Apon Mon Valobash Kovir Via appear in Havana over islandwide blackout Mongla Bazar Covid Info 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the "unprecedented sabotage" to the Nord Stream natural-gas pipelines "an act of international terrorism," according to a Thursday Kremlin statement.
A US citizen was among 13 people killed in Iraq in a rocket attack carried out by Iran on Wednesday, the Department of State confirmed Thursday.
Russia is expected to annex four occupied regions of Ukraine at a lavish Kremlin ceremony on Friday that follows a threat by President Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons in their defence.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the annexations would be formalised at the ceremony and Putin would deliver a "major" speech.
It comes after foreign leaders critical of Russia voiced their opposition to the plan, with US President Joe Biden saying the United States would "never, never, never" recognise Russian sovereignty over the territories.
The Kremlin's atomic threats have not deterred a sweeping Ukrainian counter-offensive, which has been pushing back Russian troops in the east.
Kyiv's forces are on the doorstep of the Donetsk region town of Lyman, which Moscow's forces pummelled for weeks before capturing it this summer.
Putin has blamed the war in Ukraine on the West and said simmering conflicts in the former Soviet Union were the result of its collapse.
The rhetoric built on his now famous phrase that the fall of the USSR was a tragedy, and he has recently suggested Moscow should again extend its influence over the former Soviet region.
Another 58 people were wounded after Iran fired missiles and drones at militant targets in the Kurdistan region of the neighboring Middle-Eastern country Wednesday, Iraq’s state news agency said, citing its counter-terrorism service.
More information about the American victim was not provided due to “privacy considerations,” said State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel during a press briefing.
LONDON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Britain's City minister Andrew Griffith said on Friday that Prime Minister Liz Truss and finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng would meet the independent fiscal watchdog regarding economic forecasts.
"We all want the forecasts to be as quickly as they (OBR) can but also .. you also want them to have the right level of detail," Griffith told Sky News. The government's mini-budget last week sent the market into a tailspin as investors worried about how it would be funded.
Iraqi Kurdish sources said the drone strikes went after at least 10 bases of Iranian Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The US Army Central Command said it shot down one Iranian drone while they were traveling in the area because it posed a threat to American officials in the region.
“No US forces were wounded or killed as a result of the strikes and there is no damage to U.S. equipment,” it said in a statement Wednesday.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said it would continue to zero in on what they described as terrorist sites in the region.
“This operation will continue with our full determination until the threat is effectively repelled, terrorist group bases are dismantled, and the authorities of the Kurdish region assume their obligations and responsibilities,” the Guards said in a statement read on state television.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Iran’s actions as an “unjustified violation of Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“Moreover, we further condemn comments from the government of Iran threatening additional attacks against Iraq,” Blinken added. “We stand with the people and government of Iraq in the face of these brazen attacks on their sovereignty.”
A Russian strike on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least 23 people and wounded dozens, an official said Friday, just hours before Moscow planned to annex more of Ukraine in an escalation of the seven-month war.
Zaporizhzhia Regional Governor Oleksandr Starukh made the announcement in an online statement Friday. He said there were at least 28 wounded when Russian forces targeted a humanitarian convoy heading to Russian-occupied territory.
Police for Kabul say suicide blast for one education centre for di Afghan capital don kill at least 19 pipo and injure many odas.
Di blast take place for di Kaaj education centre for di Dashte Barchi area for di west of di city.
Students bin dey do one practice university exam, officials from di centre tok.
Many of those wey dey live for di area na from di Hazara minority, wey don dey targeted in di past attacks.
Footage on local TV wey dem share on social media appear to show scenes from one nearby hospital, wia dem cover plenti bodies wey dem lay on di floor. Oda media wey tori be say dem dey di site of di private college show di destruction how tables scata for di damaged classrooms.
Di Kaaj tuition centre na private college wey dey teach both male and female students. Most girls' schools for di kontri don dey closed since di Taliban return to power for August last year, but some private schools dey open.
No group don say dem dey behind di blast. But Shiite Hazaras don for decades now don face persecution from both di Taliban and di rival Islamic State group.
Several blasts don happun for di Dashte Barchi region - wey be mainly a Shiite Muslim area - for recent years, with di attacks wey dey often target areas like schools and hospitals.
On Friday, di Taliban interior ministry spokesman say security teams dey di site and condemn di attack.
Abdul Nafy Takor say attacking civilian targets "prove say di enemy dey inhuman cruelty and lack of moral standards."
Di Taliban return to power for Afghanistan last August and di group say dem dey attempting to restore stability.
However attacks by rival Islamists di Islamic State group don continue. Afghanistan Hazara community dey often dey targeted by Sunni militant groups, including IS.
Prior to di Taliban return last year, bomb attack on a girls school for di Dashte Barchi region kill at least 85 pipo - mainly students- and injure hundreds more.
He posted images of burned out vehicles and bodies lying in the road. Russia did not immediately acknowledge the strike.
The attack comes as Moscow prepares to annex four regions into Russia after an internationally criticized, gunpoint referendum vote as part of its invasion of Ukraine. Those regions include areas near Zaporizhzhia, but not the city itself, which remains in Ukrainian hands.
Starukh said those in the convoy planned to travel into Russian-occupied territory to pick up their relatives and then take them to safety. He said rescuers were at the site of the attack.
The annexation — and planned celebratory concerts and rallies in Moscow and the occupied territories — would come just days after voters supposedly approved Moscow-managed “referendums” that Ukrainian and Western officials have denounced as illegal, forced and rigged.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that four regions of Ukraine — Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — would be folded into Russia during a Kremlin ceremony attended by President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to give a major speech. Peskov said the regions’ pro-Moscow administrators would sign treaties to join Russia in the Kremlin’s ornate St. George’s Hall.
In an apparent response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an emergency meeting Friday of his National Security and Defense Council.
Zelenskyy also sought to capitalize on anti-war sentiment in Russia by issuing a special video directed at Russia’s ethnic minorities, especially those in Dagestan, one of the country’s poorer regions in the North Caucasus.
“You do not have to die in Ukraine,” he said, wearing a black hoodie that read in English “I’m Ukrainian,” and standing in front of a plaque in Kyiv memorializing what he called a Dagestani hero. He called on the ethnic minorities to resist mobilization.
The U.S. and its allies have promised to adopt even more sanctions than they’ve already levied against Russia and to offer millions of dollars in extra support for Ukraine as the Kremlin duplicates the annexation playbook it followed when it incorporated Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
Japan is providing a major U.S. chipmaker a subsidy of up to 46.6 billion yen ($322 million) to support its plan to produce advanced memory chips at a Hiroshima factory, the Japanese trade minister said Friday.
The announcement to subsidize Micron Technology comes on the heels of U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' visit in Japan as the two countries step up cooperation on expanding manufacturing and supply chains for critical materials.
“I hope the deal will contribute to further expansion of cooperation between Japan and the United States in the area of semiconductors,” Japan’s Economy and Trade Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said.
He said the government approved the deal Friday under a law related to economic security.
During her trip to Asia this week, Harris met with Japanese officials and semiconductor company executives to seek greater cooperation in strengthening semiconductor development and production amid China’s growing influence.
Micron was among the companies that participated in the meeting with Harris, along with Tokyo Electron, Nikon, Hitachi High-Tech Group, Fujitsu Ltd.
Nearly 30 more were wounded in the attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, acording to the regional governor.
Over in Russia, Mr Putin is set to make his first public appearance today since so-called referendums were held in four occupied Ukrainian territories, in which he will declare the regions are now joining the Russian Federation.
Preparations have been made at Moscow’s Red Square for a grand ceremony proclaiming the inclusion of these regions into Russian territory.
The Russian president is also expected to give a speech today after meeting the Moscow-backed leaders of the four regions.
The move by the Kremlin comes despite several warnings from world leaders who say they will never recognise the voting exercise and dismissed it as illegal and a “sham”.
Key Points
- Over 20 killed in Russian strike on civilian convoy in Ukraine
- Putin recognises independence of two Ukrainian regions
- 43 Russian soldiers killed, two fighter jets downed - Ukraine
- Putin to deliver major speech today after claiming four Ukrainian regions
ICYMI: Russian war dead have their sins forgiven, Russian Orthodox Church says
08:25 , Zoe Tidman
Russian soldiers who die in the line of duty in Ukraine have all of their sins forgiven, the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church proclaimed in a sermon, comparing their sacrificial death to that of Jesus.
Here is a reminder of what happened earlier this week:
A death toll has been announced for a Russian missile strike that hit a humanitarian convoy on Friday.
At least 23 people were killed and 28 more wounded in the attack on civilian vehicles near the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, according to the regional governor.
The United States is working to solidify its technology cooperation with Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, while trying to increase its domestic semiconductor manufacturing, amid China's own investment in computer chips.
Nishimura has stressed the U.S.-Japan alliance on semiconductors, as well as energy and other areas.
Japan was once a world leader in computer chip manufacturing, but its status has eroded over the last two decades, and the country is increasingly worried about falling behind.
Japan has set up its own fund to support semiconductor production. Out of $4.3 billion, $3.3 billion is being provided in subsidies for a new factory in Japan's southern prefecture of Kumamoto.
Putin early Friday issued decrees recognizing the independence of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, steps he had taken in February regarding Luhansk and Donetsk and earlier for Crimea.
Ukraine has repeated its vows to recapture the four regions, as well as Crimea. For its part, Russia pledges to defend all its territory — including newly annexed regions — by all available means, including nuclear weapons.
Heightening the tensions are Russia’s partial military mobilization and allegations of sabotage of two Russian pipelines on the Baltic Sea floor that were designed to feed natural gas to Europe. Adding to the Kremlin’s woes are Ukraine’s success in recapturing some of the very land Russia is annexing and problems with the mobilization that President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Thursday.
Putin made the comment over a phone call with Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, according to the readout.
Leaks to the key Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines transporting natural-gas from Russia to Europe were first detected on Monday in the Danish region of the Baltic Sea. More leaks have since been discovered, with Sweden on Wednesday announcing it detected a fourth leak.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said in a Thursday statement, that the damage is the "result of deliberate, reckless, and irresponsible acts of sabotage." It has threatened to retaliate, stating: "Any deliberate attack against Allies' critical infrastructure would be met with a united and determined response."
A few hundred Cubans took to the streets Thursday night in Havana demanding the restoration of electricity, protesting more than two days after a blackout hit the entire island following the passage of Hurricane Ian.
An Associated Press journalist saw a total of about 400 people gathered in at least two spots in the Cerro neighborhood shouting, “We want light, we want light,” and banging pots and pans.
Apon Mon Valobash Kovir Via appear in Havana over islandwide blackout Mongla Bazar Covid Info 2023
It was the first public outpouring of anger after electricity problems spread from western Cuba, where Ian hit, and knocked out all of the island's power grid Tuesday night, leaving its 11 million people in the dark. The storm also left three people dead and caused still unquantified damage.
Hurricane Ian's destructive crawl across Florida brought extraordinary flooding and storm surges, prompting the largest emergency response in the state’s history, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis told CNN Thursday.
Multiple communities have been wiped out by the storm. In Fort Myers Beach along the state's southwestern coast, some homes have been reduced to nothing but concrete slabs, Gov. Ron DeSantis said, calling the damage in parts of the state “indescribable.”
Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found
house prices were flat this month for the first time since July 2021, Nationwide figures show, revealing the impact of rising interest rates and high inflation. The average house price was unchanged between August and September, ending more than a year of uninterrupted growth. The annual pace of growth slowed to 9.5 per cent from 10 per cent in the previous month. Further signs of a slowdown in the market have emerged over the past month, said Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, as the number of mortgages approved for house purchase remained below pre-pandemic levels and surveyors reported a decline in new buyer inquiries. “The slowdown to date has been modest and, combined with a shortage of stock on the market, this has meant that price growth has remained firm.” He noted that the reduction in stamp duty could provide some support to activity and prices, as would the strength of the labour market. However, “headwinds are growing stronger, suggesting the market will slow further in the months ahead”, Gardner added. These include high inflation, which is exerting significant pressure on household budgets, and stretched affordability. A 10 per cent deposit on a typical first-time buyer property is now equivalent to almost 60 per cent of annual gross earnings — an all-time high, according to Nationwide.
Patronis, who also serves as the state's fire marshal, compared the devastation in the Fort Myers area to the damage left behind by Hurricane Michael, which slammed the Florida Panhandle in 2018 as a Category 5 storm.
“Fort Myers Beach … very similar to Mexico Beach with Hurricane Michael. A much older community, older infrastructure built with older building codes. So, the devastation there is very similar to what we're seeing with Hurricane Michael and Bay County,” he said.
When all is said and done, Ian’s storm system will likely have left behind lasting changes in its wake.
The finger-pointing continues, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying the damage to Nord Stream appeared to be due to state-sponsored terrorism, Reuters reported on Thursday.
"This looks like an act of terrorism, possibly on a state level," said Peskov, according to Reuters. "It is very difficult to imagine that such an act of a terrorism could have happened without the involvement of a state of some kind."
Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a pro-Kremlin online broadcast Thursday, the US would benefit from the leaks because it would be able to export more liquefied natural gas if the pipelines couldn't work, per Reuters.
The leaks had happened in areas "fully under the control of US intelligence," Zakharova told Soloviev Live, according to the news agency. "It happened in the trade and economic zones of Denmark and Sweden. There are NATO-centric countries," said Zakharova. She did not provide evidence of this claim, according to Reuters.
