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☆ Bringing Ukraine closer to Europe, Zelenskiy marks 1945 Nazi surrender
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Elizabeth Piper | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Further cementing Ukraine's break with its Soviet past, Zelenskiy said he had submitted a bill to parliament officially making May 8 a day of remembrance and victory, while May 9 - when Russia marks victory day - would become Europe Day. Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine sustained appalling loss of life in the war. Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender came into force at 11:01 p.m. on May 8, 1945, which was already May 9 in Moscow. Zelenskiy said Europe could not let that happen and it was again time to defeat "evil" together "to ensure that no one ever enslaves other peoples or destroys other countries again". Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Olena Harmash, editing by Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/5] An agricultural worker operates a tractor with a tiller in a field near the village Kyshchentsi, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Cherkasy region, Ukraine May 1, 2023. Around 40 of his 350 workers have signed up to fight in the war, and the replacements he has found lack their experience. Huizinga fears this could mean a fall in grain and milk yields, and with them a drop in his income. His farm, in a village in the rolling hills and green flat plains of the Cherkasy region in central Ukraine, is not the only one losing valued farmhands to the war. Marchuk said farmers were prioritising some employees, bringing in more women workers, recruiting those people displaced by the war and by retraining other workers.

[1/5] Local residents are seen a during an evacuation effort at a bus station in the outskirts of Kherson, Ukraine May 4, 2023. Fil was one of dozens of Kherson residents who headed to the local bus station to catch minibuses out of the city where at least 23 civilians were killed on Wednesday in attacks that hit a train station, a hypermarket and residential buildings. Kherson residents have lived under almost constant Russian fire since Ukrainian forces forced Moscow's troops to retreat from the city in November after nearly eight months occupation. After first leaving in November, Fil went back to Kherson in early April from Odesa, where she was returning on Thursday. Nataliya Boiko, 67, had just returned to Kherson to check on her apartment and water her plants.

[1/5] A firefighter works at the site of a train station hit by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kherson, Ukraine May 3, 2023. Pools of blood and piles of debris lay on the ground outside the Kherson hypermarket, whose entrance had been heavily damaged and cordoned off, Reuters correspondents on the scene said. Russia did not comment on the attacks in Kherson, one of four Ukrainian regions it said it annexed last September. Many windows were smashed at the railway station, and at least two survivors were seen being carried out on stretchers. Regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin on Wednesday announced a curfew in Kherson city to last from Friday evening until Monday morning for "law enforcement" reasons.

☆ Ukrainian farmer comes up with novel way to demine his fields
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Vitalii Hnidyi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Vitalii HnidyiHRAKOVE, Ukraine, May 2 (Reuters) - A Ukrainian farmer has come up with a novel way to remove mines left in his fields after Russia's invasion -- he's kitted out his tractor with protective panels stripped from Russian tanks and operates it by remote control. After Russian forces were driven back from parts of eastern Ukraine by a Ukrainian counteroffensive last year, mines remained in many fields, making it perilous for farmers to sow grain for the next harvest. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said last week about 30% of Ukrainian territory had been mined by Russians and that the government was focused on de-mining agricultural land as quickly as possible. The amount of work is enormous," said Serhii Dudak, head of the demining unit now overseeing the tractor's work. "It would take years to demine this particular field by hand and to guarantee that there are no mines here."

☆ "No one is left": Ukrainian mourns neighbours killed by Russian missile
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Sergiy Karazy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

UMAN, Ukraine, April 28 (Reuters) - Serhii Lubivskyi looked up with tears in his eyes at the empty space where his neighbours' flats stood before a Russian missile strike reduced them to rubble. "No one is left," Lubivskyi, 58, said on Friday in the central Ukrainian city of Uman. "My neighbours are gone, no one is left ... only the kitchens were left standing," he said, crying as he took a deep drag from a cigarette. Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians in its "special military operation" in Ukraine, but this is no consolation for Lubivskyi. "They don't care, the more people they kill, the more they want to kill, just because we don't want to work for them."

[1/5] A local resident leaves after a doctor's visit at a clinic in the liberated village of Vyshneva, near Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, April 21, 2023. He can be certain of one thing, however: many patients he meets will be suffering from high blood pressure after living for months under Russian occupation near the frontlines. "Patients who we chat to say there was a considerable number of deaths because of the lack of medical help." The World Health Organization estimates that the overall damage to the system could cost more than $15 billion to repair. But as more people return to liberated areas, a skeleton staff buttressed by volunteers will struggle to meet needs.

[1/4] A load of corn is poured into a truck, at a grain storage facility in the village of Bilohiria, Khmelnytskyi region, Ukraine April 19, 2023. REUTERS/Gleb GaranichBILOHIRIA, Ukraine, April 19 (Reuters) - Volodymyr Bondaruk takes little comfort from Poland's decision to lift a ban on the transit of Ukrainian grain. His mixed dairy and arable farm in western Ukraine has already lost a Polish contract and he doubts it will ever be renewed. With uncertainty growing over the future of a Black Sea Grain Initiative that allows safe grain exports from three ports in southern Ukraine, Bondaruk said the outlook for exports appeared increasingly bleak. He called for European help for Ukrainian farmers seeking to export grain, saying that he, unlike "some in Europe", did not want subsidies, just an even playing field.

☆ Ukraine's tech entrepreneurs fight war on a different front
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Michael Kahn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

It's an example of how some startups in Ukraine's dynamic tech sector are switching to pursue military projects. Pavlo Kartashov, director of the Ukrainian Startup Fund (USF), a government-backed organization that seeds technology startups, told Reuters his group resumed funding in October. Demand from the government has driven the shift to military technology, but most of the entrepreneurs who spoke to Reuters said that patriotic duty also played a role. "There are much more ideas in military technology," said Krasovsky, the founder and chief executive of Swedish-Ukrainian Sigma Software Group. Groups like the Polish-Ukrainian Start Up Bridge - a Polish-government backed venture - offer emerging Ukrainian tech companies small grants to fund basic business needs and a co-working space in Warsaw.

☆ Britain expected to reach broad agreement on joining Pacific trade pact soon
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Kaori Kaneko | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary Two sources say CPTPP agreement expected shortlyBritain: CPTPP discussions to be held later this weekSeeks to join trade pact as part of post-Brexit pivotAim to conclude talks at "earliest possible opportunity"TOKYO, March 29 (Reuters) - The 11 members of a trans-Pacific trade pact which includes Japan and Australia are expected to soon reach broad agreement with Britain on it joining the partnership, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. An announcement is expected to be made soon, the sources added, declining to be identified because the information has not been made public. Britain said negotiations with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) had been going well. Membership will supplement existing bilateral trade deals Britain has with several of the member countries, with the overall aim of further cutting tariffs on goods and reducing barriers to services and digital trade. "We are making great progress on the UK's accession to CPTPP, and aim to conclude talks at the earliest opportunity," a spokesperson for Britain's business and trade ministry said.

☆ UK Labour bars ex-leader Corbyn from standing as its candidate at next election
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Former British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks at the House of Commons in London, Britain, November 16, 2022. A Labour spokesperson said the party's governing body - the National Executive Committee - approved a motion proposed by Starmer not to endorse his predecessor as a candidate at the next election. His party membership was later reinstated but Starmer refused to allow him to join the parliamentary Labour Party and he currently sits as an independent lawmaker. Momentum, a group set up to support Corbyn, described the decision to bar him as a candidate as "a dark day for democracy". On Monday, Corbyn said Starmer had broken his commitment to respect the rights of Labour members and denigrated the party's democratic foundations.

☆ UK, Poland to build new temporary villages in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Britain and Poland will build two temporary villages in western and central Ukraine to provide housing for those forced from their homes by Russia's invasion, London said on Tuesday, pledging 10 million pounds ($12.3 million) in funding. Almost 118,000 Ukrainians have been hosted by British families as part of the government's response to Russia's February 2022 invasion, but some are finding it increasingly difficult to get permanent housing. Britain's government said the villages in Lviv in western Ukraine and Poltava in central Ukraine would be able to house more than 700 people, a fraction of the millions either displaced in Ukraine or who have fled the country. "This new UK-Poland partnership will help bring light, heat and homes to those most in need." ($1 = 0.8149 pounds)Reporting by Elizabeth Piper, Editing by Kylie MacLellanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Council of Europe urges UK lawmakers to stop new migration law
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] A RNLI boat, with migrants onboard, is met by Border Force Officers and Police at the harbour in Dungeness, Britain, September 13, 2021. Sunak has said he believes Britain could introduce the new legislation while remaining compliant with the ECHR and international obligations. "It is a tough piece of legislation, the likes of which we've never seen," he told reporters on Monday. "It's important that it's effective, which it will be, but it's also important that we abide by our international obligations. Reporting by Elizabeth Piper and Kylie MacLellan; editing by William JamesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Scotland's next leader to be announced with independence movement in crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Andrew Macaskill | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Scotland's Health Minister Humza Yousaf and Scotland's Finance Minister Kate Forbes, contenders to become the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Scotland's First Minister, attend the SNP leadership hustings, in Aberdeen, Scotland, Britain, March 12, 2023. REUTERS/Craig Brough/PoolLONDON, March 27 (Reuters) - The next leader of Scotland will be announced on Monday with the victor facing the challenge of uniting a country divided over its future and revitalising an independence movement that dreams of ending its three-centuries-long union with England. The Scottish National Party (SNP), which runs Scotland's semi-autonomous government, has been plunged into crisis since Nicola Sturgeon, the country's longest-serving leader, announced last month she was standing down after eight years, saying she had become too divisive to lead the nation to independence. Britain's vote to leave the European Union two years later when a majority of Scots wanted to stay, and Scotland's handling of the coronavirus pandemic brought new support for independence. However, an opinion poll showed the backing for independence dropped to 39% this month after touching a record 58% in 2020.

☆ UK PM Sunak to unveil measures to crack down on anti-social behaviour
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, March 26 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will unveil new measures on Monday to crack down on antisocial behaviour by focusing on policing in several areas of England and Wales, as he works to win over voters in the run-up to an election expected next year. He will say the new measures, including "hotspot" policing and a ban on nitrous oxide or laughing gas, underscores his zero-tolerance approach to anti-social behaviour which will see offenders receiving swift and visible punishments. "Anti-social behaviour undermines the basic right of people to feel safe in the place they call home," Sunak said in a statement. "The public have rightly had enough - which is why I am determined to restore people's confidence that those responsible will be quickly and visibly punished." Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ At what cost? UK PM Sunak to win post-Brexit trade vote in parliament
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Sunak has sought to end years of wrangling over Brexit by revisiting one of the trickiest parts of the negotiations - to ensure smooth trade to Northern Ireland without creating a so-called hard border with Britain or the European Union. He agreed with the EU to introduce the "Stormont brake", aimed at offering Northern Ireland more control over whether to accept any new EU laws, as part of the so-called Windsor Framework of measures to soothe post-Brexit tensions. But in Wednesday's vote in the lower house of parliament, those he most wanted to win over - Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and some Conservative eurosceptics in the European Research Group (ERG) - are set to rebel. The brake enables Britain to prevent new EU laws applying to goods in Northern Ireland if asked to do so by a third of lawmakers in the province's devolved legislature. The DUP has for a year boycotted Northern Ireland's power-sharing government over its opposition to the post-Brexit trade rules, which effectively leaves the province in the EU's single market for goods and means it has to follow some of the bloc's rules.

Sunak has tried to end years of wrangling over Brexit by revisiting one of the trickiest parts of the negotiations - to ensure smooth trade to Northern Ireland without creating a hard border with Britain or with European Union-member Ireland. "I welcome parliament voting today to support the Windsor Framework," Britain's Northern Ireland minister Chris Heaton-Harris said on Twitter. "This measure lies at the very heart of the Windsor Framework which offers the best deal for Northern Ireland, safeguarding its place in the Union and addressing the democratic deficit." Sunak hailed securing the deal last month as a "decisive breakthrough" but by alienating the DUP he has failed in restoring the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland. DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson told parliament his party could not return to Northern Ireland's power-sharing government "at this stage".

LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - Hedge funds are watching growing U.S.-Chinese geopolitical tensions and have spotted ways to trade them. Taking a short position on investment grade bonds would make up for losses on long positions elsewhere, he said. If tensions were resolved, being caught with a negative view on Chinese stocks would not be beneficial, and therefore she would not short Chinese AI firms but invest in U.S. ones instead. "The most sensitive commodity to a break down in trade between China and Russia and the West is graphite," he added. "Supply chains are already shifting to Penang, and they are receiving investment from both China and the U.S.

Two lawmakers with knowledge of the exports and two former officials said the approvals reflected Britain’s increased willingness to support Taiwan. One of the lawmakers, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said authorising the export licences amounted to giving a "green light" to better equip Taiwan. It shows the government authorised 25 export licences to Taiwan during the first nine months of 2022 under the categories "components for submarines" and "technology for submarines." Taiwan has for decades been unable to buy conventional submarines from other countries because of their concerns of angering China. Asked about the decision to approve the increase in export licences, the official said: "You just don't do something like this without thinking through the implications very carefully."

☆ UK PM Sunak rules out law change for return of Parthenon marbles
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SAN DIEGO, March 13 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ruled out changing a law which prohibits the British Museum handing the Parthenon marbles permanently back to Greece. Sunak is unlikely to break with the stances of his two predecessors who were both against any kind of loan of the marbles to Greece. "The UK has cared for the Elgin Marbles for generations. "We share their treasures with the world, and the world comes to the UK to see them. The collection of the British Museum is protected by law, and we have no plans to change it."

With assets of around 5.5 billion pounds and deposits of around 6.7 billion pounds, SVB UK is a minnow compared to HSBC. The situation was urgent because SVB UK had lost almost half of its deposits in the 48 hours leading up to its rescue, the source said. Officials from the Bank of England and Treasury along with board members from SVB UK were then locked in talks. HSBC also plans to inject 2 billion pounds of liquidity into SVB UK, a spokesperson for HSBC said. Advisory firm Rothschild, which advised SVB UK according to sources, also declined to comment.

The agreement will also see U.S. and British submarines deployed in Western Australia to help train Australian crews and bolster deterrence. This first phase of the plan is already underway with the U.S. Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine Asheville visiting Perth in Western Australia, officials said. Briefing a small group of reporters on Friday, Sullivan dismissed China's concerns and pointed to Beijing's own military buildup, including nuclear-powered submarines. 'DOUBLE DIGIT BILLION' INVESTMENTAustralia had agreed to contribute funds to boost U.S. and British submarine production and maintenance capacity, the official said. Australia's nuclear-powered submarine program with the United States and Britain will cost Australia up to A$368 billion ($245 billion) by 2055, a defense official said.

[1/2] A notice hangs on the door of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) located in San Francisco, California, U.S. March 10, 2023. "Silicon Valley Bank cannot be allowed to fail given the vital community it serves," Bank of London co-founder and CEO Anthony Watson said. But an executive at a major UK bank said it was unlikely a high street lender would buy SVB UK because its credit products would not be a good fit for a mainstream bank. EXISTENTIAL THREATMore than 250 UK tech firm executives signed a letter addressed to Hunt on Saturday calling for government intervention and warned of an "existential threat" to the UK tech sector, a copy seen by Reuters shows. Sunak has said he wants to turn Britain into the "next Silicon Valley".

☆ UK races to minimise SVB fallout amid reports of potential buyers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Andrew Macaskill | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/2] A notice hangs on the door of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) located in San Francisco, California, U.S. March 10, 2023. SoftBank-owned lender OakNorth Bank is weighing a bid to buy Silicon Valley Bank UK Ltd, a person with knowledge of the talks told Reuters, confirming a Sky News report. EXISTENTIAL THREATMore than 250 UK tech firm executives signed a letter addressed to Hunt on Saturday calling for government intervention and warned of an "existential threat" to the UK tech sector, a copy seen by Reuters shows. Hunt reiterated comments by the BoE that overall, Silicon Valley Bank had a limited presence in Britain and did not perform functions critical to the financial system. Sunak has said he wants to turn Britain into the "next Silicon Valley".

☆ UK's Sunak will invite Biden to Northern Ireland peace anniversary
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Elizabeth Piper | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, March 12 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will invite U.S. President Joe Biden to Northern Ireland in April to help celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which largely brought an end to three decades of political violence. Sunak said on Sunday that he would issue a formal invite to the celebrations, which are due to take place in the middle of April. The Good Friday Agreement was a peace deal that largely ended the "Troubles", three decades of violence that had convulsed Northern Ireland since the late 1960s. It was signed on April 10, 1998, and partially brokered by the U.S. government of then President Bill Clinton. "What I'm concentrating on now is talking to everyone in Northern Ireland so we can find a positive way to move forward and get power-sharing up and running - that's my priority," Sunak said.

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