The EU’s energy policy chief told Reuters that the EU expects its regulations to be completed before introducing a G7 plan on December 5 to cap the price of Russian crude oil.
In addition, the EU will prohibit the import of Russian crude oil and Russian oil products beginning on February 5.
“Our sanctions will cover crude for EU member states, so we will not buy Russian crude oil starting December 5, and we covered the possible oil price gap for international buyers with our eighth package of sanctions,” EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson said.
“If the G7 will decide the exact price cap level, we also will need a council mandate for that,” she said on the sidelines of the COP 27 climate summitin Egypt this week.”
In addition, a G7 plan, intended as an add-on to the EU embargo, will allow shipping services providers to help to export Russian oil, but only at enforced low prices.
The two-week COP27 climate summit in Egypt is entering its final day as delegates continue to grapple with a number of sticking points.
These include what level of scrutiny countries should face for delivering on climate targets, and funding for developing countries most affected by climate impacts.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said that a “blame game” was a recipe for mutually assured destruction.
He said trust between rich and poorer countries had broken down, and he urged them to agree on what he called an “ambitious and credible” deal.
Failure to resolve outstanding issues could see negotiators working into the weekend.
Priscilla Sitienei dite Gogo nous a quitté à 100 ans. J’avais écrit avec Pascal Plisson GOGO, film qu’elle enchantait de sa grâce. Au Kenya, choquée que ses petites-filles n’aillent pas à l’école, elle s’y inscrit. Pour l’exemple. Son message sur l’éducation des filles demeure❤️ pic.twitter.com/BOTANoPAbE
A BBC-led investigation has discovered that pollution from an Egyptian oilfacility on the Red Sea coast is threatening the survival of some of the world’s last thriving coral reefs.
According to experts who studied satellite imagery of the area, contaminated water has been entering the sea since 1985 and was still flowing as recently as September.
Until three years ago, the plant was jointly owned by the British oil giant BP and Egypt’s state-owned Gupco oil company.
Egypt is hosting the COP27 climate summit, and neither the environment ministry nor Gupco would comment on the findings.
Red Sea corals have a unique ability to withstand warming sea temperatures.
The investigation was undertaken by BBC News Arabicand journalists from the group Source Material.
A group of Ukrainian activists has disrupted a high-level meeting of Russian officials at the UN climate summit in Egypt.
It’s the first time Russia was speaking publicly at COP27.
Russian Deputy Environment Minister Sergei Anopriyenko had just started talking when a young woman stood up shouting: “You are killing my people. You are shooting bombs at our people.”
Then another held a banner bearing the slogan Fossil Fuels Kill.
Seconds later, Viktoriya Ball stood up and shouted “you are war criminals” before walking out.
She told me outside the plenary room that Russia should not be at COP27.
“This conference is about making a better place for people and planet. But Russia is committing genocide, ecocide, they are destroying Ukraine, and fossil fuels are paying for war in my country,” she said.
Alyona Lovita, who came to Sharm el-Sheikh from Lviv, Ukraine, said she protested for her relatives living under bombardment.
After protesters were escorted out by UN security, Russian officials continued their event, telling the meeting that “we cannot stop climate change”.
On Sunday, the first day of the COP27 climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, Alaa Abd El-Fattah stopped eating and began refusing water.
According to his mother, Egyptian prison authorities intervened medically days after jailed British-Egyptian pro-democracy activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah escalated his hunger strike.
The nature of the intervention is unknown, but Mr Abd El-family Fattah’s is concerned that prison officials will force-feed him.
According to the family, this would be torture.
She told the Associated Press news agency she asked “if it was by force, and they said no” and told her “Alaa is good”.
Mr Abd El-Fattah had been on a partial hunger strike of 100 calories a day for the past six months.
He stopped all calorie intake and began refusing water on Sunday – the first day of the COP27 climate summit held in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.
His hope was to get the attention of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who attended the UN-led summit this week, and persuade him to take immediate action for his release.
Mr Abd El-Fattah is now in a prison hospital following the escalation in his hunger strike.
The activist said in an earlier letter that he was prepared to die in prison if not freed.
Ms Soueif has called for her son to be transferred to a civilian hospital rather than a prison facility.
“I need proof for this. I don’t trust them,” she said.
She has been waiting outside the prison every day this week, asking for proof her son is alive.
Mr Abd El-Fattah’s sister Mona Seif has said she has now been informed by prison officials that he is undergoing “medical intervention”.
The activist’s family have been increasingly worried for his health and continuously campaigned for his release ahead of COP27.
Image:Mona Seif (left), the sister of writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah, outside the Foreign Office in October
Mr Abd El-Fattah’s younger sister Sanaa Seif said last week in a public address to world leaders at COP27: “You are going to be in the same land as a British citizen dying.
“And if you don’t show that you care, it will be interpreted as a green light to kill him. My brother can be saved.”
“If you don’t save him, you have blood on your hands.”
Mr Abd El-Fattah rose to prominence during the pro-democracy uprisings in 2011 which took place throughout the Middle East and played a role in dismounting Egypt’s long-time president Hosni Mubarak.
World leaders and activists have repeatedly called for Egyptian authorities to release him.
At COP27, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz raised the activist’s case in their talks with Mr el-Sissi.
Celebrities who have spoken out in support of Mr Abd El-Fattah include Dame Judi Dench, Dame Emma Thompson, Mark Ruffalo, Carey Mulligan andKhalid Abdalla.
Rishi Sunakhas said he will attend the COP27 climate summit in Egypt in a U-turn from his previous snub.
Rishi Sunak has said he will go to COP27 in Egypt, in a reversal of his previous snub.
In a statement on Twitter, the prime minister said: “There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change.
“There is no energy security without investing in renewables. That is why I will attend COP27 next week: to deliver on Glasgow’s legacy of building a secure and sustainable future.”
The pressure was growing on the PM after Boris Johnson confirmed to Sky News yesterday that he would be going to the climate summit.
Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said Mr Sunak had to be “dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing”, and called the U-turn “embarrassing”.
Ed Miliband, the shadow climate secretary, said: “The prime minister has been shamed into going to COP27 by the torrent of disbelief that he would fail to turn up.
“He is going to avoid embarrassment not to provide leadership.”
Caroline Lucas, the Green Party’s only MP, said: “Glad to see Sunak’s screeching U-turn on COP27, but what an embarrassing mis-step on the world stage.
“Let this be a lesson to him – climate leadership matters.
“Now he urgently needs to increase UK ambition on emission reduction targets& pay what we owe to global climate funds.”
Mr Sunak initially said he was not going to head to the conference in Sharm El-Sheikh due to “other pressing domestic commitments”.
But the PM faced a raft of criticism, with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accusing him of displaying a “failure of leadership” and Greenpeace UK saying he was not taking climate change “seriously enough”.
Within days, Downing Street changed course, saying the PM’s attendance was “under review”, depending on progress around preparation for the economic statement, set for 17 November.
A No 10 source told Sky News that Mr Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt have made “good progress” on the autumn statement after working on it over the weekend and this week.
