European shares rise on healthcare boost, retreating bond yields
European shares recovered in early trading on Monday, boosted by healthcare stocks, as bond yields declined with investors
2023-10-30 16:46
HSBC Plans $3 Billion Share Buyback, CEO Touts Capital Strength
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Putin ally Lukashenko calls for ceasefire in ‘stalemate’ Ukraine war: ‘No one can do anything’
Russia and Ukraine were locked in a serious stalemate in Moscow’s continuing invasion of the country and needed to sit down for peace talks, Belarusian president and Vladimir Putin’s close ally Alexander Lukashenko said. “There are enough problems on both sides and in general the situation is now seriously stalemate: no one can do anything and substantively strengthen or advance their position,” Mr Lukashenko said. “They’re there head-to-head, to the death, entrenched. People are dying,” he said over the weekend. This marks the first time the Belarusian president has come forward seeking truce in the conflict and called for a “stop” command. "We need to sit down at the negotiating table and come to an agreement," Mr Lukashenko said in a question and answer video posted on the website of the Belarusian state news agency BelTA. "As I once said: no preconditions are needed. The main thing is that the ‘stop’ command is given," he said. A geographically closer nation to Russia, Belarus’s territory was used as a launch pad for the Russian preident’s full-scale invasion in February last year. He is also the only international leader to have frequently met Mr Putin since the conflict engulfed Ukraine. He said that Ukraine’s demands for Russia to quit its territory needs to be resolved at the negotiating table so that “nobody dies”. In June this year, Mr Lukashenko said his country had started taking delivery of Russian tactical nuclear weapons, some of which he said were three times more powerful than the atomic bombs the US dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Mr Lukashenko has relied on Russian subsidies and political support to rule the ex-Soviet nation with an iron hand for nearly three decades. In what is a purported exchange for the strategic ties between Belarus and Russia, he allowed the Kremlin to use Belarusian territory to send troops into Ukraine in February 2022 at the start of the invasion. Russia deployed forces to Belarusian territory under the pretext of military drills and then sent them rolling into Ukraine as part of the invasion that began last year. Mr Lukashenko also publicly supported what Mr Putin calls a “special military operation” inside Ukraine, alleging at a meeting with Mr Putin in early March that Ukraine planned to attack Belarus and that Moscow’s offensive prevented that. He said he brought a map to show the Russian president from where the alleged attack was supposed to take place, but offered no other evidence to back the claim. The vast war frontline in Ukraine has moved little in the past year despite Kyiv’s gruelling months-long offensive. Major military warfare is concentrated in eastern and southern Ukraine’s pockets. Ukraine has continuously rejected the proposal of peace talks and imposed pre-conditions that Russia withdraws every single of its military personnel from Ukrainian soil without keeping the territory from where Russian troops fire missiles. Ukraine said it will not rest until it ejected every last Russian soldier from its territory. It said the invasion was an imperial-style land grab by Russia, the world’s biggest nuclear power. American president Joe Biden said last year that a direct confrontation between Nato and Russia would mean the Third World War. On Saturday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said his 10-point peace plan, which includes calls for the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, is the only way to end the war. Read More Russia-Ukraine war: Putin ally Lukashenko warns of ‘serious stalemate’ Crowd storms Russian airport in search of Jewish passengers from Israel flight If Putin dies, this is what would happen in Russia Crowd storms Russian airport in search of Jewish passengers from Israel flight If Putin dies, this is what would happen in Russia Ukraine bombards Russia with drones as Putin suffers losses in fight for Avdiivka
2023-10-30 15:51
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2023-10-30 15:16
Russian airport in Dagestan closed as huge crowd of protesters storm runway ‘in search for Israeli flight’
At least 60 people have been detained after a huge crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters stormed an airport in Russia's Dagestan region, reportedly in search of a flight arriving from Israel. The crowd of hundreds broke through security barriers and poured out onto the airfield and runway of Makhachkala airport on Sunday evening, with videos on social media showing many young men among the protesters carrying Palestinian flags. Investigators have identified 150 people who were the most active protesters, the RIA news agency reported early on Monday morning. Nine police officers sustained injuries in the incident, two of whom were being treated in hospital, the authorities said. Russian media showed one group attempting to approach an aircraft on the runway after the identification number on the tail of the plane indicated it had arrived from Israel. Local authorities said 20 people were injured before airport security contained the protest and resumed control of the airfield, adding that no passengers on the plane from Israel were harmed. The unrest followed several other anti-Israel incidents in the North Caucasus triggered by Israel’s war against Hamas militants in Gaza, which has killed over 8,000 Palestinians, with 40 per cent of the deaths being children. More than 1,400 people have been killed on the Israeli side, the majority of them civilians during Hamas’s initial terror attack on southern Israel on 7 October. Videos emerging from the incident show the protesters, mostly young men, waving Palestinian flags and breaking down glass doors to enter the airport Antisemitic slogans were reportedly heard being yelled and some in the crowd aggressively examined the passports of arriving passengers. The Russian Aviation Authority closed the airport until it completed security checks and diverted flights, while investigation agencies ordered a criminal probe into the incident. Sergei Melikov, the head of Muslim-majority Dagestan, said the incident was a gross violation of the law, even as Dagestanis "empathise with the suffering of victims of the actions of unrighteous people and politicians, and pray for peace in Palestine". "There is no courage in waiting as a mob for unarmed people who have not done anything forbidden," Mr Melikov said on the Telegram messaging app. The Russian aviation authority Rosaviatsia said the protesters had been cleared by 10.20pm local time (7.20pm GMT), but the airport would remain closed pending “normalisation” of the situation. According to The Guardian, posts on the social media platform Telegram had circulated saying that flights from Tel Aviv would be arriving on Sunday evening with refugees from Israel. “The situation is very difficult in Dagestan, people from the community are afraid, they call, and I do not know what to advise,” Ovadya Isakov, a government representative of the local Jewish community, told the Podyom news outlet. Israel urged Russian authorities to protect Israelis and Jews in their jurisdictions following the reports. A statement by the foreign ministry in Jerusalem said the Israeli ambassador in Moscow was working with Russian authorities. “The State of Israel views gravely attempts to harm Israelis citizens and Jews anywhere,” it said. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel “expects the Russian law enforcement authorities to protect the safety of all Israeli citizens and Jews wherever they may be and to act resolutely against the rioters and against the wild incitement directed against Jews and Israelis”. While voicing support for a ceasefire in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, the regional Dagestani government appealed to citizens to remain calm and not take part in such protests. “We urge residents of the republic to treat the current situation in the world with understanding. Federal authorities and international organisations are making every effort to bring about a ceasefire against Gaza civilians — we urge residents of the republic not to succumb to the provocations of destructive groups and not to create panic in society,” the Dagestani government wrote on Telegram. The supreme mufti of Dagestan, Sheikh Akhmad Afandi, called on residents to stop the unrest at the airport. “You are mistaken. This issue cannot be resolved in this way. We understand and perceive your indignation very painfully. We will solve this issue differently. Not with rallies, but appropriately. Maximum patience and calm for you,” he said in a video published to Telegram. The protest poses another challenge for Russian president Vladimir Putin, who launched a war on Ukraine in February 2022. Mr Putin earlier condemned the bombing of Gaza, warning that the war could spill well beyond the Middle East. Moscow has tried to maintain contact with all sides in the Israel-Hamas conflict, but has angered Israeli authorities by inviting a Hamas delegation to Moscow. Israel’s foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador on Sunday. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky blamed the events on Russia’s “widespread culture of hatred toward other nations, which is propagated by state television, pundits, and authorities”. Read More Hundreds storm airport in Russia in antisemitic riot over arrival of plane from Israel Yousaf says in-laws still alive in Gaza after days without contact Ukraine bombards Russia with drones as Putin suffers losses in fight for Avdiivka Ukraine bombards Russia with drones as Putin suffers losses in fight for Avdiivka Russia-Ukraine war: Putin ally Lukashenko warns of ‘serious stalemate’ Trade tops the agenda as Germany's Scholz meets Nigerian leader on West Africa trip
2023-10-30 14:50
Toyota Global Sales, Output Hit Record 5.6 Million Vehicles
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2023-10-30 14:45
Ukraine bombards Russian forces with drones as Putin suffers losses in fight for Avdiivka
Ukrainian forces fired more than 30 drones in a renewed assault over the weekend as Russian forces lost at least an entire brigade in their push for the eastern town of Avdiivka, officials said. The Russian air defence systems destroyed 36 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the Black Sea and the northwestern part of the Crimean peninsula, its defence ministry wrote on Telegram on Sunday, accusing Kyiv of carrying out a “terrorist attack”. In a separate incident, local officials in southern Russia’s Krasnodar region near the Black Sea said an oil refinery was hit and set ablaze in the early hours of Sunday but did not explain what caused the fire. Several local media outlets said that the fire was caused by a drone strike or a crashed drone’s debris. Officials in Kyiv have not issued a comment on the Russian defence ministry’s claims. The war-hit nation rarely acknowledges responsibility for attacks on Russia and Russian-occupied territories but has admitted that striking targets there helps its counteroffensive. The recent months have seen drone strikes and shelling on the Russian border regions and illegally annexed Crimea peninsula as a regular part of the continuing military offensive. This comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Vladimir Putin has lost “at least a brigade” of troops in his offensive push towards the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka. “The invaders made several attempts to surround Avdiivka, but each time our soldiers stopped them and threw them back, causing painful losses. In these cases, the enemy lost at least a brigade,” Mr Zelensky said. Avdiivka, about 25km (16 miles) from Russian-occupied Donetsk, is surrounded by Russian-held territory to the north, east and south, leaving only its west for Kyiv’s troops to resupply and evacuate people. In its latest push for the coke town, Ukraine claimed that Russia is pouring a huge number of forces. The offensive from Russia was renewed in mid-October as tanks and heavy military vehicles were seen heading for the town. Russian forces have since tried to shell Ukrainian positions with constant barrages of artillery, waves of troops and fighting vehicles. But these losses being borne by Mr Putin are likely among some of the highest Russia has seen this year, the British Ministry of Defence said in its intelligence update on the war, claiming that Moscow has probably committed elements of up to eight brigades to the fighting which is “heavy but inconclusive”. The British intelligence claimed that the Russian military bloggers have been “harshly critical” of the tactics Russia has deployed in the Avdiivka operation. Elsewhere on the war front, the Ukraine’s Air Force said its forces shot down five Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones fired by Russia overnight. Another four police officers were wounded when a shell fired by Russian troops exploded near their car in the city of Siversk, located in the partly occupied Donetsk province close to the front line in the country’s east where Ukrainian and Russian forces were locked in a battle for control. Read More Russia-Ukraine war: Putin ally Lukashenko warns of ‘serious stalemate’ If Putin dies, this is what would happen in Russia War-weary mothers, wives and children of Ukrainian soldiers demand a cap on military service time
2023-10-30 13:23
Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin ally Lukashenko warns of ‘serious stalemate’ as he urges fighting to ‘stop’
The Russia and Ukraine war is now “seriously stalemate” Alexander Lukashenko has warned as he urged the two sides to “come to an agreement”. The Belarus leader and Vladimir Putin ally, who has provided his country’s territory as a launch pad for Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, said that Ukraine‘s demands for Russia to quit its territory needs to be resolved at the negotiating table “so nobody dies”. He said: “There are enough problems on both sides and in general the situation is now seriously stalemate: no one can do anything and substantively strengthen or advance their position,” Lukashenko said. “They’re there head-to-head, to the death, entrenched. People are dying.” Speaking in a question and answer video posted on the website of the Belarusian state news agency BelTA, he added: “We need to sit down at the negotiating table and come to an agreement. “As I once said: no preconditions are needed. The main thing is that the ‘stop’ command is given.” Read More Thousands of Ukrainians run to commemorate those killed in the war Russians commemorate victims of Soviet repression as a present-day crackdown on dissent intensifies Russia accuses Ukraine of damaging a nuclear waste warehouse as the battle for Avdiivika grinds on Moscow succession: What would happen if Putin dies?
2023-10-30 13:17
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