Levy could raise €140bn, and energy ministers also set targets to cut electricity use
EU energy ministers have agreed to levy windfall taxes on energy companies’ profits, and to cut electricity use, but remain at loggerheads over proposals to cap the price of gas.
Meeting in Brussels on Friday, the bloc’s 27 energy ministers signed off on proposals to levy a “solidarity contribution” on fossil fuel producers that have benefited from soaring energy prices.
Continue reading...Dozens arrested in operation as officials warn of resurgence in trafficking of endangered elvers
Spanish police have arrested 29 people after seizing 180kg of critically endangered young European eels with a value on the hidden market of €270,000 (£237,000).
The Guardia Civil said the operation, in collaboration with Europol, had also led to 20 arrests elsewhere in Europe.
Continue reading...Attack comes as Vladimir Putin prepares to publicly sign annexation orders for four Ukrainian regions
A civilian convoy of cars heading to pick up relatives trying to flee Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine has been hit by Moscow’s forces near the city of Zaporizhzhia, with initial reports saying dozens of people were killed and injured. That casualty figure could not immediately be confirmed.
Footage posted on social media showed a horrific scene with dead and injured people lying on a road on the south-eastern outskirts of the city. In one video, taken from inside a nearby building, a woman can be heard sobbing, saying repeatedly: “Dead people are lying there.”
Continue reading...At least 25 people killed as Russian missiles hit civilian convoy; Vladimir Putin to formalise annexation of four occupied regions of Ukraine
A civilian convoy of cars heading to pick up relatives trying to flee Russian occupied territory in Ukraine has been hit by Russian forces near the city of Zaporizhzhia, with initial reports saying at least 25 people were killed and 50 people injured. Footage posted on social media showed a horrific scene with dead and injured people lying on a road on the south-eastern outskirts of the city.
The governor of Zaporizhzhia region, Oleksandr Starukh, said in a statement: “The enemy launched an attack on a civilian convoy and the outskirts of the city. People were standing in line to leave for the occupied territory to pick up their relatives and to deliver aid. There are dead and wounded. Emergency services are at the site.
According to locals, 60 cars had gathered on a road in two lines after registering for a convoy that was due to take people back into the Russian-occupied territories in the south, some planning to return to homes in places such as Mariupol, others planning to fetch relatives and bring them to government-occupied territory for fear that Russia will prevent people from leaving. In the hours before the attack, Russia launched strikes on several cities, including the centre of the nearby city of Dnipro.
The attack on the convoy on Friday morning came amid a feared Russian escalation in its war in Ukraine, as the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, prepared to publicly sign annexation orders for four regions.
Putin will sign accession documents at the Kremlin before delivering a speech. A pop concert is also planned on Red Square, where a stage and screens have been set up. The territory Russia controls amounts to about 15% of Ukraine’s total area.
The Kremlin said again on Friday that it would consider attacks against any part of the regions of Ukraine that it is about to annex – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as acts of aggression against Russia itself.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Russia would “de jure” incorporate parts of Ukraine which are not under the control of Russian forces. Of the four regions, Luhansk and Kherson are the only territories that Russia is close to having total control over.
Continue reading...Inaugural summit of EU initiative that aims to unite Europe on issues such as security and energy to take place in Prague
Liz Truss will attend the inaugural summit of the European Political Community (EPC) next week, an initiative by the EU aimed at uniting the continent to work together on security and other common projects.
The prime minister plans to attend the first EPC summit in Prague on 6 October, a No 10 source told the Guardian, despite her scepticism about the EU-led initiative.
Continue reading...Russian president expected to make speech to members of State Duma at ceremony on Friday
Vladimir Putin will sign treaties on Friday annexing territories in occupied Ukraine, the Kremlin has said, in a major escalation of Russia’s seven-month-old war.
The Russian president is expected to sign into law the annexations of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where Russia held fake referendums over the last week in order to claim a mandate for the territorial claims.
Continue reading...Deripaska, 54, accused of several crimes including plotting to bring pregnant girlfriend to US so child would be American citizen
Oleg Deripaska, one of Russia’s most powerful oligarchs, who previously had deep links to British establishment figures, has been indicted by the US Department of Justice for criminal sanctions violations.
The indictment detailed a number of alleged crimes by the man who was long considered Vladimir Putin’s favourite industrialist, including an elaborate and failed attempt by Deripaska and his associates to shuttle his pregnant girlfriend to the US so that she could give birth there and secure American citizenship for their second child.
Continue reading...As Norway steps up seabed security, experts say underwater cables carrying world’s internet traffic are also at risk
Nato countries are scrambling to improve security of highly vulnerable undersea pipelines and communications cables after the apparent Nord Stream attack in the Baltic Sea underlines the west’s extreme vulnerability.
Four gas leaks on two Nord Stream pipelines have now been reported after blasts were detected on Monday. According to several reports citing European officials, Russian vessels were seen in the vicinity of the Nord Stream I and II pipelines where they were damaged, but an examination of the damage may not be possible for weeks for safety reasons, and no proof of Moscow’s involvement has been presented.
Continue reading...Finance minister announces €200bn fund to protect citizens from rising gas prices driven by Russia’s war in Ukraine
Germany’s finance minister has vowed that he will not follow the UK “down the path of an expansionary fiscal policy” as his government announced a €200bn (£177bn) fund designed to protect consumers and businesses from rising gas prices driven by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Europe’s largest economy will reactivate an economic stabilising fund previously used during the global financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, said the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, at a joint press conference with the finance minister, Christian Lindner, and the economic minister, Robert Habeck, on Thursday afternoon.
Continue reading...António Guterres warns Putin against annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia before expected announcement.
This live blog is now closed
Denmark’s foreign minister, Jeppe Kofod, has said that “intentional” explosions caused the leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines, and that it was an “unprecedented” attack.
He told viewers of Sky News in the UK:
It’s clear we all need to be very aware of our critical infrastructure, when it comes to energy and other infrastructure, so we all take, I think, the right precautionary steps. Because it is unprecedented, as I’ve said, we haven’t seen that type of attack on infrastructure.
It has been clear for us for a long time in Denmark, and also now for the rest of Europe, that we need to get out of any dependence on Russian energy, whether it’s gas, coal or oil, and we’re working very hard to obtain that objective in Europe.
Denmark is doing its part, where we will focus a lot in investing massively in renewable energy, not least the offshore wind and other type of renewables, and also energy efficiency. So that is a course we will not change.”
I think we should be very concerned. Listening to Polish and Danish ministers they do suspect this was an act of Russian terrorism, and that it’s another threat from the Kremlin to Europe’s energy supplies.
But we need to stand bold against Russia supporting Ukraine.
I personally think it’s likely that Nord Stream may never reopen, and therefore the energy policy of Europe, of our country, working with our European colleagues, needs to assume that we need to get off Russian energy as fast as possible.
That will be good for our security.
This post was amended at 2.55pm on 29 September. It initially said that the Liberal Democrats were “the third largest political party in the UK’s parliament”, and then was amended to say that they were “the fourth largest political party in the UK’s parliament”. The Liberal Democrats are the fourth largest party in the House of Commons. They are the third largest political party by representation in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Continue reading...Official reason to allow children ‘to shape their own existence’ while mother of two princes losing titles ‘shocked’ by decision
Denmark’s Queen Margrethe, Europe’s only reigning queen and the continent’s longest serving monarch, has stripped four of her eight grandchildren of their titles, the palace announced.
The official reason was to allow the four children of her youngest son, Prince Joachim, to live more normal lives, and follows similar moves by other royal families in Europe to slim down their monarchies, the palace said.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Zelenskiy’s chief of staff says sanctions should go further as international group concludes Russia’s actions pass terrorism threshold
The head of the Office of the Ukrainian Presidency has called for sweeping American and European sanctions targeting Moscow after an official report drawn up by an international working group concluded Russia should now be declared a “state sponsor of terrorism”.
The call from Andriy Yermak, the second most powerful Ukrainian government official after president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, came after Ukraine accused Russia of sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, an accusation that adds to its claim that Russia has shown all the characteristics of a terrorist state under US and international law.
Continue reading...Organisers call on nations to carry on crucial climate negotiations despite differences on geopolitical issues
The Egyptian hosts of the next UN climate summit have issued a plea for countries to set aside tensions and animosity over the Ukraine war for the sake of focusing on the climate crisis.
Egypt will host the Cop27 conference in Sharm El-Sheikh in November, intended as a forum for companies to fulfil the promises they made at the landmark Cop26 summit in Glasgow last year.
Continue reading...‘Colossal amount’ of leaked methane, twice initial estimates, is equivalent to third of Denmark’s annual CO2 emissions or 1.3m cars
Scientists fear methane erupting from the burst Nord Stream pipelines into the Baltic Sea could be one of the worst natural gas leaks ever and pose significant climate risks.
Neither of the two breached Nord Stream pipelines, which run between Russia and Germany, was operational, but both contained natural gas. This mostly consists of methane – a greenhouse gas that is the biggest cause of climate heating after carbon dioxide.
Continue reading...Additional requirements would be time-consuming and threaten capacity, Dover port boss says
Post-Brexit Channel border delays could multiply from next May, with a five-person vehicle being held for up to 10 minutes if the EU goes ahead with a planned biometric entry system, the Port of Dover has said.
The entry-exit system (EES), which is due to start in May 2023, will require all non-EU nationals to register their fingerprints and be photographed before entering the bloc.
Continue reading...European Commission also proposes extra curbs on hi-tech trade as part of sanctions to ‘make Kremlin pay’ over Ukraine war
The EU executive has promised to cap the price of Russian oil and impose further curbs on hi-tech trade, as part of the latest round of sanctions to “make the Kremlin pay” for the escalation of the war against Ukraine.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said Russia had ramped up the invasion to “a new level”, listing the sham referendums in Russian-occupied territory, the partial mobilisation order and Vladimir Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons. “We are determined to make the Kremlin pay for this further escalation,” she said.
Continue reading...This live blog is now closed, you can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war here
Sweden’s foreign minister Ann Linde has said on the public television broadcaster SVT this morning that the suspected sabotage against the Nord Stream gas pipelines does not constitute an attack on Sweden, Reuters reports.
If you missed it yesterday, my colleague Dan Sabbagh offered this analysis, suggesting that even if European nations decided that Russia had been behind the action, it was unlikely to generate a military response, since the suspected explosions were outside of Danish territorial waters, and technically on assets owned by Russia’s Gazprom.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Continue reading...The German author’s contribution will remain unseen, alongside contributions from authors including Margaret Atwood and David Mitchell, until 2114
German writer Judith Schalansky has become the ninth author to be selected for the Future Library, which asks authors to create a work that will not be revealed to readers until 2114.
The Future Library is an organic artwork dreamed up by the Scottish artist Katie Paterson. It began in 2014 with the planting of 1,000 Norwegian spruces in a patch of forest outside Oslo, and one writer a year is asked to contribute a manuscript to the project.
Continue reading...Ukrainian president condemns ‘farce’ vote on regions joining Russia, dismissing it as another attempt to annex territory
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine will “defend” its citizens in Russian-occupied regions, as authorities there announced the results of so-called referendums that have already been denounced by the west.
“This farce in the occupied territory cannot even be called an imitation of referendums,” Zelenskiy said on Tuesday in a video posted on Telegram. “We will act to protect our people: both in the Kherson region, in the Zaporizhzhia region, in the Donbas, in the currently occupied areas of the Kharkiv region, and in the Crimea.”
Continue reading...Zbigniew Rau rules out a nuclear reprisal but says the alliance is sending a clear message to Russia
Poland’s foreign minister, Zbigniew Rau, has said Nato’s response to any use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine should be non-nuclear but “devastating”.
Speaking on a visit to Washington, Rau said the alliance was in the process of delivering that message to Moscow.
Continue reading...