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☆ Mixed emotions as McDonald's leaves Kazakhstan
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Workers remove the logo signage from a restaurant of McDonald's in Almaty, Kazakhstan, January 6, 2023. Food Solutions KZ, the Kazakh licensee of McDonald's Corp, will no longer operate under the U.S. corporation's brand due to supply issues. "I doubt any other company will be able to compete with McDonald's in Kazakhstan at the moment as no other fast food chain can replicate the menu that McDonald's had for the same price." Many Kazakhs, proud of their meat-focused cuisine, expressed incredulity that McDonald's Kazakh licensee, Food Solutions KZ, could not source its beef patties locally and imported them from Russia until the war forced it to stop and ultimately shut down. Food Solutions did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.

☆ Ukraine sees speeding up inspections as key to Black Sea grain deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Pavel Polityuk | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KYIV, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Ukraine's efforts to increase exports under the Black Sea grain deal with Russia are currently focused on securing faster inspections of ships rather than including more ports in the initiative, a senior Ukrainian official said on Wednesday. Ukraine is a major global grain producer and exporter, but production and exports have fallen since Russia invaded the country last February and started blockading its seaports. Three leading Ukrainian Black Sea ports in the Odesa region were unblocked in July under an initiative between Moscow and Kyiv brokered by the United Nations and Turkey. Kyiv accuses Russia of carrying out the inspections too slowly, causing weeks of delays for ships and reducing the supply of Ukrainian grain to foreign markets. "Ukraine focuses on normalising inspections rather than opening new ports," the senior Ukrainian official said.

☆ Raymond James sees clean energy stocks jumping 30% to 40% in 2023. Here are some favorite picks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The new year should bring a boost to clean energy stocks, according to Raymond James. Demand drivers vary around the world, but there is strength everywhere," Molchanov wrote. With that in mind, he upgraded two clean energy companies: Chart Industries to strong buy from market perform, and Maxeon Solar Technologies to outperform from market perform. Chart Industries joins names such as Bloom Energy and FTC Solar on Raymond James' strong buy list. The firm also upgraded NextEra Energy to market perform from underperform, but noted it is not enthusiastic about the stock at these levels.

☆ Iranian chess player was warned not to return to Iran after competing without hijab -source
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Elwely Elwelly | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Chess - FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships - Rapid Women - Almaty, Kazakhstan - December 28, 2022. Sara Khadem of Iran sits in front of a chess board. REUTERS/Pavel MikheyevDUBAI, Jan 3 (Reuters) - An Iranian chess player arrived in Spain on Tuesday after receiving what a source close to her said were warnings not to return to Iran for competing without a hijab at an international tournament in Kazakhstan. Sara Khadem, born in 1997, took part in last week's FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Almaty without the hijab - a headscarf mandatory under Iran's strict dress codes. The source also said Khadem's relatives and parents, who are in Iran, had also received threats, without giving further details.

☆ Kyiv's mayor says blasts hit Desnianskiy district
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

KYIV, Jan 2 (Reuters) - An explosion took place in Kyiv's Desnianskiy district, the capital's mayor said early on Monday, adding that emergency services are at the site. "An explosion in the Desnianskiy district of Kyiv. Kyrylo Tymoshenko, Ukrainian presidential aide, said drone debris hit a road in the district, in Kyiv's northeast, damaging a building next to it. "Information about (potential) casualties is being clarified," Tymoshenko said on Telegram. Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russian missiles strike Kyiv on New Year's Eve, at least one dead
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] A local resident embraces his son as they stand next to a site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine December 31, 2022. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least one person had been killed and eight wounded after a series of explosions in the capital. The governor of the surrounding Kyiv region, Oleksiy Kuleba, had warned shortly beforehand of a possible incoming missile attack, and said air defences in the region were engaging targets. In the western city of Khmelnytskyi, two people were wounded in a drone attack, Ukrainian presidential aide Kyrylo Tymoshenko said. "With each new missile attack on civilian infrastructure, more and more Ukrainians are convinced of the need to fight until the complete collapse of Putin's regime," it wrote.

☆ Russian Politician and Businessman Dies After Falling From Hotel Roof in India
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Ann M. Simmons | Krishna Pokharel | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A hotel in India’s Odisha state where police are investigating the sudden deaths of a Russian politician, who reportedly criticized the Ukraine war, and his companion. MOSCOW—A Russian politician and businessman died after falling from the roof of a hotel in India on Christmas Eve, police said, two days after a companion succumbed to a heart attack and months after he was in the media spotlight for a quickly retracted WhatsApp post deemed critical of Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine. Authorities in the eastern Indian state of Odisha said they were investigating the deaths of the two men, Pavel Antov, a 65-year-old regional lawmaker from western Russia who owned a sausage-making company, and Vladimir Bydanov, 61, with whom he had been sharing a room.

☆ NHL roundup: Wings escape 4-goal hole, top Pens in OT
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Dylan Larkin, Joe Veleno, Jonatan Berggren and David Perron also scored and Lucas Raymond had two assists for the Red Wings, who won their second straight game. In Tampa Bay's fifth straight home victory, Alex Killorn and Brandon Hagel tallied while Victor Hedman had two assists. Flames 3, Kraken 2Jonathan Huberdeau scored the tiebreaking goal with eight minutes remaining as Calgary won at Seattle. Adam Henrique scored two goals for Anaheim, the 25th multi-goal game of his career, while Terry and Zegras each assisted on both goals. Mark Stone and Ben Hutton scored for the Golden Knights, who lost consecutive road games for the first time this season.

☆ Ukraine reports Russian missile strikes on capital and other cities
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Ukraine reported a new wave of Russian missile strikes on Thursday morning as air-raid sirens blared across the country and officials said blasts were heard in several cities, including the capital Kyiv. The Ukrainian Air Force said Russia was following an overnight assault by "kamikaze" drones by attacking the country "from different directions" with air- and sea-based cruise missiles. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram that the capital could experience power cuts and urged residents to charge their devices and stock up on reserves of water. Power cuts were also announced in the Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions, aimed at minimising potential damage to the energy infrastructure. Russia has mounted numerous waves of air strikes in recent months on Ukrainian critical infrastructure, leading to emergency and planned power outages.

[1/7] A rescuer rests at a site of a residential house damaged during a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine December 29, 2022. Waves of Russian air strikes in recent months targeting energy infrastructure have left millions without power and heating in often freezing temperatures. Moscow has repeatedly denied targeting civilians, but Ukraine says its daily bombardment is destroying cities, towns, and the country's power, medical and other infrastructure. Ukraine and its Western allies have denounced Russia's actions as an imperialist-style land grab and imposed sanctions to try to disrupt the campaign. Russia is looking for a battlefield victory in eastern Ukraine and has been trying to capture Bakhmut for months.

☆ NHL roundup: Connor McDavid extends point streak to 16 in Oilers' win
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

December 28 - Connor McDavid scored the winning goal in the third period to run his point-scoring streak to 16 games and lead the visiting Edmonton Oilers to an entertaining 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday. Ilya Sorokin made 20 saves as the Islanders won their second straight -- their first winning streak since a four-game run Nov. 21-26. Los Angeles goalie Pheonix Copley made 23 saves to extend his personal win streak to five games. New York lost for the second time in three games following a seven-game winning streak. Evan Rodrigues and Mikko Rantanen also scored while Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves for the Avalanche, whose four-game winning streak ended.

☆ Another Putin critic died after falling out of a window
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Rebecca Cohen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A second Vladimir Putin critic has died after falling from a hotel window. Antov was a known critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the BBC reported. Antov is the second Putin critic to die after falling from a window. In September, Russian energy oligarch Ravil Maganov, 67, died after falling from a hospital window, Insider reported at the time. The BBC reported Odisha police Superintendent Vivekananda Sharma said Budanov died of a stroke.

CNN —Russian sausage magnate-turned-lawmaker Pavel Antov died in India on Saturday after falling from the third floor of his hotel, according to the Indian police. Police believe Antov died by suicide after falling from the third floor of his hotel in the Rayagada district, although the postmortem report has not been released yet, Sharma said. He was a member of the Russian parliament’s United Russia party, which was formerly headed by Vladimir Putin and is still staunchly supportive of the Russian President. Russian Consul General in Calcutta Alexey Idamkin told Russian state media RIA Novosti on Monday that the Odisha State Police and the Consulate General in Calcutta didn’t see anything suspicious in the death of two Russians in India. In mid-September, Russian businessman Ivan Pechorin, who was the top manager for the Corporation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, was found dead in Vladivostok, according to Russian state media.

☆ Here’s a list of Putin critics who've ended up dead
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Jeremy Wilson | Taylor Ardrey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Here's a list of people who have been critical of Putin and the Russian president is suspected of assassinating:Top editors give you the stories you want — delivered right to your inbox each weekday. Anna PolitkovskayaAnna Politkovskaya was a Russian journalist who was critical of Putin. In her book "Putin's Russia," she accused Putin of turning his country into a police state. She specialised in uncovering human-rights abuses carried out by the Russian state in Chechnya. Sergei YushenkovSergei Yushenkov was a Russian politician who was attempting to prove the Russian state was behind the bombing of an apartment block.

REUTERS/Clodagh KilcoyneKVIV/MOSCOW, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Russian forces bombarded scores of towns in Ukraine on Christmas Day as Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was open to negotiations, a stance Washington has dismissed as posturing because of continued Russian attacks. Ukraine has traditionally not celebrated Christmas on Dec. 25, but Jan. 7, the same as Russia. That range reaches deep into neighbours of Belarus: Ukraine and NATO member Poland, which has very strained relations with Minsk. The S-400 system is a Russian mobile, surface-to-air missile (SAM) interception system capable of engaging aircraft, UAVs, cruise missiles, and has a terminal ballistic missile defence capability. Blasts were heard at Russia's Engels air base, hundreds of kilometres (miles) from the Ukraine frontlines, Ukrainian and Russian media reported on Monday.

☆ Ukraine gives all-clear after air-raid alarms
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Ukrainian servicemen take cover as an air-raid siren sounds, near an apartment building damaged by recent shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine February 26, 2022. REUTERS/Gleb GaranichKYIV, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Air raid sirens wailed in Kyiv and across all Ukrainian regions on Sunday morning but no new Russian attacks were reported, officials said. Unconfirmed Ukrainian social media reports suggested the sirens may have been triggered after Russian jets took to the skies in Belarus and that the all-clear was sounded after the planes returned to their bases. Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine's air forces, told national television earlier on Sunday that Russian military jets were flying virtually around the clock. Reporting by Pavel Polityuk Editing by David Goodman and Gareth JonesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Putin says Russia ready to negotiate over Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Guy Faulconbridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

And we have no other choice but to protect our citizens," Putin said. Soon after that revolution, Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and Russian-backed separatist forces began fighting Ukraine's armed forces in eastern Ukraine. "Actually, the fundamental thing here is the policy of our geopolitical opponents which is aimed at pulling apart Russia, historical Russia," Putin said. Ukraine and the West say Putin has no justification for what they cast as an imperial-style war of occupation which has sown suffering and death across Ukraine. Putin described Russia as a "unique country" and said the vast majority of its people were united in wanting to defend it.

Some hardline Republicans have even urged an end to aid and an audit to trace how allocated money has been spent. The world is too interconnected to allow any country to stand aside and feel safe, Zelenskiy said as he appealed for bipartisan support. The United States also announced another $1.85 billion in military aid for Ukraine, including a Patriot air defence system to help it ward off barrages of Russian missiles. "We would like to get more Patriots ... we are in war," Zelenskiy told reporters at the White House. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Washington was seeing no sign that Russian President Vladimir Putin was willing to engage in peacemaking.

Ukraine has shared a list with European countries of some 10,000 items it urgently needs to maintain power. Since early October, Russian forces have targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure, causing blackouts and forcing millions of people to endure sub-zero temperatures with little or no heating. As stockpiles of state-owned European power grids dwindle, Lorkowski expected the private sector to become more important in meeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure needs. A first tranche of U.S. power equipment worth $13 million has been shipped to Ukraine, officials said, and two more planeloads were due to leave shortly. Olena Osmolovska, director of the reform support team at Ukraine's energy ministry, said it would cost tens of billions of dollars to fully restore the energy system.

"On my way to the United States to strengthen resilience and defence capabilities of Ukraine," Zelenskiy said on his Twitter account early on Wednesday. Russia calls its invasion in Ukraine a "special military operation" to denazify and demilitarise its neighbour. His wife, Olena Zelenska, travelled to Washington in July to address Congress and has made several other international trips pleading for Ukraine, as have his aides and ministers. In contrast, his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, has spent much of his time inside the halls of the Kremlin. Reporting in Kyiv by Pavel Polityuk; Writing in Melbourne by Lidia Kelly Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Robert BirselOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The EU agreed to limit gas prices, but some analysts are skeptical
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Pipes run along a technical facility for compressing natural gas on the site of astora GmbH's Rehden natural gas storage facility, the largest in Western Europe. He flagged that it could disrupt the European energy market, risk security of supply and have wider financial implications. Analysts told CNBC that these conditions called into question the ability of the mechanism to limit energy price rises. Around 70% of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is tied up in long-term contracts, leaving 30% available on a spot basis. "As it stands, about 20% of Europe's electricity comes from natural gas, 10% comes from coal.

☆ Ukrainian president visits frontline Bakhmut, hails 'superhuman' troops
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/8] Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy holds a national flag as he visits a position of Ukrainian service members in the frontline town of Bakhmut, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 20, 2022. KYIV, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy paid a surprise visit on Tuesday to the frontline city of Bakhmut, where he hailed the "superhuman" troops waging a battle that has come to symbolise the grinding brutality of the war in Ukraine. He urged them to maintain morale as the battle for Bakhmut enters its fifth month, increasingly straining the Ukrainian and Russian armies. Control of the city, which had a pre-war population of 70,000-80,000, could give Russia a stepping stone to advance on bigger Ukrainian cities but Ukrainian forces have held on to Bakhmut. "The East is holding out because Bakhmut is fighting," Zelenskiy wrote in a message accompanying the vide on Telegram.

☆ EU's gas price cap isn't a sustainable solution, analyst says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailEU's gas price cap isn't a sustainable solution, analyst saysPavel Molchanov of Raymond James says "the solution for Europe will be to diversify its energy mix away from imported fossil fuels."

Both Ukraine and the Russia-installed authorities agree that some grain has been exported from occupied Zaporizhzhia via Crimea. Ukraine says at least a part of the grain that passed through Sevastopol was taken from Ukrainian territories after Russia invaded. Prior to the current war, Syria had imported grain from Crimea on previous occasions since Russia took control of the peninsula, Reuters reported. According to the Refinitiv data, Syria imported about 501,800 tonnes of wheat from Sevastopol this year until the end of November, up from about 28,200 tonnes in the whole of 2021. During a visit to Crimea in January, Syria's economy minister said his country needed 1.5 million tonnes of wheat imports, with Russia providing the majority.

☆ Zelenskiy calls for global peace summit in video message
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KYIV, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday proposed holding a global peace summit this winter, in a video message Kyiv was hoping would be broadcast ahead of the soccer World Cup final in Qatar, although it appeared unlikely FIFA would allow the move. CNN reported on Friday that Zelenskiy had asked world soccer's governing body FIFA to let him share a message of peace before the final. We offered it because there are no champions in war, there can be no draw," Zelenskiy said in a video message issued by his office. "I announce the initiative to hold a Global Peace Formula Summit this winter. The summit to unite all nations of the world around the cause of global peace.

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