the deepening energy crisis in Europe.
However, in late summer and early autumn, events on the Ukrainian front called into question the prospects for such a frozen state. As we had anticipated, the operational pause on the part of the Russian army led to the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) seizing the initiative and eventually launching two counter-offensive operations.
In Kherson Region, Russian-controlled territory between the Ingulets and Dnieper Rivers is supplied through three crossings: the railway and road bridges in Kherson itself and the dam and bridges of the Kakhovka hydroelectric complex. Since mid-summer, Ukrainian forces have been shelling these crossings with varying success.
Nevertheless, despite the relative effectiveness of these efforts and the collapse of some sections, they failed to disrupt the supply of both the Russian army group and the city of Kherson, located on the right bank of the Dnieper River.
Since August 20, Ukrainian forces have been engaged in a major offensive in several parts of the front. Most notably, they captured a bridgehead on the southern bank of the Ingulets River near Andreevka. Apparently, the plan was to use this to reach the Kakhovka Dam and Berislav from the south-southeast and cut off the northeastern grouping of the Russian forces, forcing them to retreat.
The Russian side managed to contain the initial onslaught by the AFU and used its air superiority to inflict a major defeat on the advancing troops. According to some estimates, Ukrainian losses in seven to ten days amounted to as many as 4,000 killed out of 15,000 advancing troops. A huge amount of video footage appears to confirm the order of magnitude of the figures, while heavy AFU losses in the Kherson theater are also reported openly in the Western press.
As of mid-September, the AFU’s successes near Kherson included the occupation of the village of Vysokopolye in the northeastern part of the Kherson front, and several small villages near Andreevka, where the depth of the breach was reduced from a maximum of 20-22km to a bridgehead measuring approximately 7-12km. On the evening of September 14, there were reports that the Karachun reservoir dam in Krivoy Rog had been destroyed, which had induced a sharp rise in the water level of the Ingulets River, posing a threat to Ukrainian bridgehead crossings. Still, the fighting near Kherson is not yet over and the situation remains fluid.
The Kherson attack, however, was quickly overshadowed by events in the north. On September 6 in Kharkov Region, the AFU launched an attack on the Russian-controlled regional towns of Balakleya, Izium and Kupiansk. A day later Balakleya was completely blockaded, and two days later the AFU approached Kupiansk, located on the Oskol River, threatening to encircle Izium to the south.
The attackers operated in light mobile groups, breaking into settlements, blocking roads and going behind the small Russian garrisons. Their superior numbers (an eight-to-one, according to some estimates) allowed them to quickly flood a vast territory and create the impression of a ubiquitous presence.
No major fighting took place and for a couple of days the wooded area between Balakleya and the Oskol River was a patchwork of terrain, with little control by either side.
As early as September 8, Russia started transferring reserves to the front, for which heavy Mi-26 helicopters were deployed. At the same time, there began a withdrawal of forces from Balakleya, which had been encircled operationally. The Ufa and Samara SOBR (Special Unit of Quick Response — RT.) detachments that had been blocked in the town were the last to leave, doing so without major losses, as early as September 9-10.
On September 10, the Russian Defense Ministry announced a complete withdrawal of forces to the Oskol River in eastern Kharkov Region. As a result, Balakleya, Izium and the western part of Kupiansk, which was divided by the Oskol, have come under Ukrainian control.
Despite official statements by the Russian Defense Ministry about the withdrawal and redeployment of the Izium-Balakleya group of troops to the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Kharkov events were perceived by many in Russia almost as a disaster. It has become clear that Ukraine is in a position to conduct offensive operations and there is a feeling that the Russian army has no way to respond to here and now.
As a result of the strike, Moscow’s forces had to hastily abandon territory where Russia’s presence had seemed permanent: passports and license plates had been distributed to locals; Russian businesses had entered Izium, Kupiansk and Balakleya; local teachers had been retrained and were preparing to start the new academic year with Russian programs.
The effect was magnified by the swiftness of events: the AFU managed to move the front 60-70km in three days, while in Donbass a movement of 1-2km a week is considered a success.
***
What is next? Depending on how much offensive potential it has remaining, the AFU could try to push forward in several ways.
First, it might attack east of the Oskol or from the south through a bridgehead at Krasny Liman in order to occupy the remaining Russian-controlled part of Kharkov Region and enter the territory of the Lugansk People’s Republic from the north.
Second, it could embark on an attempt to reverse the situation near Kherson and still go on the offensive there.
Third, a strike somewhere else could be forthcoming. There have been reports of large AFU forces accumulating near Ugledar, which may indicate preparations for an offensive along the Volnovakha-Mariupol line. Mariupol is just 70km from Ugledar, which is comparable to the depth of AFU operations in the Kherson and Kharkov theaters.
Fourth, attempts to shift infantry fighting to Russian territory near Belgorod cannot be ruled out. Provocations in the form of shelling there are constant and have been intensifying in recent days, and it seems that the Ukrainian forces are probing Moscow's reaction.
What about Russia itself? On July 7, President Putin said that Russia had not yet started anything in earnest in Ukraine. It seems that it is impossible to achieve the operation’s goals without defeating the Ukrainian army, which means that Russia needs to seize the initiative and change our approach to combat operations.
In what form this will happen – whether air strikes will be stepped up and geographically expanded, or the Russian force grouping will be increased and major offensive operations prepared, or some form of mobilization will eventually come to pass – we will find out sooner or later.
The US President has called on technology giants to crack down on the “venom and violence” of white supremacy
YouTube, Twitch, Microsoft, as well as Facebook and Instagram parent firm Meta announced on Thursday that they would monitor and remove allegedly hateful and extremist content after President Joe Biden made a speech portraying white supremacy as rampant in the US.
According to a White House website, YouTube will expand its removal of content “glorifying violent acts” and will launch a campaign to help young users identify the “manipulation tactics used to spread misinformation.” Twitch will make it easier for users to report “hate and harassment,” Microsoft will use artificial intelligence to “detect credible threats of violence” from those who use its products, and Meta will partner with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies’ Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism to “analyze trends in violent extremism and… help communities combat it.”
These firms already have extensive policies on allegedly hateful content, but liberals argue that such content still proliferates, and conservatives claim that these policies are used to discriminate against them for political reasons.
The latest censorship push was announced as Biden held a summit at the White House entitled ‘United We Stand.’ Alongside speeches from activists, law enforcement and business leaders, Biden used the event to call for increased censorship of social media, gun control, and a broad crackdown on the “venom and violence” of “white supremacists.”
Biden has long insisted that such extremists are “the most lethal terrorist threat in the homeland,” and the president referenced several high-profile incidents to reinforce his argument, like the vehicle attack in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 and racially motivated shootings by white gunmen in Texas in 2019 and New York this year – the latter of which was livestreamed by the killer on Twitch.
However, FBI crime statistics show that white Americans do not disproportionately commit hate crimes compared to other races, and are the least likely demographic group to commit homicide against other races. The above statistics are raw totals, meaning the disparity in crime rates between whites and other races is even starker considering whites make up 58% of the US population, with Hispanics accounting for 18%, African-Americans 12.5% and other races 11.5%.
Beijing accused Boeing and Raytheon of involvement in a $1.1 billion arms deal with Taiwan
Beijing is imposing personal sanctions on the CEOs of two US weapons manufacturing giants over their involvement in arms sales to Taiwan. The news was confirmed by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday. It comes two weeks after Washington announced a $1.1 billion arms package to the island, the largest US-Taiwan deal under the Joe Biden administration.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Mao Ning, explained that US arms sales to the island, which China considers its territory, “seriously violate” the so-called 'One China' policy and existing agreements between the US and China.
“To defend China’s sovereignty and security interests, the Chinese government has decided to sanction Gregory J. Hayes, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Raytheon Technologies Corporation, and Theodore Colbert III, President and Chief Executive Officer of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, who were involved in the latest arms sale,” she said without elaborating on what kind of sanctions would be imposed.
According to Reuters, Boeing is the principal contractor for Harpoon anti-ship missiles, and Raytheon for Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and radar systems equipment included in the sale.
Raytheon, along with Lockheed Martin, has been subject to Chinese sanctions since February, when Washington announced the sale of $100 million worth of Patriot missile system upgrades to Taipei.
Mao Ning reiterated a call for Washington to stop all arms supplies to Taiwan and “to stop creating factors that could lead to tensions in the Taiwan Strait.”
She stressed that her country would continue to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty and security interests. The US insists that its massive arms packages are not in breach of the “One China” policy and would simply help Taiwan to maintain a proper self-defense capability.
Tensions between the US and China soared following a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei in August. China responded by conducting large-scale military drills in proximity to the island. This, in turn, prompted Washington to send a fleet of cruisers to the Taiwan Strait.
Despite the strained relationship with China, the US Senate approved on Wednesday a bill that would allocate $4.5 billion in security assistance for Taipei over four years.
The price drop is attributed to a rise in US inflation and fears of a more aggressive monetary policy by the Fed
The price of gold plunged to its lowest since April 2020 on Friday as investors remained wary of more aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, despite a fresh round of mixed data on the US economy.
Spot gold fell to $1,670 per ounce as of 11:00 GMT. Highly sensitive to US rates hikes, non-yielding gold has lost nearly $400 since its March peak.
“The gold market has clearly priced in a more aggressive US Federal Reserve ahead of next week’s meeting, reflecting the Central Bank’s determination to fight inflation,” Carsten Menke, head of Next Generation Research at Julius Baer, told Reuters on Thursday.
While the consensus is for a 75-basis-point (bps) rise, some are even expecting a full percentage point increase, which is partly reflected in the gold market, Menke said, adding that a 75 bps hike would come as a positive surprise for the gold market.
“Damage is being driven by the market pricing in a 1% rate hike next week and a terminal rate around 4.5%. Stronger than expected retail sales are not helping,” head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank Ole Hansen told Bloomberg.
The precious metal has dipped 9% this year as the Fed aggressively raised rates, triggering outflows from assets that bear no interest.
The bloc’s secretary general says Ukraine’s counter-offensives do not promise an end to the hostilities
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine will not be ending any time soon, despite Kiev’s “effective” counter-attack against Moscow’s troops, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg claims.
Speaking to BBC Radio on Friday, the NATO chief said that it is “extremely encouraging to see that Ukrainian armed forces have been able to take back territory and also strike behind Russian lines.”
However, he stressed it is important to understand that “this is not the beginning of the end of the war, we have to be prepared for the long haul.”
Stoltenberg’s comments come after Russia announced the withdrawal of its troops from several settlements in northeastern Ukraine, including the city of Izium. Moscow maintains the step was taken to strengthen forces in Donetsk, while Kiev celebrated the Russian withdrawal as a victory.
Last week, Stoltenberg warned that Ukraine could “cease to exist” as an independent nation unless it continues its fight against Russia, which, he claims, wants to “take control of Ukraine.”
The secretary general reiterated calls for Western nations to continue their support for Kiev by sending more military aid, as well as supplying them with adequate uniforms for the upcoming winter, generators, and tents, among other things.
Moscow has repeatedly urged the West to stop “pumping” Ukraine with weapons and other military hardware, insisting that it will only serve to prolong the bloodshed without changing the outcome of the conflict.
The International Biathlon Union (IBU) has prolonged a suspension originally handed down in March
The International Biathlon Union (IBU) has extended its ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes at a Congress held on Friday, where International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach also made opening remarks.
The IBU adopted a motion submitted by its Executive Board to confirm its decision from March 1 this year not to allow any Russian or Belarusian athletes or officials at its events "until further notice."
A total of 39 members voted in favor of the motion, which was borne out of the IOC's recommendation back in February to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes as a response to the military conflict in Ukraine. Two IBU members cast a 'no' vote, while five abstained.
The issue of Russian and Belarusian membership of the organization – which has been suspended – was also voted on.
Forty members supported the motion submitted by the Executive Board to suspend the Russian and Belarusian Federations "until they demonstrate their full commitment to supporting and promoting the purposes and principles of the IBU," with one voting 'no', four abstaining, and another vote invalid.
The IBU Congress has adopted the motion submitted by the Executive Board to confirm the EB decision dated 01 March 2022 to not allow participation of any Russian or Belarusian athletes or Officials at its International Events until further notice.
The IBU Congress has also adopted the motion submitted by the Executive Board to suspend the Russian and Belarusian Federations until they demonstrate their full commitment to supporting and promoting the purposes and principles of the IBU.
Russian media reported that the IBU had sent out a letter from the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) to all members before the vote, in which Russian officials requested their return to the fold.
According to RBU press officer Sergey Averyanov, via the Telegram messaging service, the federations of Norway, Poland, Brazil and Ukraine all spoke out against the re-admission of Russians and Belarusians at the Congress.
Reacting to the news, Russian biathlete Natalia Gerbulova said she was "offended and annoyed that we are being deprived of what we have been preparing for all our lives."
RBU president Viktor Maigurov echoed these words, predicting that the further suspension of Russian biathlon may even force the premature termination of many athletes' and coaches' careers.
"The suspension can last for several years and we have no control over it, but the consequences of it can be serious. Do you think that's fair?" Maigurov was quoted as saying at the Congress.
"If you want to damage Russian biathlon, then this is your right, but many athletes and coaches could end their careers," Maigurov went on.
"You can also make our young athletes think about changing their sports citizenship, [and] thousands of Russian children can leave biathlon, preferring other sports [such as] tennis, hockey or judo.
"World biathlon will survive without Russian athletes, but I am not sure whether it will help the sport, nor do I think that it will help Ukrainian athletes.
"This is your responsibility: we can build walls or make bridges, we must make the right choice," Maigurov demanded of the biathlon authorities.
State clemency board formally rejected a petition asking governor to erase a drug conviction against police brutality victim
A Texas clemency panel has formally rejected a petition for a posthumous pardon of George Floyd, whose death sparked massive protests against police brutality after he was killed by a Minnesota police officer in 2020. The panel had initially recommended clearing his slate, but reversed the decision late last year.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted unanimously against calling on Governor Greg Abbott to grant a rare revision of a person’s criminal record after their death, the Texas Tribune reported on Thursday.
The letter sent to Floyd’s attorney Allison Mathis, to notify her about the decision was first published by a reporter for the Marshall Project, a non-profit outlet covering criminal justice news. It did not explain the board’s reasoning for rejecting the petition.
Mathis, a Houston public defender, petitioned the board to pardon Floyd over a 2004 drug conviction in April 2021. That came after a police officer whose testimony helped build the case against Floyd, was accused of using false evidence in multiple cases.
The officer, Gerald Goines, is now also facing murder charges after a botched drugs raid in 2019. During the investigation, he was accused of inventing confidential informants and otherwise lying to smear defendants.
The board had recommended pardoning Floyd in October last year, but rescinded the decision two months later. The governor’s office said at the time that the clemency body would review the case to “resolve procedural errors and issues”. Abbott could not consider the pardon without a proper recommendation, his press secretary explained.
Mathis, Floyd’s attorney, told the Tribune that Texas had missed a chance “to do a small, good thing: to take an apolitical stance that no matter who a person is, their rights need to be respected and an accurate record of their life is important.”
Floyd was killed in May 2020 during a police arrest, which was filmed by witnesses and quickly went viral on social media. The footage sparked nationwide protests against racism and police brutality.
Derek Chauvin, the white officer who held his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes as he was restraining the black man, was convicted in April 2021 of unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.
China Telecom’s high-rise office was ablaze in the southern city of Changsha
A major blaze has engulfed a 218m-tall skyscraper that houses the offices of China Telecom in the city of Changsha in southern China, spreading over several dozen floors. No casualties have been reported so far.
“Thick smoke is spewing from the site, and several dozen floors are burning ferociously,” CCTV reported, adding that firefighters have started extinguishing the flames and conducting rescue operations.
According to the local fire department, 36 fire trucks and 280 firefighters were deployed at the site. Preliminary data indicates that it was the outer wall of the building that caught fire.
The videos posted on social media show flames searing through the building and huge clouds of smoke rising into the sky. The exact reason for the blaze is currently unknown.
"At present, the open fire has been extinguished, and no casualties have been found," authorities added.
