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EU leaders rebuff Spain’s pleas for reforms to curb electricity prices

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EU leaders rebuff Spain’s pleas for reforms to curb electricity prices

As soon as once more, EU leaders have dismissed Spain’s impassioned pleas for market reform to curb the dramatic rise of electrical energy costs throughout the continent.

The politically explosive challenge has been on the agenda for the previous six months and took a flip for the more severe after Russia, the bloc’s primary fuel provider, invaded Ukraine, sending markets trembling and inflation hovering.

The vastly totally different vitality mixes of every member state and clashing views about market intervention put the brakes on Madrid’s vigorous reforming marketing campaign, whose divisive character laid the bottom for an extended and intense debate on Friday.

The assembly on vitality occupied your complete second day of a EU summit in Brussels and lasted for greater than 9 hours, with a number of breaks in between.

On the finish of talks, the 27 agreed to permit Spain and Portugal to introduce distinctive and non permanent measures within the Iberian market, similar to worth caps, an instrument that, whereas extraordinary, falls in need of the market reforms that Madrid had been pleading for.

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Leaders additionally gave the go-ahead to a proposal from the European Fee to arrange a job drive for frequent purchases of fuel forward of subsequent winter, following the mannequin of the joint procurement scheme for COVID-19 vaccines.

The bloc is assured it may well use its weight as an financial powerhouse to safe extra beneficial costs. Europe’s fuel consumption represents 75% of world market of pipeline fuel.

“We now have an infinite buying energy. Due to this fact I welcome that we are going to now use our collective bargaining energy,” mentioned Fee President Ursula von der Leyen on the finish of the assembly.

“As an alternative of outbidding one another and driving costs up, we are going to pool our demand.”

Moreover, leaders green-lighted the target to refill underground fuel storage services by at the least 80% of their capability by 1 November with the intention to keep away from a repeat of final yr’s low reserves.

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Contagion impact

For the previous month, fuel costs have stayed above €100 megawatt per hour on the Dutch Title Switch Facility, Europe’s main benchmark, reaching an all-time excessive mark of €227 megawatt per hour on 7 March.

On the similar time, gasoline costs have skilled a steep rise, surpassing €2 per litre in a number of European nations. The ballooning prices have strained households and firms, with some factories shutting down manufacturing to mitigate the influence of the impossibly excessive payments.

In Spain, one of many nation worst hit by the disaster, the transport sector started an indefinite strike on March 14 to protest the state of close to “chapter” of its staff. The strike has disrupted the nation and lots of supermarkets are working out of meals provides.

Beneath huge in style strain, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez arrived in Brussels to safe concessions from his friends that might tweak the present guidelines of the EU vitality market. Amongst his priorities, Sánchez wished to “decouple” the costs of vitality and electrical energy.

At the moment, the EU’s wholesale electrical energy market works on the premise of marginal pricing, often known as “pay-as-clear market”. Beneath this method, all electrical energy producers – from fossils fuels to wind and photo voltaic – bid into the market and supply vitality in keeping with their manufacturing prices. The bidding begins from the most cost effective sources – the renewables – and end with the costliest one – normally pure fuel.

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Sánchez believes this method has grow to be “problematic” and is inflicting a contagion impact. Since most EU nations nonetheless depend on fossil fuels to fulfill all their energy calls for, the ultimate worth of electrical energy is usually set by the value of coal or pure fuel. If fuel turns into dearer, electrical energy payments inevitably go up, even when clear, cheaper sources additionally contribute to the overall vitality provide.

Spain’s marketing campaign for a hands-on method has obtained the backing of Greece, Portugal, Italy and, most not too long ago, Belgium.

“The influence of the Ukraine conflict, we really feel it in Europe. It is out residents who really feel it,” mentioned Alexander De Croo, the prime minister of Belgium, who hails from a liberal celebration.

“The costs in the present day don’t have anything to do with actuality, that are ruining our inhabitants and ruining our public funds. I feel we must always intervene. I do know that intervening out there isn’t a straightforward factor to do, however we’re at conflict. I feel we are able to take extraordinary measures.”

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza

However the push for intervention isn’t extensively shared.

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In reality, it’s adamantly opposed by nations like Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Austria, who defend the present system as a result of it ensures transparency and promotes funding within the cleaner sources.

Within the leading-up the summit, reviews emerged within the Spanish press {that a} EU diplomat had described Sánchez as Don Quixote combating towards the windmills, with De Croo as his Sancho Panza.

“Everybody is anxious” about excessive vitality costs, mentioned Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš forward of the summit.

“There are two methods to do it: we are able to go the wholesale market or we are able to go the retail market. I feel going to the retail market – that’s offering support to susceptible households – is one of the best ways to go to minimally distort the market and to maintain the funding setting open to renewables.”

On the finish of the day, Sánchez’s nice ambitions did not materialise and his fellow leaders merely granted him and Portugal permission to introduce a short lived treatments to the electrical energy costs within the Iberian Peninsula.

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The Spanish PM has described the area as an “vitality island” with a higher-than-average share of renewables however scarce interconnections with the remainder of mainland Europe, which in his view makes it simpler to implement distinctive measures with out endangering the remainder of the European market.

“We agreed on a particular therapy that’s attainable for the Iberian Peninsula in order that it may well take care of this very particular scenario they’re in and handle electrical energy costs,” mentioned von der Leyen.

Costs caps was one of many concepts floated by the Fee earlier this week, alongside revenue help, state support, decreased taxation and the redistribution of so-called windfall income.

“There isn’t any single simple reply to sort out excessive electrical energy costs,” the manager mentioned within the doc. “All choices carry prices and downsides.”

The burning query is tips on how to pay for these further prices. For instance, if a authorities units a most worth for electrical energy, it should subsidise the hole between the true price of manufacturing and the ultimate invoice shoppers obtain, an effort that may show onerous within the brief group and unstainable within the lengthy.

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Worth caps may additionally distort competitors, danger commerce and even threaten the safety of provide, the Fee warned. Fearing losses, fuel suppliers may resolve to finish contracts and cease promoting to the nation.

Given Friday’s lacklustre decision, the talk is poised to proceed within the coming weeks. The 27 hope to see a gradual ease of costs as temperatures enhance and using heating decreases.

“There are some nations which can be extra market-oriented, others are extra sceptical, however this does not must do with common angle however with the evaluation of what we are able to obtain,” mentioned German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“We do not have a proposal that works simply but. We see the issue, however not the answer simply but.”

The query of decoupling will come again to the desk in Could, when the Fee is anticipated to unveil extra concepts on tips on how to keep away from the contagion impact. That very same month, the manager will even put ahead a extra detailed roadmap to slash imports of Russian vitality by at the least two thirds earlier than the tip of the yr.

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Memes, Jokes and Cats: South Koreans Use Parody for Political Protest

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Memes, Jokes and Cats: South Koreans Use Parody for Political Protest

As South Koreans took to the streets this month demanding the ousting of their president, some found an unexpected outlet to express their fury: jokes and satire.

They hoisted banners and flags with whimsical messages about cats, sea otters and food. They waved signs joking that President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law had forced them to leave the comfort of their beds. Pictures of the flags spread widely on social media.

The idea was to use humor to build solidarity against Mr. Yoon, who has vowed to fight his impeachment over his ill-fated martial law decree on Dec. 3. Some waved flags for nonexistent groups like the so-called Dumpling Association, a parody of real groups like labor unions, churches or student clubs.

Video by Yu Young Jin/The New York Times

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Photos by Weiyi Cai/The New York Times

“I just wanted to show that we were here as part of the people even if we aren’t actually a part of a civic group,” said Kim Sae-rim, 28, who waved the flag of the dumpling group at a recent protest she went to with friends. Some groups referred to other local favorites like pizza and red bean pastries.

Kwon Oh-hyouck, a veteran protester, said that he had first seen such flags emerge during demonstrations in 2016 and 2017 that ultimately resulted in the removal of President Park Geun-hye. Mr. Kwon said that satire was part of the Korean spirit of protest.

“People satirize serious situations, even when those in power come out with guns and knives,” he said. “They are not intimidated.”

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In the past month, protesters have come up with a wide range of unorthodox groupings. Some were self-proclaimed homebodies. Still others came together as people who suffered from motion sickness.

Video by Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Photos by Weiyi Cai/The New York Times

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Video by Weiyi Cai/The New York Times

Photo by Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

Lee Kihoon, a professor of modern Korean history at Yonsei University in Seoul, said that he believed the flags at this month’s protests were an expression of the diversity of people galvanized by the president’s attempt to impose military rule.

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“They’re trying to say: ‘Even for those of us who have nothing to do with political groups, this situation is unacceptable,’” he said. “‘I’m not a member of a party or anything, but this is outrageous.’”

Some held signs ridiculing Mr. Yoon, saying that he had separated them from their pets at home and disrupted their routine of watching Korean dramas. One group called itself a union of people running behind schedule, referring to the idea that the need to protest over martial law had forced them to reschedule their appointments.

Photo by Weiyi Cai/The New York Times

Photo by Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

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And of course, there were animals, both real and fake.

Photos by Weiyi Cai/The New York Times

South Koreans have shown that protests for serious causes — like the ousting of a president — can still have an inviting, optimistic and carnival-like atmosphere.

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“I don’t know if the protesters realize it, but even though they’re angry, they haven’t gotten solemn, heavy or moralistic,” Mr. Lee said. “The flags have had an effect of softening and relaxing the tension.”

On the day that lawmakers voted to impeach Mr. Yoon, protesters who were K-pop fans brought lightsticks to rallies and danced to pop songs blasting from speakers. “Even though this is a serious day,” said Lee Jung-min, a 31-year-old fan of the band Big Bang, “we might as well enjoy it and keep spirits up.”

Video by Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

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Two US Navy pilots shot down over Red Sea in apparent 'friendly fire' incident: US military

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Two US Navy pilots shot down over Red Sea in apparent 'friendly fire' incident: US military

Two U.S. Navy pilots were shot down Sunday over the Red Sea in what appeared to be “friendly fire”, the U.S. military said.

The pilots were found alive after they ejected from their aircraft, with one suffering minor injuries.

The incident demonstrates the pervasive dangers in the Red Sea corridor amid ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis, even as U.S. and European military coalitions patrol the area.

The U.S. military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the time, but U.S. Central Command did not elaborate on what their mission was.

US NAVY SHIPS REPEL ATTACK FROM HOUTHIS IN GULF OF ADEN

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A fighter jet maneuvers on the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Red Sea, June 11, 2024. (AP)

The military said the aircraft shot down was a two-seat F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet assigned to the “Red Rippers” of Strike Fighter Squadron 11 out of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia.

The F/A-18 shot down had just flown off the deck of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, according to Central Command. On Dec. 15, Central Command said the Truman had entered the Mideast, but did not specify that the carrier and its battle group were in the Red Sea.

“The guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the F/A-18,” Central Command said in a statement.

It is unclear how the Gettysburg had mistaked an F/A-18 for an enemy aircraft or missile, particularly since ships in a battle group are linked by radar and radio communication.

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US MILITARY CONDUCTS SUCCESSFUL AIRSTRIKES ON HOUTHI REBEL FORCES IN YEMEN

USS Gettysburg

The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg (CG 64) steams in the Mediterranean Sea, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP)

Central Command said that warships and aircraft earlier shot down multiple Houthi drones and an anti-ship cruise missile launched by the rebels. Fire from the Houthis has previously forced sailors to make decisions in seconds.

The U.S., since the Truman arrived, has ramped up its airstrikes targeting the Houthis and their missile fire into the Red Sea and the surrounding area. But an American warship group in the region may lead to additional attacks from the rebels.

On Saturday night and into Sunday, U.S. warplanes conducted airstrikes that shook Yemen’s capital of Sanaa, which the Houthis have held for a decade. Central Command said the strikes targeted a “missile storage facility” and a “command-and-control facility.”

Houthi-controlled media reported strikes in both Sanaa and around the port city of Hodeida, but did not disclose details on any casualties or damage.

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USS Harry S. Truman

Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)

The Houthis later acknowledged the aircraft being shot down in the Red Sea.

Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October of last year, the Houthis have targeted about 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones.

The rebels say that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the U.K. to force an end to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which began after Hamas’ surprise attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, although many of the ships the rebels have attacked have little or no connection to the ongoing war, including some headed for Iran.

The Houthis also have increasingly targeted Israel with drones and missiles, leading to retaliatory airstrikes from Israeli forces.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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AfD party calls for big rally after Germany's Christmas market attack

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AfD party calls for big rally after Germany's Christmas market attack

Leading right-wing figures in Europe have also weighed in, criticising the German authorities for failing to take stronger preventative action.

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German far-right political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) is calling for a major rally following the attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg which left several people dead and hundreds injured.

At a memorial site for the victims, AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla called on Interior Minister Nancy Faeser to take stronger action to ensure the safety of the German public.

“I am now demanding answers from the interior minister: What is actually going on here in this country? What is actually happening in this country? We put up with it week after week, we put up with attacks, we put up with murders of our own people. This has to be cleared up now, and these phrases from politicians that things can’t go on like this, which I’ve heard again today, are actually upsetting,” Chrupalla told the press at the site.

Experts are now raising concerns that far-right groups could exploit the tragedy to fuel their anti-immigration rhetoric after police identified the assailant as a doctor from Saudi Arabia.

“Magdeburg is in eastern Germany where the support for the AfD is quite high. So, in elections usually, they have in the region more than one-third of the votes. So about 30% of the votes in the city, not as much as in the rural areas around,” says Matthias Quent, Professor of Sociology at Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences.

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“The region in general, eastern Germany, is a hotspot of far-right mobilisations. And we are facing election campaigns until the federal elections in February. And so this is not just a critical time because of Christmas and the trust that gets destroyed by such an attack but, also, regarding questions of disinformation and polarisation and the spread of hate that will and could happen over these kinds of attacks now,” he added.

Leading right-wing figures in Europe have also weighed in, criticising the German authorities for failing to take stronger preventative action.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán drew a direct link between immigration and Friday’s deadly attack in Germany, telling a news conference on Saturday, “These phenomena have only existed in Europe since the start of the migration crisis. So there is no doubt that there is a link between the changed world in Western Europe, the migration that flows there, especially illegal migration and terrorist acts.”

However, Quent explains that this particular case becomes more complex as further details emerge on the background of the attacker.

Investigators have found that the perpetrator had tried to build connections to far-right organisations in Germany and the UK, including Germany’s far-right AfD party as well as Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right English Defence League.

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“So it’s a very complicated case we are facing here. And it’s not an Islamist attack. It’s quite sure, a kind of anti-Islam. More like far-right attacks than any other, if you want to search a kind of context on the political radar,” Quent says.

Identified by local media as 50-year-old Taleb A., a psychiatry and psychotherapy specialist, authorities said he had been living in Germany for two decades.

Taleb’s alleged X account is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith.

He also described himself as a former Muslim.

He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the “Islamism of Europe.”

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