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29/08/2022 ---- 02/09/2022

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02.09.2022
THEME: WORLD

G7 leaders agree on price cap for Russian oil while Kremlin promises hard reaction

Yesterday Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters that Russia will suspend supplies of oil and petroleum products to states which will decide to restrict the price of oil from the country. On the same day the chairman of the board of Russia’s largest private oil company LUKoil (Ravil Maganov, 67) died after falling from a Moscow hospital window plunging from the sixth-floor window of the Central Clinical Hospital - known as the “Kremlin Clinic”. It is with these premises that today September 2 the finance ministers of G7 nations gathered in Elmau (Germany) to decide on the restrictions on Russian oil. The outcome of such meeting shows a strong resolve by EU on this matter. A joint statement has been released: “ […] We will curtail Putin’s capacity to fund his war from oil exports by banning services, such as insurance and the provision of finance, to vessels carrying Russian oil above an agreed price cap. We are united against this barbaric aggression and will do all we can to support Ukraine as they fight for sovereignty, democracy and freedom”. With this the G7 Leaders reaffirmed a shared commitment to preventing Russia from profiting from its war of aggression, to supporting stability in global energy markets and to minimising negative economic spillovers, especially on low- and middle-income countries. To deliver on this commitment, today they confirm a joint political intention to finalise and implement a comprehensive prohibition of services which enable maritime transportation of Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products globally – the provision of such services would only be allowed if the oil and petroleum products are purchased at or below a price (“the price cap”) determined by the broad coalition of countries adhering to and implementing the price cap. In the following days and weeks such measures will be implemented, with a reaction by Russia to be expected. A few hours later Gazprom announced the possibility of a prolonged halt of natural gas supply through a key pipeline to Germany (Nord Stream 1), citing the need for urgent maintenance work. Today the energy ministers of G20 nations had a parallel meeting in Bali to discuss energy security. The meeting was wrapped up without producing a joint statement toward a stable supply of energy. Differences between Russia and the West likely prevented their reaching an agreement.

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01.09.2022
THEME: WORLD

UN reports human rights violations against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China

The Uyghurs are recognised as native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. They are one of China's 55 officially recognised ethnic minorities. Since 2014 the Chinese government created camps to ensure “adherence to to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ideology, preventing separatism, fighting terrorism, and providing vocational training to Uyghurs”. A report published on Wednesday in the wake of the visit by UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet in May, said that “allegations of patterns of torture, or ill-treatment, including forced medical treatment and adverse conditions of detention, are credible, as are allegations of individual incidents of sexual and gender-based violence.” The UN rights office said that Wednesday’s report was “based on a rigorous review of documentary material currently available to the Office, with its credibility assessed in accordance with standard human rights methodology. At the same time China firmly opposes the release of the so-called Xinjiang-related report by the UN Human Rights Office. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said China attaches importance to balanced promotion of all types of human rights, to dialogue and cooperation with member states, and opposes the wrong practice of politicising human rights and double standards.

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31.08.2022
THEME: POLITICS

EU decides to suspend the visa agreements with Russia

Today the European Union has decided to fully suspend a 2007 visa agreement with Russia and intensify scrutiny over the future applications submitted by Russian tourists. The suspension of the agreement is expected to significantly hinder the visa application process, making it much more expensive, burdensome and drawn-out for Russian nationals planning to visit the bloc. "It’s going to be more difficult and longer, and consequently the number of new visas will be substantially reduced," said Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, at the end of an informal meeting of foreign affairs ministers in Prague. While this move demonstrates the EU resolve about the Ukraine matter, some argue that it may strengthen Putin’s regime.

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30.08.2022
THEME: POLITICS

EU struggle with gas pricing anticipates a hard winter energy crisis

EU has been struggling with a growing gas pricing since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis. With Gazprom - Russia’s state controlled energy giant - reducing the gas flux towards EU, and temporarily stopping them for alleged maintenances, prices at the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) - the continent's leading trading hub - reached €321 per megawatt-hour, a stratospheric figure compared to the €27 set a year ago. Some European countries, like Poland, Bulgaria and Finland, have already had their supplies cut off, while others (Germany, Austria, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, etc.) have seen their deliveries significantly reduced. Ministers and leaders in EU are now discussing measures: stocks are being cumulated and energy-saving measures are being implemented. Leaders will also meet to decide wether a gap to the energy price should be implemented. Despite such efforts, some are already announcing that companies may face energy ‘rationing’ this winter.

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29.08.2022
THEME: TECHNOLOGY

China space station continues its assembly and makes steps towards deep space exploration

Today NASA announced postponing Artemis I flight due to engine issues. At the same time the Chinese space program continues towards a fully functional space station and receives good news from botanic experiments onboard. China's Wentian lab module successfully arrived at the China Space Station in the early hours on July 25 and docked with the Tianhe core cabin. Wentian is the second section of the three module Chinese Space Station. Before China, only the former Soviet Union and the US were capable of assembling ultra-large spacecraft in orbit. Today, August 29, good news come from the Wentian’s ecology experimental module as rice seeds have sprouted into tall plants and growing. The experiment is expected to complete a full life cycle "from seeds to seeds”, and during the process astronauts will collect samples and then freeze and preserve them, before finally returning them to the ground for analysis. If completed, this will be the world's first to complete the whole life cycle of rice cultivation under space microgravity conditions. The long term goal of such developments being deep space exploration, a new highly competitive race may have started between US and China in space.

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