Citizenship Bill will be endorsed: Dahal
CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ' Prachanda' has said the Citizenship Bill will be endorsed by the National Assembly. Talking to media persons briefly at Biratnagar Airport today, the Maoist leader and the member of the House of Representatives said the Bill had again entered the process and would be passed by the Upper House. He said that the President consulting with the Nepal Army officials in regard with the Bill procedures is usual. "The Bill has already entered the process, it will be endorsed and the President will certify it." It may be noted that the Lower House on August 18 again endorsed the Bill that the President returned for reconsideration. The HoR passed the document as it is. Refuting rumors that a political crisis is likely in the country, he said no such thing would happen. He took time to say that there would be an electoral alliance among the five political parties in all 165 electoral constituencies in the upcoming elections. The seat allocations towards that will conclude by the next 15 days, according to the leader.
Climate change: Russia burning huge amounts of gas, puzzling experts
As Europe's energy costs skyrocket, Russia is burning off large amounts of natural gas, according to analysis shared with BBC News.
Experts say the gas would previously have been exported to Germany.
They say the plant near the border with Finland, is burning an estimated $10m (£8.4m) worth of gas every day.
Scientists are concerned about the large volumes of carbon dioxide and soot it is creating, which could exacerbate the melting of Arctic ice.
The analysis by Rystad Energy indicates that around 4.34 million cubic metres of gas are being burned by the flare every day.
It is coming from a new liquified natural gas (LNG) plant at Portovaya, north-west of St Petersburg. The first signs that something was awry came from Finnish citizens over the nearby border who spotted a large flame on the horizon earlier this summer.
Supplies through the pipeline has been curtailed since mid-July, with the Russians blaming technical issues for the restriction. Germany says it was purely a political move following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
While burning off gas is common at processing plants - normally done for technical or safety reasons - the scale of this burn has confounded experts.
"I've never seen an LNG plant flare so much," said Dr Jessica McCarty, an expert on satellite data from Miami University in Ohio.
"Starting around June, we saw this huge peak, and it just didn't go away. It's stayed very anomalously high."
Mark Davis is the CEO of Capterio, a company that's involved in finding solutions to gas flaring.
He says the flaring is not accidental and is more likely a deliberate decision made for operational reasons, according to BBC.
"Operators often are very hesitant to actually shut down facilities for fear that they may be technically difficult or costly to start up again, and it's probably the case here," he told BBC News.
Others believe that there could be technical challenges in dealing with the large volumes of gas that were being supplied to the Nordstream pipeline.
Russian energy company Gazprom may have intended to use that gas to make LNG at the new plant, but may have had problems handling it and the safest option is to flare it off.
It could also be the result of Europe's trade embargo with Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
"So, because of the trade embargo with Russia, they are not able to make the high-quality valves needed in oil and gas processing. So maybe there are some valves broken and they can't get them replaced."
Gazprom has not responded to requests for comment on the flaring.
The financial and environmental costs mount each day the flare continues to burn, say scientists.
"While the exact reasons for the flaring are unknown, the volumes, emissions and location of the flare are a visible reminder of Russia's dominance in Europe's energy markets," said Sindre Knutsson from Rystad Energy.
"There could not be a clearer signal - Russia can bring energy prices down tomorrow. This is gas that would otherwise have been exported via Nordstream 1 or alternatives."
Energy prices around the world rose sharply as Covid lockdowns were lifted and economies returned to normal. Many places of work, industry and leisure were all suddenly in need of more energy at the same time, putting unprecedented pressures on suppliers.
Prices increased again in February this year, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. European governments looked for ways to import less energy from Russia, which had previously supplied 40% of the gas used in the EU.
Prices for alternative sources of gas went up as a result, and some EU nations - like Germany and Spain - are now bringing in energy-saving measures.
The environmental impacts of the burning are worrying scientists, BBC reported.
According to researchers, flaring is far better than simply venting the methane which is the key ingredient in the gas, and is a very powerful climate warming agent.
Russia has a track record of burning off gas - according to the World Bank, it's the number one country when it comes to the volume of flaring.
But as well a releasing around 9,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent every day from this flare, the burning causes other significant issues.
Black carbon is the name given to the sooty particles that are produced through the incomplete burning of fuels like natural gas.
"Of particular concern with flaring at Arctic latitudes is the transport of emitted black carbon northward where it deposits on snow and ice and significantly accelerates melting," said Prof Matthew Johnson, from Carleton University in Canada.
"Some highly cited estimates already put flaring as the dominant source of black carbon deposition in the Arctic and any increases in flaring in this region are especially unwelcome."
Trump: Judge orders release of redacted search court papers
A US judge has ordered investigators to release a redacted version of court papers that convinced him to authorise a search of Donald Trump's estate, BBC reported.
The public version of the affidavit, a document that includes the evidence gathered by prosecutors, could reveal new details about the inquiry.
The Department of Justice opposed releasing an uncensored version amid its ongoing investigation.
The FBI search was part of a probe into the potential mishandling of documents.
The former US president has denied wrongdoing and insists the classified files that investigators say were found at Mar-a-Lago in Florida this month had already been declassified by himself.
On Thursday, US Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart ordered the affidavit to be released with redactions by noon (16:00 GMT) on Friday.
His ruling came shortly after the justice department confirmed that it had submitted to the judge a copy of the affidavit with proposed redactions.
Even in redacted form, the affidavit could provide clues as to why Mr Trump allegedly took classified documents with him in the chaotic final days of his presidency and what he did with them while they were stored in Palm Beach.
The rest may have to wait for when - or if - any criminal charges are filed, according to BBC.
The warrant itself was released on 12 August alongside an inventory of recovered items that showed 11 sets of classified files were removed from the estate.
Several news organisations have applied for the affidavit to be unsealed, citing public interest given the historic nature of the search of a former president's home.
Mr Trump and his lawyers - who have characterised the Mar-a-Lago search as politically motivated and unlawful - have called for the unredacted affidavit to be released.
A spokesman for Mr Trump, Taylor Budowich, said that efforts to "hide" its contents were "cynical" and could be used to "hide government corruption".
Earlier this week, Mr Trump's legal team asked that the investigation be frozen and that an independent third-party attorney, known as a special master, be brought in to oversee the documents that the FBI took during the search.
The search warrant indicates FBI agents wanted to see if Mr Trump committed a crime by improperly handling government records when he took them from the White House to Mar-a-Lago as his administration ended.
US presidents are required to transfer documents and emails to the National Archives when they leave office, BBC reported.
Zaporizhzhia: World narrowly avoided radiation accident - Zelensky
Europe faced the prospect of a radiation disaster on Thursday when a Russian-occupied nuclear plant was disconnected from Ukraine's power grid, President Volodomyr Zelensky has said, BBC reported.
It was only due to back-up electricity kicking in that the Zaporizhzhia plant was able to operate safely, he added.
Fires had earlier damaged overhead power lines, cutting the plant off.
There is growing concern over fighting near the complex, which is the largest nuclear plant in Europe.
"If the diesel generators hadn't turned on, if the automation and our staff of the plant had not reacted after the blackout, then we would already be forced to overcome the consequences of the radiation accident," President Zelensky warned on Thursday night.
The damage was caused by fires which Ukraine's state nuclear agency said had interfered with power lines connecting the plant on Thursday, temporarily cutting Zaporizhzhia off from the national grid for the first time in its history."As a result, the station's two working power units were disconnected from the network," Kyiv officials said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned that having "a secure off-site power supply from the grid is essential for ensuring nuclear safety".
Satellite images taken on Wednesday showed an extensive fire burning in the immediate vicinity of the nuclear complex.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed the damage on Russian shelling, and in his nightly address accused Moscow of putting Ukraine and Europe "one step away" from disaster, according to BBC.
But local Russian-appointed governor Yevgeny Balitsky blamed the Ukrainian military for the strikes, accusing them of causing power outages to the region as a result.
The BBC was not able to independently verify who was responsible.
The plant "remained connected to a 330kV line from the nearby thermal power facility that can provide back-up electricity if needed," the IAEA said in a statement, citing Ukraine's state nuclear agency.
It added that all six nuclear reactor units remained disconnected from the power grid despite the line having been restored later on Thursday.
Normally the nuclear plant supplies one-fifth of Ukraine's total electricity - so its continued disconnection from the national grid would pose serious challenges for Ukraine.
The nuclear site has been occupied by Russian military forces since early March but continues to be operated by Ukrainian nuclear technicians.
The Kremlin has signalled it will allow international inspectors to visit the complex - but until that happens it is difficult to verify what is happening on the ground.
It comes amid claims from Kyiv that Moscow could be trying to intentionally divert power from the occupied nuclear plant to reconnect it to Russia's own power grid.
There were media reports on Thursday of power outages across towns and villages in neighbouring parts of Russian-occupied Ukraine.
The mayor of Enerhodar, which is located next to the nuclear plant, claimed on Thursday that the city had no power or water at all and there were also reports of power cuts in the Russian-occupied cities of Melitopol and Kherson.
Washington officials condemned any bid by Moscow to redirect the power generated by the Zaporizhzhia plant away from Kyiv's national grid.
"The electricity that it produces rightly belongs to Ukraine," US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Thursday evening, adding that "no country should turn a nuclear power plant into an active war zone."
