Ukraine’s military said Russia had pulled some troops from towns on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River from Kherson city, the first official Ukrainian report of a Russian withdrawal on what is now the main front line in the south..

* Spain has stepped up security at public and diplomatic buildings after a spate of letter bombs, including one sent to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and another to the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid, where an official suffered minor injuries.

* Air raid alerts were issued across all of Ukraine following warnings by Ukrainian officials that Russia was preparing a new wave of missile and drone strikes. “An overall air raid alert is in place in Ukraine. Go to shelters,” country’s border service wrote on Telegram messaging app.

* Ukraine’s military said it had found fragments of Russian-fired nuclear-capable missiles with dud warheads in west Ukraine, and that their apparent purpose was to distract air defences.

* The recently liberated Ukrainian city of Kherson has lost its power supply after heavy shelling by Russian forces, the regional governor said.

* European Union governments tentatively agreed on a $60 a barrel price cap on Russian seaborne oil, with an adjustment mechanism to keep the cap at 5% below the market price, an EU diplomat said.

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on that big problems had accumulated in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), accusing the West of spurning the chance to make it a real bridge with Russia after the Cold War.

* Lavrov said that discussions with Washington about potential prisoner exchanges were being conducted by the two countries’ intelligence services, and that he hoped they would be successful.

* The European Union needs patience as it sanctions Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, as most measures will only have an impact in the medium and long term, Lithuania’s prime minister said in an interview at  the  Reuters NEXT conference.

* Switzerland has frozen financial assets worth 7.5 billion Swiss francs ($7.94 billion) as of Nov. 25 under sanctions against Russians to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said.

* Russia said the German parliament’s move to recognise the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine as a Soviet-imposed genocide was an anti-Russian provocation and an attempt by Germany to whitewash its Nazi past.

* Ukraine sacked a top engineer at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, accusing him of collaborating with Russian forces, and urged other Ukrainian staff at the plant to remain loyal to Kyiv.

* Russia must withdraw its heavy weapons and military personnel from the Zaporizhzhia plant if the U.N. atomic watchdog’s efforts to create a protection zone are to succeed, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

* In a grim sign of the energy crisis caused by Russian attacks on Ukraine’s electricity grid, nine people have been killed in fires over the past 24 hours as Ukrainians resorted to emergency generators, candles and gas cylinders in violation of safety rules to try to heat their homes after power outages.

* “Remember one thing – the Russians are afraid. And they are very cold and no one will help them, because they do not have popular support,” – Andriy Yermak, chief of Ukrainian presidential staff.

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Bolsonaro has gone, now Lula and his new government have the huge task of putting the country back together

The death of Pelé, one of Brazil’s most famous sons, coincides with the departure from office of the defeated president, Jair Bolsonaro, one of its most internationally reviled. The death of the footballer aged 82 has prompted a global outpouring of love and respect. In contrast, Bolsonaro slipped out of the country last week with a self-justificatory snarl, muttering about a political comeback.

It is difficult to express what Pelé, born Edson Arantes do Nascimento to a provincial working-class family, meant to Brazil as a nation. His skill was breathtaking, his goalscoring ability unsurpassed. Yet his joy in playing and his dazzling artistry appealed to non-football fans, too. He turned the pitch into a stage and the “beautiful game” into a global phenomenon.

Fame brought him many roles. He was a model for black youngsters, like Muhammad Ali. Some even ranked him alongside Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela as an inspirational force. He was the poor boy made good, an always smiling ambassador for good causes and, briefly, Brazil’s apolitical minister of sport. Pelé became the 20th century’s everyman.

The contrast with Bolsonaro could not be more striking. A radical rightwing populist, his surprise election victory in 2018 initiated four years of damaging social divisions and policy disasters. His hate-filled rhetoric, endlessly rehearsing the politics of grievance, appealed to people’s worst instincts. His nickname, Trump of the Tropics, was well deserved.
Bolsonaro’s term will be remembered not for achievements but for the destruction he wreaked, most infamously in the Amazon rainforest. Deforestation increased by 60% as he defied the environmentalist and climate consensus. The pandemic was met by similar bungling and denialism. Up to 700,000 Brazilians died.

Continue reading…

Only generous-spirited, long-term approach can tackle the catastrophes of poor growth, a crumbling NHS and a dysfunctional housing market

Last year will be remembered as the most turbulent for the global economy since the 2008 financial crisis. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove an enormous increase in global energy prices, which led to inflation spiking across the world. And 2023 will be tougher still for many Britons; it will be a year of falling real pay at a time when the cost of essentials has never been higher.

The government would like us to believe this is purely the product of these global headwinds. But the truth is that a series of long-term structural problems has left the UK more vulnerable to massive global shocks than many other countries. From the dysfunctional housing market to sluggish economic growth to a complete failure to grapple with the consequences of an ageing population, these problems have been neglected by governments of both colours in past years, but have been made progressively worse by 12 years of Conservative rule. If they remain unaddressed they will stymie people’s quality of life for decades.

Continue reading…

(Reuters) – The leaders of Ukraine and Russia both vowed to push for victory in New Year speeches, but while Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke of gratitude and pain, Vladimir Putin urged duty to Russia, casting the war as a near-existential fight.

Zelenskiy, recalling some of the most dramatic moments and victories of the war, filled his emotional 17-minute video message with footage of Russia’s attacks on the country and words of pride for Ukrainians withstanding attacks, darkness and cold.

“We were told: you have no other option but to surrender. We say: we have no other option than to win,” said Zelenskiy, dressed in his trademark khaki outfit and standing in darkness with the Ukrainian flag fluttering behind.

“We fight as one team – the whole country, all our regions. I admire you all.”

A few minutes after Zelenskiy’s speech – released just before midnight Kyiv time on New Year’s Eve – numerous blasts were heard in the capital and around the country. The attacks followed a barrage of more than 20 cruise missiles fired across Ukraine on Saturday – and many bombardments earlier.

As the war drags into its 11th month, Moscow was unprepared for the staunch resistance and billions of dollars in Western weapons that have turned the tide in Ukraine’s favour.

Russian troops have been forced out of more than half the territory they took in the first weeks of what Putin calls a “special military operation” to “denazify” and demilitarise Ukraine. Kyiv and Western allies say Putin’s invasion was a land grab.

‘FATE OF RUSSIA’

Putin, breaking with tradition by delivering the New Year message flanked by troops rather than the Kremlin’s walls, talked sternly and combatively about 2022 as the year that “clearly separated courage and heroism from betrayal and cowardice.”

While trying to rally support among Russians amid embarrassing battlefield setbacks and growing internal criticism of his military strategy, Putin thanked Russian troops, but he also demanded more from them.

“The main thing is the fate of Russia,” Putin, dressed in a dark suit and tie, said. “Defence of the fatherland is our sacred duty to our ancestors and descendants. Moral, historical righteousness is on our side.”

Russia had planned a swift operation, but with the war dragging on it has been forced to put society on more of a war footing: calling up more than 300,000 reservists, retooling an economy hurt by Western sanctions and saying publicly that the conflict may be long.

Reiterating that the West is supposedly intent on “destroying Russia” by using Kyiv, Putin vowed he will never allow that. He signalled once again, that the war, albeit hard, will continue.

“We have always known, and today we are again convinced that the sovereign, independent, secure future of Russia depends only on us, on our strength and will,” he said.

Zelenskiy promised the return of lands Moscow proclaimed it had annexed in September.

“It’s impossible to forget. And it’s impossible to forgive. But it’s possible to win,” he said.

While listing Ukraine’s successes, Zelenskiy referred to the Crimean Bridge, Moscow’s symbol of the annexation of the peninsula that linked it with Russia and that was torn by an explosion in October.

While Putin immediately blamed Kyiv for orchestrating the powerful blast, Ukraine had not previously claimed responsibility for it – or any other attacks inside Russia, since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion.

“This year has struck our hearts. We’ve cried out all the tears. We’ve shouted all the prayers,” Zelenskiy said.

“We fight and will continue to fight. For the sake of the key word: ‘victory’.”

The world welcomed the new year with a packed party in Times Square and fireworks soaring above European capitals, while hoping for an end to the war in Ukraine and a return to post-COVID normality in Asia.

It was a year marked by the conflict in Ukraine, economic stresses and the effects of global warming. But it was also a year that saw a dramatic soccer World Cup, rapid technological change, and efforts to meet climate challenges.

After 2023 descended upon Asia, Africa and Europe, New York rang in the new year in typical style as thousands corralled themselves into pens under pouring rain in Times Square, waiting hours for the ball to drop. A 12-foot (3.7-meter) geodesic sphere made of Waterford crystal triangles slid down a pole atop a 25-story building to mark the calendar change.

Meanwhile, millions watched the accompanying musical acts and countdown on television from dry and warm living rooms around the world.

Tommy Onolfo, 40, a mechanic from nearby Nassau County, said he wore a diaper during his drenched, 14-hour wait in Times Square, as security measures require spectators to deprive themselves of all comforts to maintain a front-row view.

“I’m a lifeguard in the summer so I’m not afraid of water at all,” Onolfo said. “I have my bathroom thing down to a science. I haven’t had to use the diaper yet. It’s just in case.”

Earlier, across the Atlantic, the London Eye turned blue and yellow in solidarity with Ukraine as fireworks saw in midnight in the British capital.

The celebration, which London’s mayor had branded the biggest in Europe, also referenced Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September, the red and white of England’s soccer team, and the rainbow colours of the LGBTQ Pride event, which had its 50-year anniversary in 2022.

For Ukraine, there seemed to be no end in sight to the fighting that began when Russia invaded in February.

Numerous blasts were heard in Kyiv and in other places around Ukraine and air raid sirens wailed across the country in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

On Saturday, Russia fired a barrage of cruise missiles that Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman described as “Terror on New Year’s Eve.”

Evening curfews remained in place nationwide, making the celebration of the beginning of 2023 impossible in many public spaces. Several regional governors posted messages on social media warning residents not to break restrictions.

In Kyiv, though, people gathered near the city’s central Christmas tree as midnight approached.

“We are not giving up. They couldn’t ruin our celebrations,” said 36-year-old Yaryna, who was celebrating with her husband, tinsel and fairy lights wrapped around her.

In a video message to mark the New Year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Time Magazine’s 2022 Person of the Year, said: “I want to wish all of us one thing – victory.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin devoted his New Year’s address to rallying the Russian people behind his troops.

Festivities in Moscow were muted, without the usual fireworks on Red Square.

“One should not pretend that nothing is happening – our people are dying (in Ukraine),” said 68-year-old Yelena Popova. “A holiday is being celebrated, but there must be limits.” Many Muscovites said they hoped for peace in 2023.

Elsewhere in Europe, fireworks exploded over the Parthenon in Athens, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, where crowds gathered on the Champs-Elysees avenue to watch the French capital’s first New Year fireworks since 2019.

But, like many places, the Czech capital Prague was feeling the pinch economically and so did not hold a fireworks display.

“Holding celebrations did not seem appropriate,” said city hall spokesman Vit Hofman.

Earlier, Australia kicked off the celebrations with its first restriction-free New Year’s Eve after two years of COVID disruptions. Sydney welcomed the New Year with a typically dazzling fireworks display, which for the first time featured a rainbow waterfall off the Harbour Bridge.

In China, rigorous COVID restrictions were lifted only in December as the government abruptly reversed its “zero-COVID” policy, a switch that has led to soaring infections and meant some people were in no mood to celebrate.

While China’s official death toll is barely ticking higher, UK-based health data firm Airfinity estimated last week that around 9,000 people in the country are probably dying each day from COVID.

“This virus should just go and die, cannot believe this year I cannot even find a healthy friend that can go out with me,” wrote one social media user based in eastern Shandong province.

But in the city of Wuhan, where the pandemic began three years ago, thousands of people gathered to despite a heavy security presence.

Barricades were erected and hundreds of police officers stood guard. Loudspeakers blasted out a message on a loop advising people not to gather. But the large crowds of revellers took no notice.

In Shanghai, many thronged the historic riverside walkway, the Bund.

“We’ve all travelled in from Chengdu to celebrate in Shanghai,” said Da Dai, a 28-year-old digital media executive who was visiting with two friends. “We’ve already had COVID, so now feel it’s safe to enjoy ourselves.”

Reuters 2022 Year in Review

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