Tag: business

This shift is most apparent in Europe, which is heavily reliant on imported Russian energy to keep the lights and heat on and has been experiencing a steady rise in energy prices. The new conflict, and the escalating sanctions and scrapped pipeline plans in response, has raised concerns that additional projected price hikes could trigger supply shortages as soon as next winter.

“We must become independent from Russian oil, coal and gas,” Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said in a statement on Monday. “We simply cannot rely on a supplier who explicitly threatens us. We need to act now to mitigate the impact of rising energy prices, diversify our gas supply for next winter and accelerate the clean energy transition.”

The European Commission recently unveiled a plan for how the region could transition away from Russian fossil fuels before 2030, involving a near-term push to find fossil fuel alternatives to Russia’s gas imports and maximize energy efficiency combined with a longer-term shift away from fossil fuels to renewable energy consistent with the region’s existing climate plans.

“I view this as an important step in fostering the decarbonization of the European economy,” Andreas Goldthau, an energy transition expert at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, told BuzzFeed News by email.

The commission’s modeling suggests something to the tune of “two-thirds of Russian gas being replaced within one year only through those measures, which strikes me as very ambitious,” Goldthau said. He later added: “At current prices, this

US Marine veteran Trevor Reed is on his way home after being released from Russia, where officials said he was wrongfully detained since 2019.

“Today, our prayers have been answered and Trevor is safely on his way back to the United States,” his family said in a statement.

Reed’s release came as part of a prisoner swap with Russia, with the US sending back Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot sentenced in 2011 to a 20-year prison term for importing more than $100 million of cocaine.

The surprise prisoner exchange was the result of long and difficult negotiations between the US and Russia, according to both countries. The fraught diplomacy was made all the more extraordinary because of the utter collapse of relations between Washington and Moscow over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

President Joe Biden, who met with the Reed family last month, said in a statement on Wednesday that the negotiations to release him “required difficult decisions that I do not take lightly.”

“I heard in the voices of Trevor’s parents how much they’ve worried about his health and missed his presence,” Biden said. “And I was delighted to be able to share with them the good news about Trevor’s freedom.”

Reed, 30, was imprisoned for allegedly assaulting a police officer while he was drunk, but his family and US diplomats said he was innocent, describing the evidence against him at trial as “preposterous” and “absurd.” Instead, they said he was being held as a bargaining chip.

In recent

“I think it’s quite a mark of respect, the amount of people that are committed to being patient and queuing,” one volunteer queue steward told BuzzFeed News of the massive line. “Even if it rained, I think they’d still be here.”

Kate Fryer, a National Health Service worker who traveled from Kent, braved the queue for five hours on her own and with a bad hip.

The 44-year-old, who was supported with a walking stick, recommended organizers for making the grueling process as accessible as possible for those with mobility issues.

“They’ve been so good. It’s so well organized,” she told BuzzFeed News.

When they reach the end of the line, mourners enter the solemn scene at Westminster Hall, where the Queen’s coffin is lying in state, surrounded by ceremonial guards with a glittering crown lying on top.

A livestream from the BBC shows those queuing quietly stopping beside the coffin. Some bow, some cry, but all feel a sense of history that seems hard to describe for those in line.