Europe

BRUSSELS, July 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Sultan Al Jaber, Emirates oil executive and president of the most important climate summit since the Paris Agreement in 2015, has a quick answer when asked when the world will stop burning fossil fuels: when there’s enough clean energy to replace them.

“We cannot shut down the energy system of today before we build the new energy system of tomorrow that is equipped with zero-carbon emission sources,” said Jaber, head of the United Arab Emirates national oil company ADNOC.

“We don’t want to create an energy crisis.”

LONDON, July 14 (Reuters) - Workers at Britain's No.2 airport Gatwick will strike for eight days at the end of July and in early August, potentially causing cancellations and travel misery for thousands of passengers at the busiest time of year for summer holidays.

European travellers are already on high alert over worries about air traffic control problems arising from both the reduced air space available due to the Ukraine war, plus staffing issues and industrial action at some locations.

KYIV, July 14 (Reuters) - He wears a pistol to interviews with foreign journalists and discusses wartime intelligence. Weapons and military gear are strewn on the floor of his Kyiv office. He says he has "sources" close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

For an intelligence chief running Ukraine's spy operations during war with Russia, Kyrylo Budanov, 37, has built up an unusually public profile that he has used to get his message out and to menace Russia from afar.

These days, a spy boss cannot stay in the shadows, he says.

(AP) --- Russian President Vladimir Putin said he offered the Wagner private military company the option of continuing to serve as a single unit under their same commander after their short-lived rebellion, while some of the mercenaries were shown Friday in Belarus, possibly heralding the group’s relocation there.

Putin’s comments appeared to reflect his efforts to secure the loyalty of Wagner mercenaries, some of the most capable Russian forces in Ukraine, after the group’s brief revolt last month that posed the most serious threat to his 23-year rule.

Paris, Jul 14 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the first Indian premier to have been conferred with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, France's highest civilian and military honour, by French President Emmanuel Macron.

14 July 2023; MEMO: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that anyone found guilty of burning the Quran will have to serve their sentence in the Federation's predominantly Muslim regions.

Putin was quoted by Russia's TASS news agency yesterday as stating: "They will serve their sentences, as stated by the Minister of Justice, in places of deprivation of liberty located in one of the regions of Russia with a predominantly Muslim population."

MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/: Russia became the top oil supplier to India and China as of the end of May 2023 for the fourth month in a row, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said in its July report.

According to OPEC, Russia provided for almost 19% of total Chinese oil imports in May. Saudi Arabia accounted for 14% of supplies and the share of Malaysia was close to 11%. China’s oil imports in total gained 17% monthly in May and totaled 12.1 mln barrels daily.

MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/: Kiev is in talks with Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, on the relocation of Christian relics from Ukraine, Director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergey Naryshkin said in a statement.

MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/: Ukraine's NATO membership will create a threat to Russia's security; one of the reasons for launching the special military operation was the threat of Ukraine's joining NATO, Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin in the "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin." program.

"As for Ukraine's NATO membership, we have repeatedly said that this creates threats to Russia's security," he said. "And, in fact, one of the reasons for the special military operation is the threat of Ukraine joining NATO," Putin added.

MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/: Ukraine should work to ensure its security, but not by creating threats to Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"Every country has a right to ensure its security and, of course, it has a right to choose the way to achieve that goal that it considers the best," he said on Rossiya-24 television.

Putin said there’s just one limitation for Ukraine when it seeks to ensure its security, which is that "the work to achieve security for one country shouldn’t create threats for another country."