Daily: 09/05/2022

Зеленський подякував Джонсону і заявив, що чекає співпраці з новою прем’єркою Британії

«І я вірю, що разом ми зможемо зробити ще дуже багато для захисту наших народів і для провалу всіх російських деструктивних зусиль. Головне – зберігати нашу єдність, а це обовʼязково буде»

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Germany Sticks to Nuclear Power Deadline but Leaves Loophole

Germany is sticking to its long-held plan of shutting down the country’s three remaining nuclear power plants this year but keeping the option of reactivating two of them in case of an energy shortage in the coming months, officials said Monday.

The announcement follows the publication of a much-anticipated stress test that examined how Germany’s power grid will cope with a possible electricity squeeze due to the energy crisis Europe is facing.

Like other European countries, Germany is scrambling to ensure the lights stay on and homes stay warm this winter despite the reduction in natural gas flows from Russia amid the war in Ukraine.

The government has already announced numerous measures including the import of liquefied natural gas from other suppliers, while urging citizens to conserve as much energy as possible.

But there were concerns that Germany’s power grid, which is central to the European network, could be heavily strained if consumers switch to electric heaters in the winter and strong demand from neighboring countries means energy exports rise.

Germany’s opposition parties have called for the country’s nuclear plants to be kept online, with some lawmakers also suggesting shuttered ones be reopened and new reactors built. Some members of a small pro-business party that’s part of the governing coalition have argued in favor of running all three remaining reactors for as long as possible.

Economy and Energy Minister Robert Habeck, a member of the environmentalist Greens party that has long been opposed to nuclear power, acknowledged that several factors could come together to place a severe strain on the continent’s grid this winter. These include problems with France’s nuclear power plants, drought hampering hydropower generation in the Alps and Norway, and problems shipping coal across Europe due to low water levels in rivers.

“We can’t rely securely on there being enough power plants available to stabilize the electricity network in the short term if there are grid shortages in our neighboring countries,” he said.

Grid operators examined what would occur in a worst-case scenario, where a harsh winter coincides with an unexpected shutdown of French nuclear plants and a sharp rise in electricity demand. The projected result was hours-long blackouts for millions of Germans as transmission lines struggle to cope with required electricity flows.

To help prevent this from happening, Germany will keep two reactors — Isar 2 in Bavaria and Neckarwestheim north of Stuttgart — on standby until mid-April next year, Habeck said. A third plant, Emsland near the Dutch border, will be powered down as planned in December.

Opposition lawmaker Jens Spahn of the center-right Christian Democrats accused Habeck of being driven by anti-nuclear ideology, noting that the Emsland plant is located in a state that’s holding regional elections next month.

Environmentalists, meanwhile, warned the government not to renege on its promise to phase out nuclear power by leaving the door open for an extension of the plants’ operating life.

Habeck insisted there would be no long-term reversal in Germany’s commitment to end nuclear power.

“The nuclear plants won’t be equipped with new fuel rods,” he said. “There will be no decision to build new atomic power plants. That would be absurd because this technology — look to France — is part of the problem.”

Habeck also said Russian gas is no longer a factor in Germany’s energy calculations, and that it was no surprise Russia’s state-controlled energy giant Gazprom didn’t resume supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline after halting them for maintenance last week.

“The only thing one can rely on from Russia is lies,” he said.

Measures taken by the government in recent months, including the painful decision to reactivate some coal-fired power plants, would ensure Germany has enough energy to get through the winter, said Habeck.

“Maybe not all of those in positions of responsibility can do so, but the German population can sleep deeply and easily,” he said.

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Зеленський: ЗАЕС вдруге через російську провокацію опинилася за крок від радіаційної катастрофи

«Обстріл території ЗАЕС означає, що державі-терористу байдуже, що скаже МАГАТЕ, її не хвилює, що вирішить міжнародна спільнота»

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Ще 4 причали у Києві й області після розслідування «Схем» повернули державі

Наразі Київська міська рада веде боротьбу за решту споруд у судах

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Німеччина консультувалася з Україною щодо передачі турбін Siemens – канадський депутат

«Канада подбала про те, щоб український і німецький уряди також спілкувалися один з одним»

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Росія заборонила в’їзд Шону Пенну і Бену Стіллеру, які підтримують Україну

Загалом до санкційного списку РФ потрапили 25 громадян США

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На Херсонщині окупанти вирішили «поставити на паузу» псевдореферендум

Дату так званого «референдуму» не називали ні раніше, ні зараз

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Truss to be New British Prime Minister  

Britain’s Conservative Party announced Monday that Foreign Secretary Liz Truss emerged from the party’s voting as the leader of the Conservative Party and the new prime minister.

Truss and former Treasury Secretary Rishi Sunak had been vying for the top spot in the party.

When she takes office, Truss will be facing fallout from Britain’s recession and escalating energy bills.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in July he was stepping down after his government was awash in scandals, such as violating some of his own government’s COVID-19 lockdown rules.

On Tuesday, Truss will travel to Scotland, where Queen Elizabeth will formally invite her to form a government.

​Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.

 

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Exiled Belarusian Opposition Leader Tsikhanouskaya to Attend UNGA in Person

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya plans to attend United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meetings in person for the first time since the disputed Belarusian presidential election in August 2020, according to diplomatic sources close to her.

The sources say Tsikhanouskaya and her delegation will address ongoing political repression by Belarusian authorities under the rule of President Alexander Lukashenko and call for the immediate release of all political prisoners.

They say Lukashenko’s facilitation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would also be discussed during Tsikhanouskaya’s participation in UNGA events from September 18-22.

The Belarusian opposition leader spoke to a virtual informal session of the U.N. Security Council two years ago.

Tsikhanouskaya fled Belarus two days after the August 9, 2020 election, after police detained her for several hours. Lukashenko was declared the winner despite claims by opposition leaders that the vote was rigged.

Security officials cracked down on pro-democracy protests, arresting opposition leaders and journalists. Currently there are more than 1,200 political prisoners in Belarus, according to the State Department.

The United States has imposed sanctions and visa restrictions against Lukashenko’s regime for what U.S. officials call “destabilizing behavior and human rights abuses.” In return, Belarusian authorities requested that Washington reduce its embassy staff in Minsk, denying a visa to the U.S. envoy to Belarus.

U.S. President Joe Biden met with Tsikhanouskaya on July 28, 2021, at the White House, where he expressed support for the Belarusian people’s quest for democracy and universal human rights.

In April of this year, Tsikhanouskaya met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. The top U.S. diplomats said Lukashenka’s regime should be held accountable for its “complicity” in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

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Двоє людей загинули через підрив смертника біля посольства Росії в Кабулі – медіа

Як заявило російське державне агентство, один дипломат і один охоронець отримали поранення внаслідок інциденту

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Нацбанк заборонив бізнесу купувати валюту, не використавши спершу наявну

У НБУ сподіваються, що це «зменшить попит на іноземну валюту та дасть змогу зберегти міжнародні резерви України»

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Українці провели марш у Празі, щоб подякувати Чехії за підтримку

«Майже всі українці на заході плакали»

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Проросійські акції в Кельні та Празі «не мають нічого спільного зі свободою слова» – МЗС

«Не маємо сумнівів в солідарності абсолютної більшості німців та чехів з українцями»

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Swedish Leader Tackles Crime, Energy Fears on Campaign Trail

Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson on Sunday was on the campaign trail a week before Sweden’s national election to tackle fears over gang violence and rising electricity bills.

Andersson traveled by bus to communities near Stockholm to try to reassure voters. The election on Sept. 11 comes amid a sense of rising insecurity, with a spate of shootings in Sweden making crime a key campaign issue.

Russia’s war against Ukraine led Sweden, along with Finland, to take the historic step of applying to join NATO. That step has reassured many and is so uncontested it hasn’t been an issue in the campaign before the election.

But Andersson said that Russia’s energy “warfare” against Europe, including a cutoff of gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany, has become an issue that voters keep raising with her as she campaigns for her left-wing Swedish Democratic party.

“Many people are concerned with their electricity bills given Putin’s warfare on energy,” the 55-year-old leader said in comments to The Associated Press after a visit at a senior community center in Norrtalje, a town north of Stockholm.

“I mean he has a military invasion in Ukraine, but he also has energy warfare against Europe, so people are very concerned with electricity bills but also with criminality and climate.”

Her government pledged Saturday to provide $23 billion in liquidity guarantees to electricity companies, a step that followed the cutoff to Nord Stream 1, and was meant to prevent a financial crisis.

Another concern for Andersson is the rising popularity of a populist far-right party with its historical roots in the Nazi movement, the Sweden Democrats.

The party, which has worked to mainstream its image, is closer to power than it has ever been, causing many Swedish voters to fear that it could end up with a key position of power in a right-wing coalition. The anti-migrant party has gained in popularity as the country has struggled to integrate large numbers of migrants. Critics fear its roots in the extreme far right make it a threat to the county’s democratic foundations.

Polls show that a right-wing coalition including the Sweden Democrats has a chance at winning power, though the race is expected to be close.

Andersson told the AP she is concerned, noting that an employee of the right-wing party sent out an email last week inviting people to celebrate the Nazi invasion of Poland 83 years ago.

“That kind of invitation would never happen in any other parties in Sweden. Having said that, many of the voters of the Sweden Democratic party, they are decent people that are disappointed with the development,” she said.

Against the backdrop of shootings and the challenge from the right, the Social Democrats have been toughening up their stance in recent years. In this campaign, the party has been promising tougher measures to fight crime along with promises to preserve the Scandinavian country’s famous welfare protections.

Andersson and her party said she believes the problems can be tackled together, and that the welfare system is one of the best weapons for fighting crime.

Andersson told the AP that her solution to crime involves building up the police force and putting more of the criminals behind bars, while also tackling the social roots of the problem.

“We also have to work harder to prevent new generations from choosing a criminal life. And I think the only way to do that is to stop the segregation that we have in Sweden,” she said.

Andersson traveled in a large red bus emblazoned with the words “our Sweden can do better.” After leaving the senior center, she headed to a fair on park grounds in Botkyrka where party campaigners wore T-shirts saying, “I vote for Magdalena” and where families from multicultural immigrant backgrounds lined up for pony rides and other attractions.

Andersson is Sweden’s first-ever female prime minister. She took the job last November after her predecessor, Stefan Lofven, resigned after leading the party and country since 2014.

While she has to fight the perception that her party hasn’t managed to stem the gang violence ailing the country. In her favor is a reputation for being a steady and competent hand who has governed with a thin majority and through a time of geopolitical upheaval.

At the party fair, Annelie Gustafsson, a 45-year-old mother carrying her daughter on her shoulders, wouldn’t say who she was voting for. But she made clear her vote was meant to keep the Sweden Democrats out of power. She opposes their unwelcoming stance toward migrants.

“This year it was about which party I don’t want to see running the country, and that’s really important for me,” she said. “I’m proud of being Swedish, I’m proud of the people here, and that we help other people. … So, closing the country, that’s not for me.”

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Ватикан беатифікував папу, який наприкінці 70-х був понтифіком усього 33 дні

Папа Римський Франциск беатифікував Іоанна Павла I, одного зі своїх попердників, який лише 33 дні був понтифіком католицької церкви.

«З усмішкою папі Іоаннові Павлу вдалося передати благість Господа», – сказав папа Франциск під час своєї проповіді на площі Святого Петра 4 вересня.

За його словами, посмішка папи Іоанна Павла І була уособленням церки, «яка ніколи не зачиняє дверей, ніколи не озлоблює серця, ніколи не скаржиться і не таїть образи, не гнівається, не дивиться похмуро і не ностальгує за минулим».

Беатифікація – це зарахування католицькою церквою спочилого праведника до лику блаженних через його здатність клопотатися за людей, які підносять свою молитву. Цей крок передує зарахуванню до лику святих.

Католицька церква офіційно визнала дивом зцілення дівчинки у Аргентині, батьки якої молилися Івану Павлу I. Це дозволило зарахувати його до лику блаженних. Для канонізації необхідне офіційне визнання другого дива.

У світському житті італієць Альбіно Лучані (Іоанн Павло І) помер через 33 дні після обрання понтифіком. 65-річного Лучані обрали папою 26 серпня 1978 року.

До папства, будучи єпископом на північному сході Італії, Альбіно Лучані став відомим через свою критику корупції, зокрема в банківській сфері. Існували припущення, що причиною смерті могла стати чиясь помства. Втім віцепостулатор процесу канонізації Стефанія Фаласка на пресконференції раніше цього тижня заявила, що всі документи та медичні висновки вказують на серцевий напад.

Іоанн Павло I вперше в історії церкви при сходженні на папський престол взяв собі два імені. Так само зробив його безпосередній наступник, кардинал Кароль Войтила, який після обрання папою взяв ім’я Іоанна (Івана) Павла II. Він приїздив до України в червні 2001 року. Був канонізований у 2014-му.

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Приватний літак упав у море біля узбережжя Латвії

Підтверджених даних про пілота і пасажирів на борту немає

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В уряді розповіли, про що говорили Шольц і Шмигаль у Берліні

23 серпня Німеччина заявила, що незабаром відправить Україні зброю на суму понад 500 мільйонів євро

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