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Brussels bakers struggle to make ends meet as flour prices soar

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In his palms, Arnaud Szalies is holding what he refers to as white gold: flour.

An award-winning pastry chef, Szalies – like everybody else in his trade – has seen costs of flour rise 30% within the final three months amid the warfare in Ukraine.

Ukraine is one in all Europe’s largest producers of wheat and the fifth largest exporter on the planet. Russia, in the meantime, is the world’s largest wheat exporter.

“With the warfare coming we do not know the way excessive it’s going to go,” he advised Euronews.

Szalies stated that costs are going up so quick that he doesn’t know the way a lot he must pay when he orders it.

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“You possibly can think about that if we purchase one thing with out understanding the value we don’t know the way a lot to promote it for,” he stated.

“If we have now to place our costs up then we lose prospects.”

Szalies has already needed to let go of one in all his group and now has a single pastry chef serving to him throughout his two workshops.

Albert Denoncin, co-president of the Belgian Bakery and Pastry Confederation, has warned that the issue may very well be about to get even worse.

“We should not overlook that Ukraine is the granary of Europe, and with what is going on in the intervening time, there may be nothing extra popping out of Ukraine,” he stated.

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“Which means that tomorrow we might see the value of flour quadruple, which would not shock us, given the present circumstances.”

For Belgium’s 3,500 bakeries and pastry outlets, wheat just isn’t the one factor that’s getting costlier.

Vitality costs have skyrocketed and are set to extend much more throughout 2022 as Europe slashes the quantity of pure fuel it imports from Russia and oil costs rise.

“Final yr we have been paying 3,000 euros a month for electrical energy and we have simply obtained an adjustment of 9,000 euros,” he stated.

“So I will allow you to think about, the worst is but to come back. Subsequent yr, how a lot we pays, I don’t know.”

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Video: Young People Demand Change Ahead of Britain’s Election

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Video: Young People Demand Change Ahead of Britain’s Election

Many young people feel disillusioned by politics in the United Kingdom, as the country readies for a pivotal general election after 14 years of Conservative governments. Megan Specia, an international correspondent for The New York Times based in London, spoke with young voters in the northern English cities of Liverpool and Manchester to hear their perspectives on the election.

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1 confirmed dead after severe rain causes roof collapse at India's New Delhi airport

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1 confirmed dead after severe rain causes roof collapse at India's New Delhi airport
  • One person was killed after a portion of the canopy at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport’s departure terminal collapsed on Friday.
  • The collapse occurred due to monsoon rains that lashed the Indian capital, officials say.
  • Six others were injured during the collapse.

A portion of a canopy at a departure terminal at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport in India collapsed Friday as monsoon rains lashed the Indian capital, killing one person and injuring six others, officials said.

All flight departures from Terminal 1 were temporarily suspended as rescuers cleared the debris to rescue anyone trapped there, the airport authority said.

Terminal 1 is used for domestic operations at New Delhi’s main airport.

DEATH TOLL LINKED TO METHANOL-LACED LIQUOR ILLEGALLY BREWED IN INDIA RISES TO 47

The fire services control room said the injured were taken to a hospital.

A crew inspects the damage to a part of a departure terminal canopy at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport that collapsed in heavy pre-monsoon rains in New Delhi, India, on June 28, 2024. (AP Photo)

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“Due to heavy rain since early this morning, a portion of the canopy of the old departure forecourt” collapsed at around 5 a.m., an airport authority statement said.

In addition to the roof, some support beams also collapsed, damaging cars in the pickup and drop-off area at the terminal, the Press Trust of India news agency said.

One of the six injured people was rescued from a car on which an iron beam had fallen, PTI said.

Anees Khan, a taxi driver, said he was sleeping in his car. “Around 5:30 in the morning there was a very loud lightning sound. When I got out, I saw that the roof had collapsed and there were around eight to 10 cars under it.”

Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu visited the airport and said boarding operations at the damaged terminal were being shifted to two other terminals.

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He told reporters that a thorough inspection of the damaged structure was being carried out.

An IndiGo airline official said passengers inside the terminal had already boarded their flights and those booked on flights later in the day would be offered alternatives.

Friday’s rain was the first big shower of the monsoon season in New Delhi, the India Meteorological Department said. It flooded New Delhi streets, causing traffic snarls. The monsoon season lasts until the end of September.

According to the department, as much as 9 inches of rain fell in New Delhi in the past 24 hours, nearly three times the amount the city usually receives in the entire month of June. The intense rain follows a punishing heatwave that claimed at least 100 lives across India, including in New Delhi.

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India is among the most vulnerable regions in the world to the effects of climate change. A report by the Reserve Bank of India earlier this year found it could cost more than $1 trillion by 2030 for the country to adapt to the changes. Climate experts say monsoon rains have become more erratic, resulting in extreme rainfall events that cause landslides and flooding.

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Norway's LQBTQ community party at the Pride parade in Oslo

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Norway's LQBTQ community party at the Pride parade in Oslo

According to the Brussels-based NGO ILGA-Europe, Norway this year ranks the 8th best state in Europe for the LGBTQ community.

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Revellers took to the streets of central Oslo this weekend to celebrate the city’s annual pride parade as June’s Pride Month draws to a close.

The two-hour march ended on Saturday at the so-called Pride Park, in the central Sofienbergparken.

Oslo Pride is Norway’s largest celebration of love and diversity and focusses on equal rights and human dignity.

It’s created by around 80 year-round volunteers with around 300 extra getting involved during the nine-day festival.

According to the Brussels-based NGO ILGA-Europe, Norway this year ranks the 8th best state in Europe for the LGBTQ community. The index takes into account the legal, political and social environment for LGBTQ people in each country in Europe.

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However during 2022’s festival, a homophobic gunman opened fire in Oslo’s nightlife district, killing two people and wounding 20 others.

Heavy police presence at Pride parade in Greece

Meanwhile, in Greece, around 15,000 people attended the annual EuroPride parade on Saturday, police said, in support of the LGBTQ+ community in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki but police had to come out in large numbers to keep the parade safe.

“This participation from across Europe sends a message,” parade participant Michalis Filippidis told reporters. “It is very, very good. We are all united like a fist and, despite many things happening, we are all here to fight for our rights.”

There was a heavy police presence to prevent demonstrations against the parade. In the end, police said, 15 people were detained for shouting obscenities at parade participants and, in one case, trying to throw eggs at them.

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