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Покровський напрямок: війська РФ «найбільш активні» біля Лисівки, Селидового та Миролюбівки – штаб
За зведенням, українські військові зупинили спроби армії РФ просунутися в районах Часового Яру та Торецька
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Can either Trump or Harris end the wars?
Vice President Kamala Harris says she believes the U.S. should lead by building alliances to manage conflict. Former President Donald Trump says his projection of strength, and unpredictability, can stop wars before they begin. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara spoke to experts on which foreign policy approach would be better at reducing conflict, amid wars in the Middle East and Europe.
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Republican candidate for VP credits his grandmother, Kentucky roots
U.S. Republican Vice Presidential Nominee JD Vance grew up in Appalachia, attended an Ivy League school, and could become one of the youngest vice presidents in U.S. history. Carolyn Presutti takes us back to his roots. Camera: Henry Hernandez, Saqib Ul Islam. Contributor: Lynn Davis.
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IMF raises concerns about effects of Sudan conflict on neighbors
WASHINGTON — The war in Sudan is likely to cause heavy economic damage in neighboring countries, the IMF’s deputy director for Africa, Catherine Pattillo, told AFP.
“What is going on there for the people in Sudan is just so heart wrenching and devastating. For all of the neighboring countries, too,” she said in an interview in Washington ahead of the publication Friday of the International Monetary Fund’s regional outlook for sub-Saharan Africa.
“A number of these countries that are neighbors are also fragile countries with their own challenges,” she said. “And then to be confronted with the refugees, the security issues, the trade issues, is very challenging for their growth.”
The IMF’s report predicted that the Central African Republic, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia and South Sudan could be particularly hard hit by the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
For South Sudan, the situation has become particularly worrying following the loss in February of one of its main sources of income after an oil export pipeline was damaged in Sudan.
The pipeline is crucial for transporting South Sudanese crude oil abroad, which is especially important given that oil accounts for around 90% of the landlocked country’s exports.
The war in Sudan has been raging since April 2023 between the army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, of his former deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is also known as Hemedti.
The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives, according to the United Nations.
More than 10.7 million people have been displaced across the country, and a further 2.3 million have fled to neighboring countries.
The conflict has also exacerbated food insecurity; a famine was declared in July in the Zamzam camp for displaced people near the town of el-Facher, in Darfur.
“You could think of Sudan [and] also some of the security issues in the Sahelian countries, also affecting growth,” Pattillo said. “Those are the internal conflicts.”
At the same time, other “external conflicts” such as the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine are also affecting the cost of food, fertilizer and energy, she said.
The IMF noted that rising protectionism was also having a negative impact on growth in Africa at a time when trade tensions are translating into tariff hikes between the world’s three most powerful trading blocs: the United States, Europe and China.
The economic slowdown in developed countries and China still represents a major challenge for African countries, the IMF noted, predicting growth in sub-Saharan Africa of 4.2% next year.
This is slightly better than the 3.6% growth expected this year.
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Генштаб повідомляє про «запеклі бої» на Покровському напрямку
Поблизу Часового Яру на Краматорському напрямку тривають бої, російська армія «намагається просуватись на позиції українських захисників»
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СБУ: суд в Україні виніс вирок експосадовцю «Чорноморнафтогазу», затриманому в 2020 році
«Фігурант систематично співпрацював з окупаційними силовиками та надавав службовий транспорт для незаконних обшуків та арештів кримчан», заявляє служба
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Iran’s aviation woes compounded by latest EU sanctions
Iranian photographer Tannaz was on her way to Tehran’s airport when European sanctions on flag carrier Iran Air forced her to return home, unable to make it to work in Paris.
It was within hours of the European Union announcing measures last week against prominent Iranian officials and entities, including airlines, accused of involvement in the transfer of missiles and drones for Russia to use in its war against Ukraine.
Tehran has consistently said such accusations were baseless, but with Western governments unconvinced, the latest sanctions went ahead, dealing a blow to Iran’s already embattled airline industry.
Unable to make it to her photoshoot in Paris as Iran Air had grounded all Europe-bound flights over the sanctions, Tannaz was left grappling with the effect on her business, uncertain how she may keep working abroad under the new restrictions.
“Considering the current situation and higher flight price options, I think I will lose many customers,” said the 37-year-old who gave her first name only, fearing repercussions.
With no other Iranian airline serving European destinations, any alternative to the canceled Iran Air route would likely cost her much more and include a layover, increasing travel time.
Many Western and other international airlines had already suspended their Iran services, citing heightened tensions and the risk of regional conflict since the Gaza war broke out more than a year ago.
Host of challenges
Despite having largely avoided being drawn into the conflict, Iran backs Palestinian group Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the United States, United Kingdom, European Union and others, and whose October 7, 2023 attack on Israel sparked the war, and has launched two direct attacks on Israel.
The latest missile attack earlier this month, in response to the killing of Tehran-aligned militant leaders and a Revolutionary Guards general, prompted vows of retaliation from Israel, again heightening fears of a broader conflagration that could disrupt air traffic.
Iran Air, far cheaper than its foreign competition, was “the only airline that flew to Europe in our country”, said Maghsoud Asadi Samani of the national airline association.
“With the new European Union sanctions against Iran Air, no Iranian aircraft will fly to Europe,” news agency ILNA quoted Samani as saying.
Earlier Western sanctions on Iran, including those reimposed after the United States withdrew in 2018 from a landmark nuclear deal, have taken a toll, too.
They contributed to soaring inflation, slashing Iranians’ purchasing power, but also heavily restricted the acquisition of aircraft and spare parts, and limited access to maintenance services.
“A significant number of planes in Iran have accordingly been grounded” for years, said economist Danial Rahmat.
Aging aircraft fleets have worsened poor safety standards, part of a host of challenges Iran’s aviation sector has long grappled with.
Economist Said Leylaz said that while sanctions have had a serious impact, airlines’ woes were rooted in mismanagement and corruption.
Going ‘where we’re not sanctioned’
But Iranians have only a few alternatives.
Rahmat said that now, they may have to primarily rely on flights via neighboring countries to reach Europe and other parts of the world.
Not only would it “impose higher costs and longer travel hours on Iranian passengers, but it would also provide an opportunity for airlines from these countries to acquire a larger market share” at the expense of Iranian firms, said Rahmat.
Iran Air still flies to several regional destinations as well as some in Asia. Another company, Mahan Air, goes to Moscow and Beijing several times a week.
Shortly after the latest EU sanctions were announced on October 14, Iran Air set up a daily route to Istanbul “to facilitate travel to Europe and reduce travelers’ worries,” news agency ISNA reported.
Leylaz said that the sanctions would likely boost Iran’s ties with non-Western allies like China.
The demand for flights to east Asia “and outside the European Union… to places where we are not sanctioned is very high,” he added.
President Masoud Pezeshkian has made easing Iran’s economic isolation a key objective, but indirect talks with the United States that could have helped have been suspended over the regional conflict, according to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
For Tannaz, the photographer, the ability to go abroad is not just a work issue but also a reflection of the state of the country.
“I just wish we could live a normal life,” she said.
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Union’s rejection of Boeing offer threatens jobs at aerospace suppliers
Striking workers’ rejection of planemaker Boeing’s BA.N latest contract offer has created a fresh threat to operations at aerospace suppliers such as family-run Independent Forge.
If the strike by more than 33,000 U.S. Boeing workers persists another month, the Orange County, California supplier might need to cut its operations from five to three days a week to save money and retain workers, president Andrew Flores said.
While Independent laid off a few employees already, letting more go is not an appealing option, he said. The 22 workers who remain are critical for the company, especially when the strike eventually ends and demand for its aluminum aircraft parts rebounds.
“They are the backbone of our shop,” Flores said this week. “Their knowledge, I can’t replace that.”
Wednesday’s vote by 64% of Boeing’s West Coast factory workers against the company’s latest contract offer, further idling assembly for nearly all of the planemaker’s commercial jets, has created a fresh test for suppliers such as Independent, which opened in 1975.
Boeing’s vast global network of suppliers that produce parts from sprawling modern factories or tiny garage workshops, was already stressed by the company’s quality-and-safety crisis, which began in January after a mid-air panel blow-out on a new 737 MAX.
Demand for parts has dropped, hitting suppliers after they spent heavily to meet renewed demand for planes in the post-pandemic era.
How small suppliers such as Independent navigate the strike, which began on Sept. 13, is expected to affect Boeing’s future ability to bring its plane production back online.
More job cuts?
Five Boeing suppliers interviewed by Reuters this week said continuation of the strike would cause them to furlough workers, freeze investment, or consider halting production.
Boeing declined comment.
Seattle-area supplier Pathfinder, which runs a project to attract young recruits to aerospace and trains them alongside its skilled workers, will likely need to lay off more employees, CEO Dave Trader said.
Pathfinder, which let go one-quarter of its 54 workers last month, will also need to send more of its aerospace students back to their high schools, instead of training them in the company’s factories, Trader said.
Suppliers on a regular call on Thursday with Boeing supply-chain executives said they expect the strike will continue for weeks, one participant told Reuters.
About 60% of the 2.21 million Americans who work in the aerospace industry have jobs directly linked to the supply chain, according to the U.S. industry group Aerospace Industries Association.
Those suppliers’ decisions to reduce staffing could create a vicious cycle, as they will put added strain on Boeing’s efforts to restore and eventually increase 737 MAX output above a regulator-imposed cap of 38 after its factories re-open, analysts say.
“Once we get back, we have the task of restarting the factories and the supply chain, and it’s much harder to turn this on than it is to turn it off,” CEO Kelly Ortberg told an analyst call on Wednesday.
“The longer it goes on, the more it could trickle back into the supply chain and cause delays there,” Southwest Airlines LUV.N Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson said of the strike on Thursday.
Shares of Boeing suppliers fell on Thursday. Howmet HWM.N lost 2%. Honeywell HON.O and Spirit AeroSystems SPR.N fell 5% and 3%, respectively, following weak results.
Spirit Aero, Boeing’s key supplier, which has already announced the furlough of 700 workers on the 767 and 777 widebody programs for 21 days, has warned it would implement layoffs should the strike continue past November.
“It’s starting up the supply chain that is likely to be the biggest worry, especially if they have taken action to cut workers due to a lack of Boeing orders,” Vertical Research Partners analyst Rob Stallard said by email.
A strained supply chain, Spirit Aero’s challenges and increased regulatory oversight from the Federal Aviation Administration over MAX production, means it could take up to a year from the strike’s end to get 737 output back to the 38-per-month rate, Stallard said.
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Кабмін затвердив план щодо протидії корупції у МСЕК: Шмигаль оприлюднив строки його виконання
На виконання рішень РНБО та президента Кабмін затвердив план щодо протидії корупційним та іншим правопорушенням серед МСЕК, повідомив прем’єр-міністр Денис Шмигаль.
У своєму телеграмі він оприлюднив строки виконання цього плану:
медико-соціальні експертні комісії в тому вигляді, як вони існують, будуть ліквідовані вже цього року.
створюється група для перегляду рішень, які ухвалювали МСЕК – три наступні місяці триватимуть перевірки.
у листопаді МОЗ та Мінцифри представлять рішення щодо цифровізації проходження всіх етапів МСЕК.
За його словами, Пенсійний фонд разом з ДБР, Нацполіцією та СБУ також мають провести швидкий аудит всіх пенсійних виплат по інвалідності прокурорам та іншим посадовцям державних органів.
МОЗ та Мінсоцполітики мають невідкладно винести на розгляд Кабміну законопроєкти щодо комплексної реформи МСЕК, додав Шмигаль.
Читайте також: Ляшко розповів, як замінять МСЕКи, які планують ліквідувати з січня 2025 рок
22 жовтня президент України Володимир Зеленський увів у дію рішення РНБО щодо діяльності МСЕК, яке передбачає ліквідацію Медико-соціальних комісій, перевірку їх рішень та реформування системи МСЕК в Україні.
За даними СБУ, від початку 2024 року про підозру повідомили 64 посадовцям органів медико-соціальної експертизи (МСЕК). Також за ініціативою відомства «скасовано 4106 висновків про інвалідність, яку призначали на підставі фіктивних документів».
Four astronauts return to Earth after being delayed by Boeing’s capsule trouble, Hurricane Milton
Four astronauts returned to Earth on Friday after a nearly eight-month space station stay extended by Boeing’s capsule trouble and Hurricane Milton.
A SpaceX capsule carrying the crew parachuted before dawn into the Gulf of Mexico just off the Florida coast after undocking from the International Space Station mid-week.
The three Americans and one Russian should have been back two months ago. But their homecoming was stalled by problems with Boeing’s new Starliner astronaut capsule, which came back empty in September because of safety concerns. Then Hurricane Milton interfered, followed by another two weeks of high wind and rough seas.
SpaceX launched the four — NASA’s Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, and Russia’s Alexander Grebenkin — in March. Barratt, the only space veteran going into the mission, acknowledged the support teams back home that had “to replan, retool and kind of redo everything right along with us … and helped us to roll with all those punches.”
Their replacements are the two Starliner test pilots Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, whose own mission went from eight days to eight months, and two astronauts launched by SpaceX four weeks ago. Those four will remain up there until February.
The space station is now back to its normal crew size of seven — four Americans and three Russians — after months of overflow.
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India-China deal raises questions about US Indo-Pacific strategy
NEW DELHI — This week’s movement toward rapprochement between the leaders of China and India is raising questions about New Delhi’s commitment to the Quad, the loose four-nation alliance widely seen as a U.S.-led bid to counter Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific.
India’s participation in the grouping, which also includes Japan and Australia and is formally known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, has been at least partly driven by a vexing border dispute that has seen repeated clashes between Chinese and Indian troops along their Himalayan border.
Presidents Narendra Modi of India and Xi Jinping of China agreed Wednesday on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia to reduce their differences and jointly work out a plan for patrolling the border. The agreement is expected to result in closer political and economic ties.
“The thaw in India-China relations is a boon to both countries. This is particularly significant for China because India may now be less inclined to confront Beijing as part of Quad,” Zhiqun Zhu, professor of political science and international affairs at Bucknell University, told VOA. “In this sense, the effectiveness of Quad would be diluted with a less enthusiastic India.”
India and China share certain common interests as the two largest developing nations. China was India’s biggest trade partner last year, though there are signs that the U.S. might take its place this year.
“This suggests that the U.S. may wish to push forward its Indo-Pacific strategy without relying too heavily on support from India,” Zhu said.
The Quad has served as an important element in the American effort to establish a network of alliances and partnerships to counter China’s rising economic and military power, marked by its aggressive behavior in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.
“By remaining relatively informal, the Quad can quietly achieve many of the functions performed by NATO, up to and including military contingency planning,” wrote James Jay Carafano, a security affairs expert, on the website of the Liechtenstein-based think tank Geopolitical Intelligence Services AG.
China’s state-run newspaper Global Times described the improved China-India relationship as a response to U.S. and Western European efforts to reduce their economic reliance on China, a process sometimes described as “decoupling.”
“In the context of the US ‘decoupling’ strategy, the strengthened cooperation between China and India takes on even greater significance,” the paper said in an editorial published Thursday. “The pressures from the US ‘decoupling’ strategy and technological restrictions have heightened regional tensions and increased geopolitical risks for both nations.”
The editorial also said that the potential geopolitical shift has already generated market optimism. “It’s based on the recognition of their complementary strengths and the vast opportunities for collaboration across diverse sectors, including manufacturing, infrastructure and sustainable development.”
Nevertheless, it is uncertain whether the border agreement will be sustained in the face of decades-old differences between the world’s two most-populous countries.
They fought a war in 1962 and were engaged in a border clash in 2020 in which 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers died. There is some concern in India about whether China will in fact pull back troops in the disputed border areas and implement the agreement on the ground.
India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Thursday that “agreements, once reached, must be scrupulously respected” and “disputes and differences must be settled by dialogue and diplomacy.”
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Blinken shuttles around Mideast on peace quest
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with key negotiators Thursday to discuss a Mideast cease-fire during a stop in the negotiating hub of Qatar. The parties have spent months trying to broker an end to hostilities in Gaza and Lebanon and bring home about 100 hostages believed to still be held in Gaza. VOA White House correspondent Anita Powell has the story.
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«Нульова толерантність до корупції»: Павлюк розповів про співпрацю ЗСУ з правоохоронцями
«Резонансні затримання порушників закону відбуваються за прямої ініціативи та всебічного сприяння командування Сухопутних військ на всіх етапах»
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Російські війська знову запустили «Шахеди» по Україні – Повітряні сили
У кількох областях України триває повітряна тривога
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Biden administration approves Nevada lithium mine
The U.S. Interior Department on Thursday gave final approval to ioneer’s Rhyolite Ridge lithium mine in Nevada, the first domestic source of the battery metal to be permitted by President Joe Biden’s administration and one that will become a key supplier to Ford and other electric vehicle manufacturers.
Shares of the Australia-based critical minerals miner jumped more than 20% in New York trading on Thursday afternoon before easing down.
The approval ends a more-than six-year review process during which regulators, ioneer and conservationists tussled over the fate of a rare flower found at the mine site, a tension that exposed the sometimes competing priorities between climate change mitigation efforts and biodiversity protection.
The permit, which had been expected by the end of the year, comes amid a flurry of recent moves by Biden officials to support critical minerals production and offset China’s market dominance.
It also unlocks a $700 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy, as well as a $490 million equity investment from Sibanye Stillwater to fund the project.
“This is a science-based decision,” Laura Daniel-Davis, the Interior Department’s acting deputy secretary, told Reuters. “We’re trying to send a signal that there’s no topic with greater importance than addressing climate change.”
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which is controlled by the Interior Department, on Thursday issued the Rhyolite Ridge project’s record of decision — essentially the mine’s permit — and said the project will “include significant protections for the local ecosystem” and help create hundreds of jobs in the rural region.
The project, roughly 362 kilometers north of Las Vegas, Nevada, contains enough lithium to power roughly 370,000 electric vehicles each year. Construction is slated to begin next year, with production commencing by 2028, a timeline that would make Rhyolite Ridge one of the largest U.S. lithium producers alongside Albemarle and Lithium Americas.
The U.S. Geological Survey has labeled lithium a critical mineral vital for the U.S. economy and national security.
“We’re proud to be the first U.S. lithium mine permitted by the Biden administration,” James Calaway, ioneer’s chairman, told Reuters.
The project will extract lithium as well as boron, a chemical used to make ceramics and soaps, from a clay-like deposit. The lithium will be processed on site into two main derivatives used to make batteries, and the company said it plans to recycle half of all the water used at the site, higher than the industry average.
Ford and a joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic have agreed to buy lithium from the mine.
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Baykar планує закінчити будівництво заводу в Україні наступного року – Reuters
«Ми завершили будівництво на 80%, і замовлення на машини надходять», заявив виконавчий директор компанії
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Fewer Americans trust the news; the question is why
Polls show that Americans’ trust in news reporting is at an all-time low. And while the decline has many causes, it reflects both the changing media landscape and the values of media consumers.
Nearly 250 years since the principle was enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, a majority of Americans still agree that a free press is crucial to a democratic society, according to polling by the Pew Research Center. But how they feel about the existing press is a different matter.
The same polls show that only one-third of Americans believes the country’s media report the news objectively. And a September Gallup poll reveals that Americans’ overall trust in mass media has declined to an all-time low of 32%.
Much of the narrative around declining faith in media has been shaped by political partisanship. The last time that America saw such low levels of media confidence was in 2016, when Donald Trump amplified longstanding conservative complaints about liberal media bias by attacking critical coverage of his presidential campaign as “fake news.”
Accordingly, self-identified Republicans report less trust in media, reaching a low of 11% compared with 58% for Democrats.
However, partisan trends don’t capture the whole picture. While partisan divergence in media confidence significantly widened during the presidency of Republican George W. Bush, overall trust in media institutions has been declining for supporters of both parties as well as independents since Gallup first began tracking it in the 1970s.
The rise of partisan cable news networks in the 1990s and digital news, along with social media in the 2000s, has reflected and exacerbated this trend. And dissatisfaction with perceived bias in coverage of conflicts such as the Iraq War or Israel’s invasion of Gaza has also reduced trust in traditional news sources among left-leaning Americans, often driving them toward unreliable alternative sources.
As Americans lose trust in traditional media, they also engage less with it. While over half of adults in the U.S. now report getting their news from social media, audiences and advertising revenue have shrunk when it comes to newspapers and TV news.
In fact, part of the story behind declining trust in media is Americans across the political spectrum becoming less interested in news overall. Nearly two-thirds of Americans are experiencing news fatigue while 38% report that they follow the news closely, compared with 51% in 2016.
Do Americans want independent journalism?
The simultaneous loss of trust and interest in news media has raised questions beyond simple accusations of partisan bias. While criticism of the media often focuses on whether the core principles of independent journalism are being upheld, the principles themselves may not be popular.
A recent study by the Media Insight Project found that common journalistic values such as amplifying marginalized voices, holding power to account or increasing public transparency do not enjoy majority support.
In fact, such values may not be as integral to journalism as is commonly believed. As Columbia University journalism professor Michael Schudson writes, the modern idea of journalism as an independent investigative force and a check on government power has been a fairly recent development.
And amid today’s rapid social, political and technological changes, the role that people expect journalism to play in society may once again be shifting.
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