Day: May 26, 2023

Demand for gas in the European Union is expected to decline by more than the bloc’s total imports from Russia this year, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing an internal European Commission document. The majority of the cuts were made by the EU’s most industrialized countries.

Gas consumption will reportedly decrease by 60 billion cubic meters in 2023 compared to the average for the last five years.

The figure represents “more than the gas volumes we still foresee to import from Russia in 2023, both pipeline and [liquefied natural gas],” reads the document seen by the FT.

The figure is also 8 billion cubic meters more than EU nations saved during the height of the energy crisis in 2022.

The substantial drop in demand was not simply down to “good luck,” EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson reportedly stated at a meeting on Wednesday. Instead, she claimed it had resulted from a series of emergency laws adopted last year in a bid to decrease the bloc’s reliance on supplies from Russia.

At the same time, energy experts have cited the mild winter of 2022 as helping EU members to consume less energy, while high prices resulted in energy-intensive industries scaling back production.

Last year, member states agreed to voluntarily reduce gas consumption by 15% from August 2022 until March 2023. The EU executive branch said that the target had been surpassed, and the agreement was extended for another 12 months in March.

According to a report by the European Environmental Bureau, as quoted by the FT, only 14 out of 27 EU nations have adopted compulsory measures to slash energy consumption.

Five out of the 14 – Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal – reportedly made up 60% of the fall in demand, while Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania were the only member states that have not implemented any energy-saving regulations. This is partially attributed to already low gas demand in those countries.

“The most robust measures on gas savings have been implemented in countries that import large quantities of Russian gas such as Italy and Germany,” the report seen by the FT reads.

The EU previously covered about two-fifths of its gas needs through Russian energy imports. According to preliminary data from the EC, the bloc’s imports of Russian gas in March were 74% lower than they were in the same month two years ago.

Source: Russia Today

Like many European countries, Belgium has been witnessing a crisis in its asylum system for several months. With its welcome centres and public services stretched to breaking point, NGOs are now sounding the alarm. They say more resources are needed to help process the many unaccompanied minors arriving in Belgium, with three quarters coming from Afghanistan. Belgian law requires each unaccompanied minor to have a legal guardian before starting the asylum process – but there simply aren’t enough of them. FRANCE 24’s Alix Le Bourdon followed the demanding daily life of two of these guardians who hold parental authority over the young foreigners entrusted to them.

Source: France24.com

It can recreate voices, and write fresh and perfect text; AI has even found a cure for cancer. On this edition of 360 View, Scottie Nell Hughes talks with lawyer and media analyst, Lionel, to discuss the various capabilities of Artificial Intelligence and asks: “is AI growing faster than the world and the law is prepared for?”

Source: Russia Today

The Chinese yuan has become a major player in Russia’s foreign trade and its share in the country’s cross-border settlements is expected to grow tenfold, Herman Gref, the head of Russia’s largest state-owned lender, Sber, said on Tuesday.

The share of the yuan in Russia’s export settlements jumped from 2% to 18% and in import payments from 5% to 27% over the past year, according to Gref.

Speaking at a Russian-Chinese Business Forum in Shanghai, he highlighted the “significant” interest in national currencies, and in the yuan in particular, among the bank’s clients.

“In 2023, we expect a tenfold increase in the number of transactions in yuan compared to last year,” he said.

Gref called Beijing’s Belt and Road infrastructure and investment project an important model for the development of global infrastructure. He added that Sber, as a systemically important lender in the Russian economy, would be willing to take part in the project.

Two-thirds of current trade between Russia and China is carried out in the national currencies, the yuan and the ruble, according to the Bank of Russia.

The latest trading data shows that almost all of Beijing’s purchases of crude oil, gas, coal, and certain metals from Moscow are now settled in yuan.

A shift from the US dollar and euro in international trade has accelerated against the backdrop of sweeping sanctions imposed by Western nations against Russia, which is a major global energy producer and exporter.

The yuan surpassed the dollar to become the most-used currency in China’s cross-border transactions in March, according to calculations based on data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

Source: Russia Today

A Ukrainian missile has been shot down by Russian air defenses over Rostov Region, the local governor has said. The attack follows a wave of attempted strikes on Russian territory in recent weeks, as Kiev prepares to launch its much-hyped “spring counteroffensive.”

Rostov Governor Vasily Golubev reported the missile attack in a Telegram post on Thursday, saying at least one projectile was intercepted near the Morozovsk district, located about 255km (158 miles) northeast of the regional capital of Rostov-on-Don.

“An air defense system went off in the Morozovsk area, shooting down a Ukrainian missile,” the official said, adding “The military is doing its job. Keep calm.”

Footage purporting to show the interception has circulated online, with a light seen streaking across the night sky before detonating in mid-flight, after which debris from the missile appears to fall to the ground. It is unclear what type of munition might have been used.

Ukrainian forces have carried out a series of attacks in recent weeks, increasingly targeting both Russia’s border regions and new territories, as well as naval assets in Crimea, which voted to join the Russian Federation soon after a US-sponsored coup in Kiev in 2014.

Early on Thursday morning, Russian authorities said at least two Ukrainian drones were shot down near Sevastopol, the port city which hosts Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet, while Ukrainian unmanned speed boats were also repelled after an assault on a Russian reconnaissance vessel sailing in the Bosporus Strait on Wednesday.

The Russian capital has also come under drone attack, with the Kremlin saying a failed UAV strike earlier this month was an attempt to assassinate President Vladimir Putin. While Kiev has denied any involvement, keeping with its usual policy for cross-border strikes, Russian officials have accused Washington of facilitating Kiev’s “terrorist attacks” in Russia.

Source: Russia Today

The facade of an office building was damaged in a Friday morning blast in the city of Krasnodar, southern Russia, according to the region’s crisis center. Local news outlets and Telegram channels claimed that the facility was likely struck by a Ukrainian drone or its debris, citing eyewitness accounts and sharing photos and videos of the incident.

There were no casualties, according to preliminary information cited by the mayor, Evgeny Naumov, upon arriving at the scene. However, a residential building had several windows blown out. Naumov urged the public to “remain calm” while emergency services are working at the scene.

While authorities have yet to confirm details, popular digital news outlets, including Mash, Baza, Readovka and SHOT, all shared footage of the suspected drone strike. Some reports suggested the UAV was shot down by the air defenses, as eyewitnesses reportedly heard at least two blasts.

In one of the videos, an explosion could be heard seconds after what appears to be a drone flies out of frame.

The Baza Telegram channel shared another video captured by a local, which shows smoke billowing from an area near two cell towers following the explosion.

Meanwhile, Readovka shared pictures of the aftermath, apparently showing the damaged facade of a building that belongs to the Russian cellphone network operator MTS.

In one of the videos shared by SHOT, an unmanned aerial vehicle could be seen flying across the sky, but the date and location of the video have not been verified.

Source: Russia Today

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has honored UN peacekeeping personnel who had lost their lives in the line of duty, including Russia’s Lieutenant Colonel Alexey Mizyura, who was part of a reconnaissance team killed in a helicopter crash in the Democratic Republic of the Congo last year.

The ceremony at the UN General Assembly Hall in New York on Thursday marked the upcoming 75th anniversary of UN Peacekeepers Day on May 29. The UN chief laid a wreath to honor over 4,200 peacekeepers who had lost their lives under the UN flag since 1948, and awarded posthumous medals to the 103 deceased last year.

Lt. Col. Mizyura was a senior intelligence officer with the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). On March 29, 2022 he flew a surveillance and reconnaissance mission with a team of UN military observers when their helicopter came under fire near the town of Rutshuru. The area had seen fighting between the Congolese military and militants affiliated with the March 23 Movement (M23), with the two sides blaming each other for shooting down the aircraft. The entire UN team was killed in the crash, including six Pakistani and one Serbian peacekeeper.

“Mizyura remained true to his duty to the very end, striving to bring peace and stability to the Congolese land. High professionalism, as well as his inherent courage, helped him to successfully carry out the most important missions,” the Russian mission to the UN said. Moscow’s permanent representative, Vassily Nebenzia, accepted the medal on behalf of Mizyura, and will pass it on to the officer’s surviving family.

The posthumous award is named after Dag Hammarskjold, a former UN secretary-general who was killed in a plane crash en route to ceasefire talks during the Congo Crisis in 1961. The exact circumstances of that disaster are still unknown.

The M23 militants were thought to have been defeated back in 2013 with the help of UN peacekeepers, but rose again in recent years. Earlier this month, the 16-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) agreed to send troops to join the East African regional military force that has been present in several areas of the Congo previously controlled by the M23 militia since December 2022.

Source: Russia Today

The volcanic topography of La Gomera prompted its inhabitants to find a way of communicating across long distances. Before the advent of mobile phones, they found that a whistle, echoing through the island’s mountains, could reach up to 4 kilometres away.

Once used to notify fellow islanders of important events, then to escape the Guardia Civil during Franco’s dictatorship, Silbo is now one of the last 80 whistled languages in the world, helping scientists make ground-breaking discoveries about the human brain.

The ENTR team met Francisco Niebla, a young whistler whose passion for Silbo was passed down to by his grandfather, and Quico Correa, among the island’s most experienced silbadores.

Source: France24.com