₦airaland Forum

The UK economy will shrink and perform worse than other advanced economies, including Russia, as the cost of living continues to hit households, the International Monetary Fund has said.

The IMF said the economy will contract by 0.6% in 2023, rather than grow slightly as previously predicted. However, the IMF also said that it thinks the UK is now "on the right track". Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the UK outperformed many forecasts last year. But shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the figures showed the UK "lagging behind our peers".

The IMF, which works to stabilise economic growth, said it had downgraded its forecast for the UK because of its high energy prices, rising mortgage costs and increased taxes, as well as persistent worker shortages. It did not mention Brexit in its report as a factor for the UK not performing as well as others. Today marks three years since the UK left the EU. If a country's economy shrinks, typically this means companies make less money and the number of people unemployed rises.

IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told the BBC that last year, the UK had "one of the strongest growth numbers in Europe", having expanded by 4.1%. Figures released on Tuesday indicated that the Eurozone grew by 3.5% in 2022, while the economy of the whole European Union expanded by 3.6%. Mr Gourinchas said this year's forecast for the UK reflected its "high dependence" on expensive liquid natural gas, which had driven up the cost of living. He said the government plans since November when it set out its spending plans in the Autumn Statement showed the UK was "certainly trying to carefully navigate these different challenges and we think that they are on the right track".

The UK is expected be the only country to shrink this year across all the advanced and emerging economies. Even sanctions-hit Russia is now forecast to grow this year. The IMF expects the UK to grow in 2024, revising up its forecast to 0.9% from 0.6%.

Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said that the IMF's forecasts were not always right, and he noted the fund was "actually being more optimistic than it was a few months ago". Forecasts from the Bank of England due later this week are likely to be more positive than they were two or three months ago, he added. "My best guess is that the economy will be broadly stagnant this year. That we're not going to get much in the way of growth but we're not going to have a deep recession either," he told the BBC's Today programme. "Now that's not great, particularly as we should be bouncing back more strongly from Covid and particularly as we've not been growing terribly well for the last decade and more."

A forecast such as this on its own, even from the world's most important international economic institution is just that, a forecast. But the value can come when it tells a different story across all the countries it surveys. In this case, the UK looks like an outlier. It was the only country to see a marked downgrade to growth forecasts since the autumn, and the only major G7 country to be forecast to contract this year.

The short answer is that the UK economic environment has worsened after September's mini-budget. The tax and interest rate rises required will slow the UK economy in particular alongside the more common shock of still high energy prices. The longer answer is that the IMF is not the only august institution wondering about economic hits affecting the UK. The IMF's bleak picture for the UK comes after Mr Hunt warned it was "unlikely" that there would be room for any "significant" tax cuts in the Spring Budget. The chancellor, who has been under pressure from some in his party to cut taxes to stimulate the economy, has said that lowering inflation "is the best tax cut right now".

Inflation - the rate at which prices rise - remains close to its highest level for 40 years. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to halve inflation by the end of the year, but many expect this to happen anyway largely due to a slowdown in energy price rises and as post-pandemic supply problems ease. The government's official independent forecaster the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) expects inflation, which measures the rate of price rises, to fall to 3.75% by the end of this year - well below half the current level. Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, has also said inflation is likely to fall rapidly this year but has warned a UK recession is still on the cards.

While the IMF predicts the UK economy will contract, it forecasts economic growth of 1.4% in the US, 0.1% in Germany and 0.7% in France.
Mr Hunt said the IMF's figures "confirm we are not immune to the pressures hitting nearly all advanced economies". "Short-term challenges should not obscure our long-term prospects - the UK outperformed many forecasts last year, and if we stick to our plan to halve inflation, the UK is still predicted to grow faster than Germany and Japan over the coming years," he added.

Economic forecasters are not always right when it comes to predicting the future. The IMF has said its forecasts for most advanced economies like the UK's have more often than not been within about 1.5 percentage points of what actually happens. The IMF said the trend of central banks putting up interest rates to try to curb inflation and the war in Ukraine continued to "weigh on economic activity" across the world. But it said China reopening its economy from Covid restrictions "paved the way for a faster-than-expected recovery" globally.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64452995

Roboto11:
Musk may never recover.

Even if his wealth crashed to $1 billion, he will still richer than 99% of people in the world. That's a lot of money my friend.

tishbite42:
You must be either a Chinese or a drug addict
The gibberish you wrote can't come from a logical and sane mind

Why are you insulting me? I was just stating the fact. Kindly let us know if you have anything to refute what I wrote.

The fact that you hate the truth doesn't negate it

CoronaVirusRelo:
Everyone knows China boycotts quality and standards at reduced price, and it applies to everything China makes!

It will only be attractive and cheap, it will never be close to the original

Yes, they make shitt.y products. They also make quality and competitive products as well.

In construction, they are one of the best by a long shot. They have built some of the most impressive and complex structures man has ever seen.

Comparing Julius Berger and CCECC is like comparing UI to Harvard Uni. UI has a good reputation in Nigeria but it's not known outside Nigeria

pocom35:
Lol...not really..

The project as Chinese financers..hence the importance of giving it to a Chinese firms if Lagos is to receive the funds...same way they awared our electricity revamp to Siemens because Germany is gonna lend us money for it..
And CCECC handling all the rail projects simply because it loans comes from china ..it a policy....

If I borrow you money for infrastructure my country people must pertake in it .

Still Julius berger remains the best in Nigeria. No caps

If talking about construction in world, Berger is nothing. Nobody even knows them.

CoronaVirusRelo:
When you talking about quality, China don’t come close!

Pick out the best of China construction and let me show you what Berger can do.

They are not comparable if quality should be put on the table!

Berger and CCECC? They are not even on the same level, not even close. The media is making people really ignorant. China has one of best construction companies in the world.

CCECC built the stadium that was used for the FIFA World Cup 2022 final in Qatar

vengertime:
Of course it has to be China they are always ready for any how you want your corruption ,

they are there for you

In this present age, if you want your work to be done, they are the ones to call.

symbianDON:
.......The first batch exports vehicles included leading domestic brands such as JAC, Jiangling, King Long, Foton and Golden Dragon.......
I quoted that from the link you posted. The question is, how many of the aforementioned brands are marketed as toks in Nigeria?

"....The first batch exports vehicles included [/b]leading domestic brands"

The first batch of the three hundred exported used cars according to Ministry of Commerce in China would include brands from [b]Toyota, Land Rover, Hyundai, Trumpchi, Volkswagen, Yutong, King Long, WOHO and Zhongtong....

Source https://naijauto.com/car-events/china-used-cars-to-nigeria-4503

symbianDON:
nope! Nigeria's toks cars aren't sourced from China.

Just say you don't know. http://www.exploringtianjin.com/2019-09/03/c_404831.htm

The missile was initially blamed on Russia, but the US president has contradicted this, saying "there is preliminary information that contests that".

Joe Biden has cast doubt on the origin of a missile that hit Poland and killed two people late on Tuesday, saying it is "unlikely" to have been fired from Russia.

The US president was speaking after a meeting with G7 and NATO leaders to discuss the incident, which hit a grain silo in Przewodow, near Poland's border with Ukraine.

Sponsored link
Recommended byWhat is Outbrain
Ukrainian and Polish authorities said the explosion was caused by a Russian-made missile, but Mr Biden appeared to step back from this.

He said: "There is preliminary information that contests that.

"I don't want to say that until we completely investigate it, but it is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia but we'll see."

The missile had sparked worried talk of NATO's Article 5, which means that an attack on a member country is seen as an attack on all member countries.

A number of NATO countries and allies used Twitter to voice their support for Poland, including British PM Rishi Sunak, who "reiterated the UK's solidarity with Poland".

https://news.sky.com/story/missile-that-hit-poland-is-unlikely-to-have-been-fired-from-russia-us-president-joe-biden-says-12748538

YourNextLevel:
Everything in China including technology, development, sickness , eating of ants and rats earthquakes, drought even backwardness (i know people will doubt this one).

May God help you guys though they dont believe in God shaa

You think like this because that’s all you hear about the country. Just like Nigeria is more than a country of scammers, drug pushers, war torn and extreme poverty.

Moreover, this is a tragic situation. If you have nothing to say in this situation, just keep quiet.

NotKnown:
China is like the devil who will give you cap and collect your head in return

Can you please explain?

BeanmanX:
Africans are selling their rights to China,,,I wonder why they keep borrowing frequently from this people and we don't see what they use the money for,, useless government.

I keep hearing these silly statements all the time. Can you please tell us what right they sold to China?

Nigeria external debt is almost $40 bn and owes China about $3.5bn (10% of External debt) out of that. You can see the rail tracks, new airports and train cars that these money was used to buy and build.

Can you please show me what the rest of the 90% was used for?

Day169:
I hope Nigeria isn't expecting any debt forgiveness from China..
These guys know us well and our corrupt nature.

Why will they forgive our debt? Will you give them back the rail tracks, new airports and train cars that the loan provided?

China, Africa’s largest bilateral lender, waived debt owed by 17 countries in the continent for 23 interest-free loans that were due in 2021.

The context of the latest relief reinforces China’s intention for Africa to consider the Asian power its preferred long-term development partner, especially “in the face of the various forms of hegemonic and bullying practices,” Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, said. That may have been a reference to the recent contentious visit by US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.

The relief was announced on Aug. 18 by in an address to Chinese and African diplomats at a follow-up meeting on the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation that was held last November in Senegal. At that forum last year, China reduced its pledge to Africa by 33% in an apparent show of concern for Africa’s indebtedness to it and against the backdrop of slowing Chinese economic growth.

Specifics of the announced relief are not known as the beneficiaries and amount were not disclosed. China canceled debt due to interest-free loans worth $113.8 million that matured in 2020 for 15 African countries including Botswana, Burundi, Rwanda, Cameroon, the DRC, and Mozambique.

China and Africa shake hands on non-interference

“China appreciates the firm commitment of African countries to the one-China principle and your strong support for China’s efforts to safeguard sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity,” Yi said.

He emphasized other points of political agreement between China and Africa, the result being that Africa has received infrastructure and humanitarian investments funded by China, from the Foundiougne Bridge which opened in Senegal this year and the Nairobi Expressway in Kenya, to emergency food assistance to Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Eritrea.

Chinese financiers and African governments signed over 1,180 loan commitments worth $160 billion between 2000 and 2020, the China Africa Research Initiative’s (CARI) database shows, two-thirds being for transport, power, and mining projects. Angola, Zambia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Cameroon have borrowed the most from China in dollar terms.

Yi pledged further Chinese investment in Africa including support for a ‘Great Green Wall’ against climate change, providing food assistance to 17 countries, and increasing Chinese imports from Africa. At the same time, he reinforced a core tenet of relations between both parties: “China will continue to support solving African issues in the African way. We oppose interference by outside forces in African countries’ internal affairs, and oppose stoking confrontation and conflict in Africa.”

And in an apparent criticism of the US and Europe’s motives for sanctions against Russia in its ongoing war in Ukraine, Yi said Africa wants “a favorable and amicable cooperation environment, not the zero-sum Cold War mentality…mutually beneficial cooperation for the greater well-being of the people, not major-country rivalry for geopolitical gains.”

It’s a tone that is increasingly welcome in parts of Africa, especially in francophone countries demanding an end to France’s influence in the sub-region. Just last week, Mali accused France of funding militant groups who want to destabilize the west African country, escalating a recent fallout between both countries.

Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-waived-debt-17-african-120100123.html

jimetagambo:
OP copied a German reporter that called it a technical recession. A German reporter that is not even American.

The NBER or Powell did not call it a recession.

People are calling it a" technical recession" because the WH released a technical paper earlier this week to shift the goal post on what recession should be. See: https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2022/07/21/how-do-economists-determine-whether-the-economy-is-in-a-recession/

Also, they have no incentive to call it a recession. US economy is consumer-based (more than 70% of US GDP is consumption). They want people to stay calm and spend as usual. When you tell people there is a recession, they tend to withhold and spend less which will have devastating effect on the economy.

US is in a recession, it is not rocket science, the masses on ground can feel it and they are withholding spending.

jimetagambo:
Go and argue with the NBER that hasn't yet called a recession or the Federal reserve chairman appointed by The republicans that has refused to call a recession. Because only one of the recession metrics have been met

There is a reason the OP put technical in his post. Trying to gaslight and play with the emotions of low IQ people.

I don't care who says what. Not from the same Powell who told us last year that "inflation is transitory" when he had the opportunity to start raising interest rate slowly. He was even promising soft landing earlier this year. Now everything is in a mess and they are adding "technical" to a recession.

bennybuhari:
Technical recession yet the dollars is very strong worldwide, even higher than Euro

A strong dollar is not necessary a good thing, especially for the US companies.

Read this: Strong dollar wipes billions off US corporate earnings -https://www.ft.com/content/6d06181f-d0e0-4c5a-bcfd-8bda44cc31a2

jimetagambo:
Don't mind the them

Don't gaslight us. Which one is "technical recession" again? Recession is recession. Two negative Quarters is recession.

China's top chip maker has likely gained the ability to produce 7-nanometre chips, according to a Canadian tech analysis firm, marking a significant breakthrough as the world's second-largest economy pushes towards technological self-sufficiency to counter US sanctions.

Researchers at TechInsights made the conclusion after they reverse-engineered a sample chip made by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), extracted from a cryptocurrency mining machine.

Analysts and industry professionals believe it is technically possible for SMIC to produce 7nm chips with existing deep ultraviolet (DUV) systems, under the leadership of co-CEO Liang Mong Song, a chip-making expert who was previously an executive at industry-leading Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

In a widely-circulated resignation letter from Liang in December 2020 that he later withdrew, he wrote that he had led a 2,000-strong engineering team to complete the development of 7nm technology at SMIC. He said the company could start trial production in April 2021.

SMIC has not made any public comment about the possibility that it has achieved 7nm capability, even though the type of chip that TechInsights analysed has been in production since last July.

SMIC declined to comment on TechInsights' report.

While SMIC's improved capability could mark a technological milestone for the Shanghai-based company, some experts question the commercial viability of using less advanced DUV systems, which is used in a wide range of chip-making processes, to produce 7nm chips.

"In theory, I believe DUV's [chip production] limit is 7nm, but the yield and performance may not be great at that limit," said Woz Ahmed, managing director of consultancy Chilli Ventures and former chief strategy officer at British semiconductor and software design giant Imagination Technologies.

Most industry players are using extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) systems to produce 7nm or more advanced chips.

Moreover, the transistor density, power and speed characteristics of 7nm chips made by different manufacturers can vary widely, Ahmed added, so it may not be meaningful to compare SMIC's chips with those produced by rivals.

The findings come as the US government continues to lobby authorities in the Netherlands - home to key semiconductor equipment supplier ASML - to further restrict sales to SMIC.

SMIC, which was put on a US entity list in December 2020, is already unable to import equipment for making chips below 10nm, including the latest EUV machines.

The Chinese company currently relies on less advanced DUV systems from ASML to expand its capabilities, focusing on using mature 28nm and above technologies to produce chips for cars and home appliances, rather than for high-end smartphones and tablets, which have moved onto more sophisticated chips.

SMIC hauled in a record-high revenue of US$5.44 billion last year on brisk demand for its mature node capacity.

News that SMIC may have achieved 7nm capability could be enough to "trigger more US restrictions to tame the rise of China's semiconductor industry", said Arisa Liu, a senior semiconductor research fellow at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research.

Before the TechInsights report, there were few details about the progress of SMIC's 7nm process. The development has not been mentioned in SMIC's financial reports, which maintained that the company's most advanced technology is 14nm.

Efforts by Washington to sideline China in global semiconductor value chains have set off alarm bells in Beijing. Mainland Chinese officials have expressed anger over the Chip 4 Alliance, a US-led supply chain coalition that includes Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

While the ability to mass produce 7nm chips would place SMIC ahead of American and European peers, the Chinese company remains one to two generations behind TSMC and South Korea's Samsung Electronics.

Samsung has already started to produce chips using its 3nm process, while TSMC is expected to catch up later this year.

Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinas-top-chip-maker-smic-093000367.html

Sentiment aside, Obi cannot win as it is.

It is just all social media noise.

peepydelano:
Osun people are daft and not reasoning well. Anyways we ain’t giving up till the very end

Heeee

michlins:
Tough times opens up opportunities to develop ingenious technology.

More competition but trust me, it will take a very long time for China to catch up

Same was said about the Japanese car industry, on China space program, airforce and telecommunication equipment’. We can see the gap is closed in some of these area or rapidly narrowing. All you need is the will power, technology, financial means and time. I think China has all these.

* Most of the world’s fastest-expanding chip firms are in China
* White House curbs on Huawei ignited demand for homemade chips

China’s chip industry is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, after US sanctions on local champions from Huawei Technologies Co. to Hikvision spurred appetite for home-grown components.

Nineteen of the world’s 20 fastest-growing chip industry firms over the past four quarters, on average, hail from the world’s No. 2 economy, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compared with just 8 at the same point last year. Those China-based suppliers of design software, processors and gear vital to chipmaking are expanding revenue at several times the likes of global leaders Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. or ASML Holding NV.

That supercharged growth underscores how tensions between Washington and Beijing are transforming the global $550 billion semiconductor industry -- a sector that plays an outsized role in everything from defense to the advent of future technologies like AI and autonomous cars. In 2020, the US began restricting sales of American technology to companies like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. and Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., successfully containing their growth -- but also fueling a boom in Chinese chip-making and supply.

While shares in the likes of Cambricon Technologies Corp. have more than doubled from lows this year, analysts say there may still be room to grow. Beijing is expected to orchestrate billions of dollars of investment in the sector under ambitious programs such as its “Little Giants” blueprint to endorse and bankroll national tech champions, and encourage “buy China” tactics to sidestep US sanctions. The rise of indigenous names has caught the attention of some of the pickiest clients: Apple Inc. was said to consider Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. as its latest supplier of iPhone flash memory.

“The biggest underlying trend is China’s quest for self-sufficiency in the supply chain, catalyzed by Covid-related lockdowns,” Morningstar analyst Phelix Lee wrote in an email responding to inquiries from Bloomberg News. “Amid lockdowns, Chinese customers who mostly use imported semiconductors need to source homegrown alternatives to ensure smooth operations.”

The FactSet China Semiconductor Index, which tracks some of the country’s biggest industry players, has gained roughly 20% since late April, when Covid lockdowns pushed local prices higher. But it remains down about a third from its July 2021 peak.

At the heart of Beijing’s ambitions is the impetus to wean itself off a geopolitical rival and more than $430 billion worth of imported chipsets in 2021. Orders for chip-manufacturing equipment from overseas suppliers rose 58% last year as local plants expanded capacity, data provided by industry body Semi show.

That in turn is driving local business. Total sales from Chinese-based chipmakers and designers jumped 18% in 2021 to a record of more than 1 trillion yuan ($150 billion), according to the China Semiconductor Industry Association.

A persistent chip shortage that’s curtailing output at the world’s largest makers of cars and consumer electronics is also working in local chipmakers’ favor, helping Chinese suppliers more easily access the international market -- sometimes with premiums tacked onto the best-selling products, such as auto and PC chips.

SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor Ltd., the biggest contract chip makers, have kept their Shanghai-based plants operating at almost full capacity even as the worst Covid-19 outbreak since 2020 paralyzes factories and logistics across China. With local authorities’ help, cargo flights from Japan delivered essential materials and gear to chip plants as the city went under lockdown. SMIC recently reported a 67% surge in quarterly sales, outpacing far larger rivals GlobalFoundries Inc. and TSMC.

Shanghai Fullhan Microelectronics Co.’s revenue grew 37% on average because of high demand for surveillance products. The video chip designer has pledged to expand into electric vehicles and AI after winning its “Little Giant” designation. And design tool developer Primarius Technologies Co. doubled sales on average over the past four quarters, saying it’s developed software that can be used in making 3-nanometer chips.

Putting aside long-term profitability concerns, Morningstar’s Lee said the aggressive capacity build-up from Chinese players will elevate their presence globally. That’s raising hackles in Washington.

“America is on the verge of losing the chip competition,” international relations scholar Graham Allison and former Google chief Eric Schmidt warned in a Wall Street Journal column. “If Beijing develops durable advantages across the semiconductor supply chain, it would generate breakthroughs in foundational technologies that the US cannot match.”

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-20/us-sanctions-helped-china-supercharge-its-chipmaking-industry

Rastaramsey:
You mean a whole country should surrender
That's bullshit....

Russia has taken over some parts of Ukraine even before the war....
Putin wanted to Elect his own president in another man's country....

Lol. There will eventually be a peace talk and Ukraine will have to make certain compromises. It has little options.

Rastaramsey:
Na morons full this nairaland....

Instead of engaging in the war, he should have surrendered ABI....

Make Putin turn am to prisoner

Una no even dey think sef...

This war could have been avoided. You cannot fight a war with someone stronger than you. Mexico tried it with the US, they lost California, Arizona. Texas, New Mexico, etc to the US. They won’t try it again.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered global condemnation and tough sanctions aimed at denting Moscow’s war chest. Yet Russia’s revenues from fossil fuels, by far its biggest export, soared to records in the first 100 days of its war on Ukraine, driven by a windfall from oil sales amid surging prices, a new analysis shows.

Russia earned what is very likely a record 93 billion euros in revenue from exports of oil, gas and coal in the first 100 days of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, according to data analyzed by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, a research organization based in Helsinki, Finland. About two-thirds of those earnings, the equivalent of about $97 billion, came from oil, and most of the remainder from natural gas.

“The current rate of revenue is unprecedented, because prices are unprecedented, and export volumes are close to their highest levels on record,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, an analyst who led the center’s research.

Fossil fuel exports have been a key enabler of Russia’s military buildup. In 2021, revenue from oil and gas alone made up 45 percent of Russia’s federal budget, according to the International Energy Agency. The revenue from Russia’s fossil fuel exports exceeds what the country is spending on its war in Ukraine, the research center estimated, a sobering finding as momentum shifts in Russia’s favor as its forces focus on important regional targets amid a weapons shortage among Ukrainian soldiers.

Ukrainian officials again called on countries and firms to halt their trade with Russia completely. “We’re asking the world to do everything possible in order to cut off Putin and his war machine from all possible financing, but it’s taking much too long,” Oleg Ustenko, an economic adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, said in an interview from Kyiv.

Ukraine has also been tracking Russia’s exports, and Mr. Ustenko described the research center’s numbers as seeming on the conservative side. Still, the underlying finding was the same, he said: Fossil fuels continue to fund Russia’s war. “You can stop importing Russian caviar and Russian vodka, and that’s good, but definitely not enough. You need to stop importing Russian oil,” he said.

Though Russia’s fossil fuel exports have started to fall somewhat by volume, as more countries and companies shun trading with Moscow, surging prices have more than canceled out the effects of that decline. The research found Russia’s export prices for fossil fuels have been on average around 60 percent higher than last year, even accounting for the fact that Russian oil is fetching about 30 percent below international market prices.

Europe, particularly, has struggled to wean itself from Russian energy, even as many countries send military aid to Ukraine. The European Union made most progress on reducing its imports of natural gas from Russia, buying 23 percent less in the first 100 days of the invasion than the same period the previous year. Still, income at Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned gas giant, remained about twice as high as the year before, thanks to higher gas prices, the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air found.

The European Union also reduced its imports of Russian crude oil, which declined 18 percent in May. But that dip was made up by India and the United Arab Emirates, leading to no net change in Russia’s oil export volumes, the research showed. India has become a significant importer of Russian crude oil, buying 18 percent of the country’s exports over the 100-day period.

The United States has made a dent in Russia’s earnings, banning all Russian fossil fuel imports. Still, the United States is importing refined oil products from countries like the Netherlands and India that most likely contain Russian crude, a loophole for oil from Russia to make its way to America.

Overall, China was the largest importer of Russian fossil fuels over the 100-day period, edging out Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. China imported the most oil; Japan was the top purchaser of Russian coal.

Stricter bans are coming. Late last month, the E.U. agreed to an embargo that will cover roughly three-quarters of Russian oil shipped to the region, though that won’t be enforced for six months. Britain has said it will also phase out imports of Russian oil by year’s end. But Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which receive Russian oil via pipelines, remain exempt. European and United States-owned ships also continue to transport Russian oil.

Europe is also speeding up its transition away from fossil fuels altogether. A new E.U. target aims to increase the region’s share of electricity from renewable forms of energy to 63 percent by 2030, up from a previous expected target of 55 percent.

Janet Yellen, the United States Treasury secretary, said last week that Washington was in talks with its European allies about forming a cartel that would set a cap on the price of Russian oil roughly equal to the price of production. That would trim Russia’s fossil fuel revenues while also keeping Russian oil flowing to global markets, stabilizing prices and fending off a global recession, she told the Senate Finance Committee.

Mr. Ustenko, the Ukrainian economic aide, said he would welcome such a move as a temporary measure until full embargoes can be imposed. He also suggested that countries should take the difference between global prices and the capped price on Russian oil and pay it into a fund to aid Ukrainian reconstruction.

“Then we’ll be able to cut off Russians from much of their financing, and almost immediately,” he said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/13/climate/russia-oil-gas-record-revenue.html

DNIPRO, Ukraine — Nearly 600 graves stretch to the edges of the military cemetery outside the city of Dnipro, marked by ranks of yellow and blue Ukrainian flags snapping in the wind.

The graves represent just a small percentage of the thousands of Ukrainian soldiers who have died in eight years of war since Russia first began to annex parts of their country in 2014, but the rapid expansion of this graveyard in eastern Ukraine is telling.

Almost half the graves are fresh. Draped in wreaths of artificial flowers or marked with a wooden cross stuck in the bare mud, they belong to soldiers killed in the last three months, since Russia began its large-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“There would not be anything here at all, if they had not come,” Viktoria Martynova said of the Russians. “We did not attack anyone. We were living in our own country, in our homes, on our own land.”

Her husband, Oleksiy Martynov, an electrician, lay in one of the new graves. He enlisted on the first day of the war and was killed in a mine explosion near the Russian border in April, barely six weeks later.

The number of Ukrainian casualties remains a closely guarded secret. The media-conscious government of President Volodymyr Zelensky has carefully controlled the flow of information in an apparent attempt to keep public morale high. Hospitals and military officials are forbidden from disclosing casualty numbers. Reporters are generally not permitted to visit the front line in Ukraine and photographs and videos showing wounded and dead soldiers are rare.

Yet with Russian artillery pounding its forces in the east, Ukraine is seeing casualties mount at such a rate that last week Mr. Zelensky said the army was losing 60 to 100 soldiers a day, and for the first time visited troops on the front lines.

For the men at the front, the strain is visible: in the dead-tired eyes of a police chief after another day leading his men in a bombarded city; in the blank stare of a commander who had just lost one of his best soldiers; and in the tense look of a group of soldiers heading for the first time to ground zero, as they call the frontline trenches.

Those soldiers are facing perhaps the most grueling weeks and months of the war as they try to stem, and survive, the Russian onslaught.

The nature of the fight has changed for the Ukrainians from up-close urban fighting and hit-and-run attacks on Russian armored columns around Kyiv, at which they excelled, to long-distance artillery battles and airstrikes on the eastern front, where Russia’s superior firepower gives it the upper hand.

Soldiers who served in the trenches last week near the village of Dovhenke near the contested region of Donetsk described hiking to positions and digging in as tank shells, mortars and cluster bombs landed around them.

“We were digging in on our knees and in the mud because it was raining,” said Samara, 48, the deputy leader of a unit who has completed five rotations on the front line. Like most soldiers he asked to be identified by his code name for security reasons.

“The last 48 hours we did not have moment of silence,” he said.

A tank blasted at their positions for five hours, then Russian infantry began an assault on foot, he said. Ukrainian snipers stalled the infantry advance and soldiers managed to lay a mine in the tank’s path, but the men in the trenches could do little but wait it out, he said.

“When a tank is firing you have to hide,” he said. “It’s a difficult situation.” His tin cup was punctured with several shrapnel holes. “I left it outside the trench,” he said, laughing. “I did not lift my head to see how it happened.”

No one sleeps during the 72-hour stint at “zero,” he said. The army had tried different lengths of rotations and determined that three days was the limit men should do before swapping out, he said.

Several soldiers said one of the hardest parts was digging in.

“We only had one spade and it was not very good,” said a 19-year-old soldier who uses the code name Air. At first things were quiet, so the men sat around joking and smoking as if on a camping excursion, he said.

She Combed the Converted Industrial Spaces of SoHo and NoHo. Which One Was the Right Fit?
They had dug a shallow trench, enough to lie in, but when the shelling started it proved barely enough. “The only thing you think about is why we dug so little,” he said. “We did not panic but my heart was beating so fast.”

Mortars and cluster bombs landed as close as 10 or 15 meters away, he said. “When you lift your head, you understand you are in a fog and you smell the gunpowder.”

One soldier, Vadym Melnyk, 40, who holds a doctorate in economics and teaches at Kyiv University, said he was disappointed not to see any evidence of Western-supplied weapons during his first rotation at the front last week.

“Unfortunately I didn’t see any,” he said after his return. “And that place now is one of the most difficult on the front.”

Tasked with holding positions against a Russian attack, the unit was armed only with Soviet-made assault rifles and anti-tank weapons, he said. They did not even have American-made Javelin missiles, which have been sent in large numbers to Ukraine, he said.

The Russians, he said, had much greater firepower, including multiple rocket launcher systems, tanks and big caliber guns. “They used everything they had,” he said. “They were firing at us without any problems.”

He said he was troubled that for two days their unit was under fire from the same Russian mortar position but Ukrainian artillery forces did not seem to do anything to knock it out.

Planes dropped cluster bombs overhead but luckily for the unit the canister opened at some distance away and the bomblets did not reach their positions, Mr. Melnyk said. He also said he saw white phosphorus dropped in the woods near their positions. It looked like a firework salute, he said, adding that a soldier in a friend’s unit had lost his sight from horrific burns.

The fighting at Dovhenke, which lies south of the town of Izium, has been particularly intense in recent weeks as Russian forces punched their way south in a move to seize the last part of the Luhansk region. Russian forces captured the village at the end of May and have continued pushing toward the town of Sloviansk.

Airstrikes remain persistently devastating, and Ukraine seems to have little defense against them, commanders and soldiers said. One soldier said his regiment lost 28 men in one night of bombardment by Russian jets last week.

Yet those who survive a close call said it inspired a greater determination. No one was ready to quit in his unit, Mr. Melnyk said.

“Everyone stayed until the end of the rotation,” he said. The group included 19- and 20-year-olds, and men in their 50s, including a former convict and men with doctorates. “It’s such a crazy mix but everyone feels the same — we must be there, we must fight and we must win.”

He was aware of the mounting casualties, he said, but the Russians lost men, too.

“If you want to win you should fight,” he said. “We don’t have another way.”

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/08/world/europe/ukraine-war-front-line-trenches.html

RichProminent:
I think the U.S must do something to curb china's move.

What is China’s move? The US is just scared of the rapidly growing China’s economic and influential power. I don’t think anyone can stop them. They have the will, the technology and the resource to do that.

VictorUSA1:
And some people are comparing the outdated Russian-made weapons with the US-made advanced weapons? smh! The US should make delivery asap so we can keep pounding and decimating Russian boys scout in khaki.

Do you AK-47 is a Russian-made weapon? One of the most reliable assault rifles in history. Even the US makes them.

ROME — Pope Francis said that NATO “barking” at Russia’s door may have led to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine — and said he has offered to meet the Russian president in Moscow.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Francis reflected on Russia’s lethal aggression toward its neighbor and said while he might not go as far as saying NATO’s presence in nearby countries “provoked” Moscow, it “perhaps facilitated” the invasion.

Francis also condemned the “brutality” of the war and compared it to Rwanda’s civil war in the 1990s, which resulted in a genocide of the Tutsi minority.

The Holy See has been asking since mid-March for a meeting between Francis and Putin in Moscow, the pope said. “Of course we needed the leader of the Kremlin to allocate a window of time. We haven’t yet had any response, and we are still trying, even if I fear that Putin can’t and doesn’t want to have this meeting at this time.”

In the interview, Francis ruled out going to Kyiv for now: “First I have to go to Moscow, first I have to meet Putin.”

Francis said he had canceled a meeting with Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a key backer of Putin who has justified the war, as they both thought it would look “ambiguous” — but in a phone call said he warned Kirill not to “turn himself into Putin’s altar boy.”

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Francis has repeatedly criticized the invasion, while avoiding naming Putin explicitly, in line with the Vatican’s foreign policy of keeping the door open for possible dialogue.

The Russian embassy to the Holy See did not immediately respond to phone calls or an emailed request for comment. A spokesman for the Vatican did not respond to request for comment.

https://www.politico.eu/article/pope-francis-nato-cause-ukraine-invasion-russia/

preciousmetals:
I don't have problem with World Bank loan, my only problem have to do with Chinese loan

Why? You guys listen to too much propaganda