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A day before Trump, Biden travels to Michigan to support the car strike

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US President Biden visited the Detroit Auto Show in Michigan

US President Joe Biden steps out of an electric Chevrolet Silverado EV pickup truck shown to him by General Motors CEO Mary Barra during a visit to the Detroit Auto Show to highlight electric vehicle manufacturing in the US in Detroit, Michigan. , 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo Get license rights

WASHINGTON/TOLEDO, Ohio, Sept 22 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Michigan on Tuesday to show support for a strike by the United Auto Workers against Detroit automakers. Against the big manufacturers.

Biden, a Democrat, considers himself a pro-union president, and his visit to the state, a day before former President Donald Trump is due there, will underscore his support for the right of unionized workers to take action and bargain collectively. .

“On Tuesday, I’ll be going to Michigan to picket and stand in solidarity with the men and women of the UAW as they fight for a fair share of the value they’ve helped create,” Biden said in a post on X on Friday. The social media platform was formerly known as Twitter. “It’s time for a win-win deal that keeps American auto manufacturing thriving with good-paying UAW jobs.”

Biden is running for re-election in 2024 and will face Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.

A spokeswoman for Trump’s campaign called Biden’s trip to Michigan “a cheap shot.”

“The only reason Biden is going to Michigan on Tuesday is because President Trump announced he would go on Wednesday,” the Trump campaign said in a statement late Friday.

The UAW invited Biden on Friday to visit workers on its picket line and said it would expand the Detroit strike to parts distribution centers across the U.S. at General Motors ( GM.N ) and Chrysler parent Stellandis ( STLAM.MI ). The company said it has made real progress in talks with Ford Motor ( FN ).

Jeremy Suri, a historian and presidential scholar at the University of Texas at Austin, said: “It’s very rare for a president to meet with strikers. Not even pro-labor Democratic President Jimmy Carter ever went on a picket line. “This is an opportunity for Biden to identify the presidency with striking workers instead of siding with industry. It’s going to be a big, big change.”

The UAW did not seek approval

Several unions have already endorsed Biden for re-election, but the UAW has now withheld its endorsement. Echoing the sentiments of union leaders, Biden said automakers “must go further to ensure record corporate profits mean record contracts for the UAW.”

Both the Detroit Three and the UAW have a lot at stake from federal policy decisions. Automakers are counting on Washington for billions in subsidies for electric-vehicle production. They are negotiating with the Biden administration about future emissions rules, which the industry hopes should be changed for EVs.

Meanwhile, the union worries that the shift to EVs could mean job losses because these vehicles require fewer parts to produce.

Trump plans to travel to Detroit to speak at a publicized rally for auto workers as he tries to win back some blue-collar voters who defected to Biden in 2020. Leaders.

Billionaire class fight

Trump did not say whether he would visit the picketed areas. United Auto Workers president Sean Fine blasted Trump earlier in the week, saying the union was “fighting the billionaire class and fighting the economy that enriches people like Donald Trump at the expense of workers.”

Suri said Theodore Roosevelt was probably the last US president to show such support for striking workers. In 1902, Roosevelt invited striking coal workers to the White House along with government officials and administration as the nation faced a coal shortage.

Ahead of the precedent-shattering meeting, Roosevelt, like Biden, found himself with little bargaining leverage.

Roosevelt complained to US Senator Henry Cabot Lodge that “there really is nothing … the national government has any power.” Review of strike On the Department of Labor website. “I’m at a loss as to how to proceed.”

The picketing workers had mixed feelings about whether to visit Biden. Some said politicians should stay out of the strike, while others said they would welcome support if the strike continues.

“Me personally, I wouldn’t mind if Biden came out and showed some support,” Laura Zielinski, 55, of Toledo, Ohio, said Tuesday, referring to Biden’s visit to the Stellandis Toledo Assembly Plant in 2010 when she was vice president. .

“That kind of support will put a spotlight on the negotiations — kind of give companies a boost.”

Thomas Morris, 60, who was picketing in suburban Philadelphia, said he applauded Biden’s support for unions and that corporations should deliver record profits to workers and consumers. He would love to see Biden join. “It will bring a lot of publicity and help the fight,” Morris said.

Reporting by Heather Timmons and Jeff Mason in Washington, Ben Clayman in Toledo, Ohio, and David Kaffen in New York; Additional reporting by Kanishka Singh and Jared Renshaw in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Nick Zieminski and Alistair Bell and Timothy Gardner

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Jeff Mason is a White House correspondent for Reuters. He has covered the presidencies of Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden, as well as the presidential campaigns of Biden, Trump, Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain. He served as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association in 2016-2017, leading the press group in advocating for press freedom in the early days of the Trump administration. His and the WHCA’s work has been recognized by Deutsche Welle’s “Freedom of Speech Award”. Jeff has asked pointed questions of domestic and foreign leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. He is the winner of the WHCA’s “Outstanding News Coverage under Deadline Pressure” award and co-winner of the Association for Business Journalists’ “Breaking News” award. Jeff began his career in Frankfurt, Germany before being posted. Brussels, Belgium, where he covers the European Union. Jeff appears regularly on television and radio and teaches political journalism at Georgetown University. He is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Middle School of Journalism and a former Fulbright Scholar.

The Detroit bureau chief and North American transportation editor is responsible for a team of about 10 reporters covering everything from autos to aerospace, airlines and space. Contact:

Brock Purdy, 49ers’ offense makes Giants pay for blitz-happy approach – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

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SANTA CLARA — Thursday night’s blitz of the New York Giants started off as a “detailed” show with 49ers quarterback Brock Birdie intercepting the blitz packages.

Purdy completed 25 of 37 passing attempts for 310 yards and two touchdowns with a 111.3 passer rating in the 49ers’ 30-12 win over the Giants.

“I thought he got a lot better as the game went on,” 49ers Christian McCaffrey said. “I’m not a quarterback’s coach, so I don’t always comment on a quarterback’s play, but I knew when he started to see things rolling.

“We’re lucky he’s our quarterback, that’s for sure.”

In the 49ers’ home opener at Levi’s Stadium, Purdy appeared to be off his game.

But as the game wore on, he figured things out and beat the Giants’ blitzes with decisive throws to Tebow Samuel, George Kittle and others.

“At first it felt like it was a little sloppy,” Purdy said. “Then once we got into a rhythm, we saw what they were doing and at what point in the game they were going to start doing things.”

Purdy faced a steady diet of blitzes nearly three times the league average. According to Pro Football Focus, the Giants blitzed Purdy on 37 of his 43 dropbacks, including plays nullified by penalties.

On plays where the Giants’ defense exploded, Purdy was 19 of 31 for 252 yards with two touchdowns and a passer rating of 108.5.

“That’s their plan. That’s the way they’ve done things,” Purdy said. “They’re very good at it, so going into the game, we had an idea of ​​the picture and what we were going to get. They stuck with it, and yes, it was a four-quarter game.

Purdy and Samuel delivered the punch in the fourth quarter. Then, the defense was good enough to break another blitz that New York defensive coordinator Don Martindale called for a 27-yard back-shoulder touchdown.

The 49ers seem to have playmakers on offense to take advantage of teams rolling the dice that send pressure and weaken their coverage.

Purdy is adept at making pre-snap reads and getting rid of the ball quickly. Samuel, Kittle, Brandon Ayuk and Christian McCaffrey take short passes and turn them into big gains.

“I feel like we were able to get a couple plays on their blitz and capitalize on that,” Purdy said. “We have to watch the film and learn from it. When another defense starts to apply pressure and does things like that, I feel like big plays have to be made.

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Crimea: Ukraine attacked Russia’s Black Sea naval headquarters, official says

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CNN

Ukraine’s missile attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters on Friday was the most dramatic example of Kiev’s reliance on Russian facilities in Crimea.

“The enemy launched a missile attack on the naval headquarters,” Mikhail Rasvozhayev, appointed as the Russian governor of Sevastopol, said in a telegram.

Over the past month, Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian military bases and other installations in Crimea, including air defenses.

Sevastopol, home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters, is one of the largest cities on the Crimean peninsula and was illegally annexed by Moscow’s forces in 2014.

The Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) said one Russian soldier was missing after the missile attack. The ministry had earlier released a statement saying a soldier had been killed in the attack. In an updated statement, they clarified that the soldier was missing and not killed.

“This afternoon the Kiev regime launched a missile attack on the city of Sevastopol,” the MOD tweeted.

“While repelling the missile attack, five missiles were shot down by air defense systems. As a result of the attack, the historic headquarters building of the Black Sea Fleet was damaged. According to available information, one soldier has been killed,” the MOD said.

Debris was “scattered hundreds of meters” following the missile strike, Russian state media TASS reported. TASS added that numerous ambulances were on their way to the scene of the attack.

Rasvozayev also said that a piece of shrapnel fell near the Lunacharsky Theater.

The Russian-appointed governor said operational services had gone to the scene of the attack and information on casualties was being clarified.

In an update late Friday, Razvozhayev said there was no “missile and aircraft risk” following the incident.

Razvozhayev earlier warned that another attack was possible and encouraged residents to avoid the city center.

Ukrainian authorities have yet to comment on the incident.

Footage shows smoke billowing from the top of a building believed to be the Black Sea Fleet headquarters following the attack in Sevastopol.
Friday's attack shows the vulnerability of critical infrastructure on the peninsula.

Over the past month, Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian military bases and other installations in Crimea, including air defenses. The latest attack comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continues his North American tour; Later on Friday, he was scheduled to address Canada’s Parliament.

On Wednesday, Andrii Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s defense intelligence, told Ukrainian television that “Crimea is still used, among other things, as a logistical hub for the transfer of enemy forces to other areas.” In order to destroy this logistics center, certain operations are deployed and implemented: at sea, on land and in the air.”

Friday’s attack shows the vulnerability of critical infrastructure on the peninsula. In short, the Ukrainians attacked the Russian military airfield at Sagi, crippled Russian air defenses along the northwest coast (including taking out an S-400 complex), and launched a missile attack on a key dry dock and ship. -Repair facility at Sevastopol disables attack submarine and landing craft.

Saki Thursday’s attack caused unspecified but “serious damage” to the airfield, according to SBU sources.

There are many reasons for Ukraine to target Crimea. Politically, this is a sign that despite slow progress on the Ukraine front, serious damage can be inflicted on the Russian military. Targets such as the Crimea bridge have considerable symbolic value and strategic purpose.

Attacking Russian logistics, fuel, maintenance and command centers – in Crimea, Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Luhansk – is part of a wider effort to disrupt their ability to supply the front lines.

California is proposing major insurance changes as it faces climate risks

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California’s top leaders announced Thursday reforms to the state’s insurance system to stabilize the market, a major shift in the nation’s disaster-prone state, one of the world’s largest insurance markets.

Government action using executive orders came later Seven of the state’s top 12 carriers, including giants Allstate and State Farm, have scaled back coverage in the past year due to wildfires and the rising costs of such risks. Homeowners’ premiums are not commensurate with the risk they face, they said.

The government’s move could have national implications as insurers across the country grapple with the latest threats from climate change.

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara called it a “historic agreement” between regulators and the industry as his department works more closely with insurers to quickly evaluate and rule on their rate increase requests, which are now six months away.

His agency wants to more accurately price at-risk homes and encourage residents to harden and protect them from wildfires, and slow the rapid growth of California’s FAIR program, which, as Laura said Thursday, is “a first resort, not a last resort for many residents.”

In a major win for the industry, California reversed its position on barring insurers from using forward-looking catastrophe models, which are standard in other states, for more accurate pricing rates. Until now, the government allowed carriers to use only historical, 20-year data during pricing policy.

The reason, explained Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, a consumer group, is that regulators fear that insurers using sophisticated catastrophe models may overstate how dangerous a part is by overcharging.

Laura said insurers need to be transparent about how they use this data. If they don’t, the department has full authority to “claw” their rate up.

“This is a real crisis we’re in,” Laura told a news conference Thursday, acknowledging that the state’s current regulatory framework doesn’t meet its current needs and is actually hurting consumers and putting the theme at risk.

California is struggling to keep pace with a rapidly evolving climate emergency: How can homeowners insure their homes when they want to pay higher prices to carriers and pass that cost on to consumers? Places like Louisiana and Florida face similar problems.

With these moves, California is trying to avoid becoming Florida, which has seen its premiums rise rapidly as a result of recent legislation and rate hikes. Residents there pay an average of $6,000 a year, while Californians pay about $1,300. But industry groups say Californians have to pay more in the event of major disasters, and their homes generally cost more.

For years, California lawmakers have had a push-pull relationship with the industry.

Regulators don’t want to raise rates and let carriers fold complex modeling data into their policy decisions, but with more destructive and expensive catastrophes and higher costs to insure themselves through reinsurance, carriers have said they no longer want to take on more risk. Unless the government allows them to charge extra and bring in private companies to make those decisions.

Laura’s move to fix the market since 1988 comes after lawmakers failed to come up with a solution this session to loosen regulations and raise rates.

This ripple effect squeezes the market and inevitably forces more residents to obtain policies through the state’s insurer, the California Fair Plan. It also happens in Florida, Louisiana and other states.

As part of their reform package, California will now require insurers to write “less than 85% of their statewide market share in distressed areas,” which Lara would identify; Reduce the amount of policyholders in the FAIR scheme and bring them back under private carriers; and implement $20 million worth of commercial and HOA improvements coverage from the fair plan.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) issued an executive order Thursday greenlighting Laura’s plans, authorizing the commissioner to take “emergency regulatory action” to expand coverage choices for consumers, especially in disadvantaged areas, speeding up the department’s rate approval process to keep the market competitive and improving, and making it solvent. Get more people out of the program than is fair to keep.

Newsom cited some of the industry’s concerns in his line, particularly carriers’ exposure to more billion-dollar extreme weather events, higher construction repair costs, global inflation and higher reinsurance premiums.

While the government has approved the rate hikes, they don’t match what industry is thinking of doing business in the disaster-prone state. Over the past 10 years, homeowner insurance companies have “done the worst in California nationally,” Laura said in her Thursday presentation.

Industry groups applauded California’s actions.

“California’s 35-year-old regulatory system is outdated, complex and fails to reflect the catastrophic losses consumers and businesses face from inflation, climate change, extreme weather and more residents living in wildfire-prone areas,” Denny Ritter, APCIA Department Vice President for State Government Relations, said in a statement.

“The actions announced by the Commissioner today are the first of many necessary steps to address the deterioration of the insurance market.”

While the Insurance Commissioner’s package is an important step forward, experts say it is still missing some key elements. For one thing, the FAIR program is “in big trouble,” said Michael Wara, a wildfire and insurance expert at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, and more needs to be done to reduce the amount of coverage state insurers do. Quick action is also required as homeowners must build Protected areas Government backed project to prevent fire place.

There are also questions about how quickly Laura and the department can act. The commissioner said the executive action enables his department to “move quickly and set regulations with a sense of urgency.”

He wants all these reforms to be implemented by December 2024, he said. But as Wara points out, homeowners are in the thick of fire season and need serious action now.

“It’s an emergency,” he said. “By what process will Laura get this? How fast can she do this? Time is of the essence in all of this.”

1 dead, more than 40 injured after New York bus carrying Farmingdale High School students crashes

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CNN

At least one person was killed and at least 48 students were injured when a bus carrying a band camp event overturned on Interstate 84 in Orange County, about 75 miles north of New York City, officials said.

Three of the students were seriously injured, said Daniel Minerva, vice president of operations and COO of Empress EMS.

The dead man was ejected from the vehicle, Minerva said, without providing further details.

WCBS

An EMS agency said dozens of students were injured in the crash.

The bus carrying students from Farmingdale High School on Long Island was on its way to a concert for band camp, a spokeswoman for the high school confirmed to CNN.

The bus was headed to Greeley, Pennsylvania, the school said in a statement.

“We were notified that there was an accident with Bus 1 en route to Greeley, PA for band camp,” Farmingdale High School spokesman Jake Mendlinger told CNN. “Police and emergency responders and the district administration are also at the scene. We will provide another update as more information becomes available.

New York State Police will release a statement Thursday evening about the bus crash.

WCBS

A school spokeswoman said the bus was headed to a concert for band camp.

Aerial images from CNN affiliates show a passenger bus in the middle of the forest, between eastbound and westbound roads.

Emergency personnel can be seen at the scene of the crash and a medical helicopter is also stationed on the highway.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of the bus crash and their families,” Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus said in a statement to CNN. “I want to thank all the first responders for their prompt response, service and dedication.”

I-84 was closed with detours at exit 15A, state police said, adding that “interstate 84 westbound is expected to be closed for several hours.”

New York Gov. Cathy Hochul said she had been briefed on the incident and that members of the New York State Police and Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services were assisting response teams at the scene.

“We are grateful to the first responders whose quick action saved lives, and we will continue to support them if needed,” the governor added. “Our hearts go out to all those affected by this horrific situation.”

Ukraine: New attack on Crimea, Poland halts arms supply, Zelensky meets Biden

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All the latest developments in the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine Attacks Crimea Air Base

The Ukrainian military said Thursday it had attacked a Russian military airfield near the Crimean city of Chaki, in another attack by Kiev on the Moscow-annexed Ukrainian peninsula used as a base for an invasion of Ukraine.

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“Ukrainian security forces carried out a coordinated strike on Wednesday night against the military airfield of the occupiers near the city of Chaki,” the army’s communications center said in a telegram, without giving further details.

A source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it was a joint operation by SBU and naval forces using drones and Ukrainian-made Neptune cruise missiles.

The strike comes a day after Crimea’s Russian-backed authorities responded to Ukrainian missile and drone attacks targeting areas around Sevastopol and its main port, announcing they had overturned a facility critical to the Russian navy.

According to Sevastopol Governor Mykhailo Rasvoje, Ukrainian forces targeted the city with missiles and two neighboring towns, Kacha and Verknessadovoy, with drones.

On September 13, a strike damaged two ships at a shipyard in Sevastopol and injured 24 people. In August, a particularly massive strike involving 42 drones targeted the peninsula, following a commando operation by Ukrainian forces.

The Ukrainian military has repeatedly targeted Russian ships sailing in the Black Sea or in Crimea and Russian ports along the coast.

Difficult times ahead for Ukraine, warns Kyiv

Ukrainian officials have warned that the country faces “difficult months”.

“Difficult months await us: Russia will continue to attack Ukrainian energy and essential installations,” Oleksiy Kuleba, deputy head of the presidential administration, said in Telegram.

As winter approaches, Ukrainian officials fear that Moscow will resume a strike campaign aimed at plunging citizens into cold and darkness, as it did last winter.

Russian missiles rain down on Ukrainian cities

Several towns and cities in Ukraine were hit by Russian rockets overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, killing two people in Kherson and wounding others in Kiev.

Residential areas were reportedly bombed in the southern city of Kherson, where two people, aged 29 and 41, were killed in a strike on an apartment building. Four others have been hospitalized, including one in a critical condition.

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Seven people were injured in the capital Kyiv, including a 9-year-old girl, when Russian missiles landed, mayor Vitaly Klitschko said.

Several people were injured in the city of Cherkasy after a Russian attack hit a hotel.

The eastern city of Kharkiv, close to the Russian border, was bombed along with the northwestern Lviv region.

Although Moscow denies targeting Ukrainian civilians, experts told Euronews in June that there was a deliberate strategy behind its bombing campaign.

Poland stops arms supply to Ukraine

Amid a growing rift between the two countries over grain, Warsaw announced Wednesday evening that it would not send arms to Kiev.

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“We will not transfer any more weapons to Ukraine,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on television.

“We are mainly focused on modernizing and rapidly arming the Polish army so that it becomes one of the most powerful ground forces in Europe,” he said.

Morawiecki noted that a military base in Rzeszow is still functioning normally with Western equipment being sent to Ukraine.

The prime minister did not elaborate on when Poland, one of Ukraine’s biggest arms suppliers, would stop supplies or whether the move was related to their clue about the grain.

With elections looming at home, Warsaw has imposed an embargo on Ukrainian grain to protect its own farmers, who have complained they cannot compete with its cheaper imports.

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Speaking at the UN on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made barbed comments about Poland’s move, saying “some countries” were showing “solidarity” with Kiev by “indirectly supporting Russia”.

This, in turn, drew a sharp response from the Polish Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, saying it was “wrong” and “unfair considering Poland’s support for Ukraine since the first days of the war.”

Zelenskyy in Washington to ensure continued US support

Ukraine’s number one will visit the White House on Thursday, knowing that some in the US are tiring of offering support.

Zelenskyy wants five things from Washington as his country’s counteroffensive continues.

Read more below.

Zelenskyy rails against ‘criminal’ Russia at UN

The UN condemned Moscow’s “aggression” on Wednesday. Ukraine’s president challenged Russia during an extraordinary session of the Security Council.

He also lamented how Russia was “blocking” the UN with its veto power.

“Most countries in the world recognize the truth about this war,” Zelensky said, facing Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia.

“This is Russia’s criminal and unjustified aggression against our nation aimed at capturing Ukraine’s territory and resources,” he said, wearing his usual khaki green fatigues.

He urged the UN to revoke Russia’s veto power in the Security Council, which is one of five permanent members along with China, France, the UK and the US.

“The right of veto in the hands of the aggressor is blocking the UN,” he said, adding that it was “impossible to stop” the war because of Russia’s veto and the support of other countries in the UN.

Contrasting attitudes to the war in Ukraine prevail in the global South, with many states abstaining from UN resolutions condemning Moscow and instead calling for peace talks.

Wednesday’s address was the first time Zelenskyy has addressed the UN Security Council in person since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022.

Azerbaijan halted its offensive in Karabakh after a ceasefire agreement with Armenian separatists

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image source, Russian Ministry of Defense

image caption,

Russia said it had evacuated 2,000 Armenians from villages near the fighting

Azerbaijan’s president has declared his country’s sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh restored after a 24-hour military offensive against ethnic-Armenian forces.

Ilham Aliyev praised the bravery of Azerbaijan’s military hours after Karabakh forces agreed to surrender.

About 120,000 Armenians live in the South Caucasus region, which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan now wants to bring the breakaway region under full control.

Its military launched an “anti-terrorist” operation on Tuesday, demanding that Karabakh’s forces raise the white flag and disband their “illegal regime”. After a nine-month siege without the support of neighboring Armenia, the ethnic Armenians quickly conceded.

Armenian officials said at least 32 people, including seven civilians, were killed and another 200 wounded. However, according to a separatist Armenian human rights official, at least 200 people were killed and more than 400 injured. The BBC was unable to verify any of the figures.

On Wednesday evening, after a ceasefire was agreed, Armenian officials accused Azerbaijan of firing on troops near the town of Chodak on the border between the two countries, but Azerbaijan immediately denied the claims.

Beginning at 13:00 local time (09:00 GMT) on Wednesday, Azerbaijan’s military said it had captured more than 90 positions from the Armenians before both sides announced a complete cessation of hostilities by Russian peacekeepers.

Under the terms of the ceasefire outlined by Azerbaijan and Russia, peacekeepers on the ground must commit to the complete disbandment and disarmament of local Karabakh forces.

There is also a commitment to the withdrawal of Armenian forces, even though its government denies there is any military presence there.

Azerbaijan’s leadership said officials would meet Karabakh’s Armenian delegation for talks on “reunification issues” in the Azerbaijani city of Yevlakh on Thursday. President Aliyev said that Azerbaijanis have nothing against the people, only their “criminal junta”.

Yevlakh is about 100 km (60 mi) north of Khankendi, the regional capital of Karabakh, known as Stepanakert by Armenians.

image source, Artsakh Public TV

image caption,

Local officials say 32 people died and 200 were injured in Karabakh

People rush to the airport

Marut Vanyan, a journalist in Karabakh, said many families spent Tuesday night in cellars: “I didn’t sleep, I didn’t eat. It’s quiet now, but it’s a strange feeling. For now, what do we have to do? Understand this bloodshed and what to do next.”

Russia said its peacekeepers had evacuated 5,000 troops from dangerous areas since the offensive began, according to the country’s Interfax news agency.

As the cease-fire was announced, Karabakh officials urged residents to stay in shelters and not to travel to the local airport near the Russian peacekeeping base. However, crowds soon gathered near the airport and it was unclear what support they would have as darkness fell hours later.

Thomas de Waal, Caucasus expert at Carnegie Europe, said the terms of the ceasefire and the upcoming negotiations left Azerbaijan’s terms and Armenians vulnerable.

“It looks like the end of a 35-year plan, some would say a century-old plan for the Karabakh Armenians to secede from Azerbaijan,” he told the BBC.

“Probably, unfortunately, we see a plan in which the Azerbaijanis offer very little to the Karabakh Armenians, otherwise they would not all leave.”

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made it clear that his government was not involved in the ceasefire talks and demanded that Russian peacekeepers take full responsibility for the safety of the local population. On Tuesday he accused Azerbaijan of “ethnic cleansing” in Karabakh.

Azerbaijan’s presidential envoy Elzin Amirbekov told the BBC that Russian peacekeepers helped facilitate the ceasefire: “I think they should be counted on for the implementation part.”

The ongoing crisis

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia and its neighbors have fought two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous, landlocked region southwest of Azerbaijan.

A six-week war in 2020 led to several thousand deaths, but Turkey’s support helped Azerbaijan retake territory surrounding and within the enclave, isolating ethnic Armenians.

For the past nine months, Azerbaijan has maintained an effective blockade of the only route from Armenia to Karabakh, known as the Lachin Corridor. Ethnic Armenians in the enclave complained of lack of food, medicine and toilets and Armenia was unable to help.

Some 2,000 Russian peacekeepers are supposed to monitor the 2020 ceasefire, but Moscow’s interest in Armenia has waned during the war in Ukraine, although Armenia is part of Russia’s CSTO military alliance.

Last May, the Armenian prime minister reportedly said he was willing to recognize Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan in exchange for the protection of the ethnic Armenian population.

“Azerbaijan’s 86,600 sq km area includes Nagorno-Karabakh,” Mr Pashinyan was quoted as saying, referring to Azerbaijan as a whole.

Russia is also irritated by Mr Pashinyan’s apparent pivot to the West.

Earlier this month his wife, Anna Hagobyan, shook hands with Ukraine’s president at a conference in Kyiv, where dozens of Armenian and American soldiers participated in military exercises together this week.

The Kremlin has denied Armenian accusations that it is not doing enough to help its ally.

President Vladimir Putin said last week that Russia had no problem with Armenia’s prime minister, but added: “If Armenia recognizes that Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan, what should we do?”

Hundreds of protesters in Yerevan called on the prime minister to resign on Tuesday over his handling of the crisis and he warned that unidentified forces were calling for a coup.

Armenia-Azerbaijan: Nagorno-Karabakh map

Free Covid tests to resume in US

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Anticipating a winter surge of Covid-19, the Biden administration announced Wednesday that it would renew a program that offers free coronavirus tests by mail to Americans and spend $600 million to buy the tests from a dozen domestic manufacturers.

Website for the project, covidtests.gov, will begin accepting orders on Monday, and families will receive four tests. Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the money will fund the purchase of 200 million tests to replenish the nation’s stockpile as tests are shipped.

But a byproduct of the plan, Ms O’Connell said, is that it will boost domestic manufacturing capacity in the event of another serious coronavirus outbreak. He said the department has given permission to manufacturers to sell the tests directly to retailers ahead of the government if demand increases.

Coronavirus hospitalizations are on the rise in the U.S., though they remain low compared to earlier stretches of the pandemic, and free tests are now hard to come by for many Americans. Private insurers were previously required to provide eight at-home tests per month, a requirement that ended when the Biden administration allowed the public health emergency for the coronavirus to expire in May.

The administration first began offering free at-home coronavirus tests through the postal service early last year after the Omicron variant caused a spike in cases. More than 600 million tests were distributed before officials halted the program in late summer, citing a lack of funding. The administration began offering the tests late last year before halting the program again this spring.

The announcement came Wednesday as President Biden’s Health Secretary Xavier Becerra tried to drum up interest in newly approved coronavirus vaccines by stocking his own Covid and flu vaccines at a CVS pharmacy in Washington. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended last week that all Americans 6 months and older receive at least one dose of the recombinant Covid vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

With the chief executives of Pfizer and Moderna standing by his side, Mr. Becerra called his own mother, who was about to turn 90, and said she did not have Covid-19.

“I can hug and kiss my mother and not be responsible for her getting sick. I feel comfortable after getting the shots,” he said, adding, “No one is safe until everyone is safe.”

UK carmakers hit back as reports suggest Prime Minister Sunak will water down green policies

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UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks to the media during a visit to the Shell St Fergus gas plant in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland on July 31, 2023.

Wpa Pool | Getty Images News | Good pictures

LONDON — UK-based industry bodies and automakers criticized British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday amid reports that he is preparing to water down several key net-zero climate pledges.

BBC reported The measures include postponing the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars to 2030 and a ban on new gas boilers to 2035.

Sunak is expected to deliver a speech on the topic on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on the BBC report.

Lisa Brankin, Head of Ford UK – in this Confident He said the 2030 target – to make the UK its European electric vehicle parts manufacturing hub – was “a key catalyst for Ford to accelerate towards a cleaner future”.

“Our business needs three things from the UK government: ambition, commitment and sustainability. A 2030 relaxation would undermine all three,” Frankin said.

“Trained policy attention is needed to develop the EV market in the short term and support consumers when the headwinds are strong: infrastructure is immature, tariffs are looming and the cost of living is high.”

As part of a broader target to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the target was announced in 2020 to include petrol and diesel car sales.

Stellantis, which opened the UK’s first EV-only manufacturing plant earlier this month, called for further clarification.

“Politicians in all kinds of governments over the years have not been honest about spending and trade-offs. Instead they have taken the easy way out and we can keep it all,” Sunak said in a statement on Tuesday.

“This realism does not mean losing our ambition or abandoning our commitments. Far from it. I am proud that Britain is leading the world on climate change.”

“No leak will stop me from going through the process of telling the country how and why we need to change,” Sunak said.

He also said he was committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

Mike Howes, chief executive of the Association of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said the government needed to provide the auto industry with a “clear, consistent message, attractive incentives and a charging infrastructure that provides hope rather than anxiety”.

Ministers have suggested for months that the government is considering watering down green policies.

The ruling Conservative Party is lagging behind rival Labor ahead of national elections expected next year.

Many members of Sunak’s own party oppose weakening the Green targets, with MP Chris Skidmore telling the BBC on Tuesday that it was a “huge mistake”. [Sunak’s]Prime Ministership so far.”

However, Home Secretary Suella Braverman insisted in broadcast comments on Wednesday that the prime minister’s approach to green policies was “pragmatic”.

The BBC report suggests that other changes include new energy efficiency restrictions on homes and a new tax-free commitment to discourage flying.

In the long term, weakening UK climate policies could “harm economic growth by undermining domestic and foreign investment that develops and deploys clean technologies such as heat pumps and electric vehicles. Cooler because they are more exposed to volatile fossil fuel prices,” says Grantham Research on Climate Change and the Environment. said Bob Ward, the company’s director of policy and communications.

Criticism also came from the energy sector, with Chris Hewett, head of trade association Solar Energy UK, saying the measures would be an “economic miscalculation of historic proportions”, with businesses in the US, China, EU and India leading the way. Renewable energy and electric vehicles sectors.

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