Nepal PM Deuba congratulates Truss on her election to premiership of UK
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Wednesday conveyed a congratulatory message to the newly elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Elizabeth Truss. In his message, the Prime Minister has extended his best wishes to Truss for her successful tenure as well as for the continued progress and prosperity of the people of the United Kingdom, read a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Stating that Nepal attaches high importance to its relations with the United Kingdom as one of the major development partners, the Prime Minister has thanked the UK for its valuable support in Nepal’s development endeavors. The Prime Minister has recalled his visit to the United Kingdom last year to participate in the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) and stated that given Nepal’s robust commitments on climate action and green development, support from development partners like the UK in the areas of sustainable livelihood, renewable energy and technology transfer goes a long way in realizing these commitments, the statement read. Likewise, Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka has sent a message of congratulations to James Cleverly, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom. In his message, the Foreign Minister has expressed confidence that Nepal-UK multi-faceted relations would be further strengthened during Cleverly's tenure in office.
EU plans to cap Russian gas price as Putin issues warning
The European Union has proposed a price cap on Russian gas just as Russia’s President Vladimir Putin warned that such a move would cause Moscow to cut off all energy supplies, Aljazeera reported.
Europe is in the middle of an escalating standoff with Russia that could drive up already-soaring European gas prices further in advance of the cold months ahead. Brussels accuses Moscow of weaponising energy supplies in retaliation for Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. Russia continues to insist that the sanctions are causing the supply problems, which it puts down to pipeline faults. On Friday, Russia’s Gazprom fully suspended gas supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany after it said it found an engine oil leak during maintenance work.Rising tensions
Putin has warned that contracts could be discarded in the event of price caps. “We will not supply anything at all if it contradicts our interests,” Putin said on Wednesday at an economic forum in Vladivostok. “We will not supply gas, oil, coal, heating oil – we will not supply anything,” Putin stated. Europe usually imports about 40 percent of its gas and 30 percent of its oil from Russia. Despite the warnings, the EU is planning to press ahead with a price cap on Russian gas and also a ceiling on the price paid for electricity from generators that do not run on gas, according to Aljazeera. “We will propose a price cap on Russian gas … We must cut Russia’s revenues which Putin uses to finance this atrocious war in Ukraine,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters.
Saky airfield: Ukraine claims Crimea blasts responsibility after denial
Ukraine has claimed responsibility for a series of air strikes on Crimea after a month of uncertainty over who was behind them, BBC reported.
One of the attacks, which took place in early August, targeted Russia's Saky military base and killed one person.
Ukraine had refused to acknowledge its role and even blamed them on Russian soldiers' discarded cigarettes.
It confirms a significant expansion of the conflict by Ukraine into Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
In an article for national news agency Ukrinform, Kyiv's top commander Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said Ukrainian rockets had targeted a number of Crimean military sites, including the Saky airbase which was rocked by multiple explosions on 9 August.
He claimed the attack - against a base used by Moscow to launch attacks against Ukraine - took 10 Russian warplanes "out of action".
The strikes were part of a deliberate response to Russian efforts to try and distance its own civilians from the conflict, he said.
Saky airbase is near Novofedorivka on Crimea's western coast, a beach area popular with Russian tourists.
It is the first time Ukraine has attacked Crimea proper since the full-scale Russian invasion began in February, according to BBC.
The Russian-controlled peninsula has become subject to an increasing number of Ukrainian military threats in recent weeks.
"The weather forecast says it is going to be very hot in Crimea," the Ukrainian army warned on Twitter on Wednesday, before suggesting Moscow's occupying forces may be forced to swim back to Russia across the Black Sea.
Ministry of Forests and Environment committed to addressing climate change issues
Minister for Forests and Environment Pradeep Yadav has said that his Ministry is committed to addressing the climate change problems. Addressing the inaugural session of the First Assembly of Climate Action Campaign here today, he said that since becoming the minister he has made decisions on and run various programs for minimizing the climate change and greenhouse gas emission. Minister Yadav added that works have been moved ahead to that end on a war footing. “We have been working at a war-footing to tackle the problem of climate change and the cooperation of all sides is necessary in this connection,” he said. The Minister also on the occasion gave information on other works carried out by the Ministry towards mitigating climate change. Nepal is a state party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, the Minister said and reiterated that it has kept climate change mitigation as its main priority. He further said that policies, strategy, laws, regulations and plans on climate change minimization have been formulated while the National Climate Change Policy, 2076 is under implementation. Stating that the country has adopted the policy of zero emission of Green House Gas by 2045 AD, Minister Yadav informed that works have also been moved ahead toward meeting this target. He also pointed out the need of national and international support for implementing Nepal’s the ‘ambitious’ commitments and programs. The Forests and Environment Minister expressed regrets that although all the nations came together to addressing the climate change issues and also made various commitments for the same, they have not worked in keeping with these commitments. “All states are one on tackling the problem related to climate change and they have also expressed commitment to take various measures for mitigation and adaptation. However, this problem is not being handled as per the commitments and this is a matter of concern,” he said. Reminding that a mountainous and least developed country like Nepal is at high risk of adverse impact of climate change, Minister Yadav stressed on the need of the mountainous countries to work together for addressing the problem. More than 100 environment experts, representatives and youth of several organizations working in the climate change sector from Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan are participating in the two-day event.
