Month: September 2022

A key Russian gas pipeline to Europe has been closed indefinitely because of leaks, meaning gas supplies to the continent will remain tight heading into winter. Nord Stream 1, an underwater pipeline running across the Baltic Sea to Germany, had been supplying EU states with 35% of all the gas they imported from Russia. EU leaders suspect the leaks were created deliberately, but have stopped short of blaming Russia for them. How did the leaks occur? Operators noticed leaks in Nord Stream 1 in a stretch of pipe near the Island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. There were also leaks in a parallel pipeline called Nord Stream 2, which is not yet in use. Seismologists in Denmark said there had been explosions under the sea in the same are...

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned Hurricane Ian will leave historic devastation, as the storm batters the state with catastrophic wind and rain. Ian, which has left people trapped in their homes, is expected to set flood records and may be one of the worst storms ever to strike the state. It continued to wreak havoc as it moved east over Florida on Thursday. One person is confirmed to have died in the state and some 2.7 million people are without power. President Joe Biden has declared the storm a major disaster - triggering access to federal funds and disaster relief. "This could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida's history," he said on Thursday afternoon. "The numbers are still unclear, but we're hearing early reports of wh...

Prime Minister Liz Truss has agreed to meet other European leaders at a new political "club of nations" next week. The inaugural summit of the European Political Community (EPC), proposed by French president Emmanuel Macron, will meet in Prague next Thursday. Although the UK voted in 2016 to leave the EU, is among more than a dozen non-EU nations invited to join EU members to discuss security and energy issues. Ms Truss has only just indicated she could attend the first meeting. She is said to want the group to focus on "delivery" rather than becoming a "talking shop". Mr Macron proposed the EPC in May, as a "new space" for co-operation. The broad intention is to establish a forum that goes beyond the immediate EU memb...

The US has said it "seems" Russia is to blame for this week's leaks in the Nordstream gas pipelines. US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said an investigation was being carried out into the cause of what she called "an act of sabotage". "It is highly unlikely that these incidents are coincidence," she said, without offering evidence to support the claim. Russia has dismissed suggestions that it was to blame. It said suggestions it had damaged the pipelines were "stupid and absurd". President Putin described the damage as "unprecedented sabotage, in fact, an act of international terrorism" during a phone call with Turkey's President Erdogan, according to the Kremlin, which added Russia plans to bring it up for "urgent discussion" ...

In recent years Canada has worked to advance reconciliation with indigenous people in the country. What does the accession of a new King of Canada mean for that process? Earlier this year, at a reception in Canada's national capital, King Charles - at the time the Prince of Wales - was asked for an apology. The request came from Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald, who told him that the Crown needs to make amends for the "assimilation and genocide" of indigenous schoolchildren at residential schools run by the Anglican Church - of which Charles is now the head - and for its role in colonisation. The three-day visit was Charles's nineteenth official tour in the country, and his last as the Prince of Wales. Charles did n...

Two major British museums are opening up their collections to archaeologists and officials from Cambodia, in response to allegations that valuable items are sitting illegally in the UK. The first visit is to the Victoria & Albert Museum on Friday, followed by one to the British Museum next week. Cambodia wants the UK to help recover antiquities it says were stolen from its temples during years of conflict. Both museums have said they are transparent about the origin of items. The Cambodian delegation hopes to discuss the provenance of objects in the two collections and to examine them in person. "The challenge for us is that we have been doing our research from long distance, just looking at what is publicly available on the mu...