Category: crisis

Flint Water Crisis Charges Dropped for 7 Former Officials

A Michigan judge threw out felony charges Tuesday against seven people in the Flint water scandal, including two former state health officials blamed for deaths from Legionnaires’ disease. The dismissal was significant but not a complete surprise after the Michigan Supreme Court in June said a different judge acting as a one-person grand jury had…


Sweden Sends Diving Vessel to Probe Leaking Nord Stream Pipelines

STOCKHOLM/OSLO—Sweden sent a diving vessel on Monday to the site of Russian gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea that ruptured last week following blasts in the area, to probe an incident that has added new tension to Europe’s energy crisis. Europe is investigating what caused three pipelines in the Nord Stream network to burst in…


Russian Deputy PM Says Restoration of Nord Stream Possible: TASS

MOSCOW—Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Sunday that it was technically possible to restore the ruptured offshore infrastructure of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, TASS news agency reported. A total of four leaks were discovered last week on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea near Denmark and Sweden,…


Putin Blames West of Blowing Up Pipelines as Europe Steps Up Vigilance

TBILISI/LONDON—Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday blamed the United States and its allies for blowing up the undersea Nord Stream pipelines, raising the temperature in a crisis that has left Europe racing to secure its energy infrastructure and supplies. “The sanctions were not enough for the Anglo-Saxons: they moved onto sabotage,” Putin said. “It is…


Germany Agrees 200 Billion Euro Package to Shield Against Surging Energy Prices

BERLIN—German Chancellor Olaf Scholz set out a 200 billion euro ($194 billion) “defensive shield,” including a gas price brake and a cut in sales tax for the fuel, to protect companies and households from the impact of soaring energy prices. Europe’s biggest economy is trying to cope with surging gas and electricity costs caused largely…


Putin Declares Annexation of Ukrainian Lands in Kremlin Ceremony

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday presided over a ceremony to annex four Ukrainian regions partly occupied by his forces, escalating the seven-month war. “This is the will of millions of people,” he said in a speech before hundreds of dignitaries in the St. George’s Hall of the Kremlin. The ceremony took place three days…


Medvedev Raises Spectre of Russian Nuclear Strike on Ukraine

LONDON—An ally of President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday outlined the scenario of a nuclear strike on Ukraine, saying that the U.S.–led NATO military alliance would be too scared of a ‘nuclear apocalypse’ to directly enter the conflict in response. Dmitry Medvedev, a former president who now serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said…


Never Let a Crisis Go

Commentary Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago, is understandably proud of what is likely to be his chief claim to posthumous fame and his only entry in “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.” Way back in 2009, when he took the job of chief of staff to President Barack Obama, the country was still reeling from the financial…


Russia Starts Annexation Vote in Occupied Areas of Ukraine

Russia launched referendums on Friday aimed at annexing four occupied regions of Ukraine. Voting in the provinces of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia in the east and southeast, representing about 15 percent of Ukrainian territory, was due to run from Friday to Tuesday. Over 20.5 percent of voters eligible to vote in the Zaporizhzhia region…


4 Occupied Regions in Ukraine Hold Referendums on Joining Russia

A Kremlin-orchestrated referendum got underway Friday in four occupied regions of Ukraine that sought to make them part of Russia. The move drew condemnation from Kyiv and Western nations who dismissed the votes as a sham and pledged not to recognize their results. Voting in the provinces of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia in the east…