EU grants Ukraine candidate status
The EU officially nominated Ukraine for membership yesterday, a move that seemed impossible even weeks ago. While it could take a decade or more for Ukraine to actually become a member, the EU’s decision sends a strong message of solidarity to Kiev and a rebuke to Moscow.
Candidate status indicates that a country can embark on a tedious, time-consuming process of internal change and negotiations with the EU before joining the EU. The country needs to align itself institutionally, democratically, economically and legally with EU laws and standards, a process that has taken about 10 years in some countries. Others, such as Turkey, have been candidates for much longer and have yet to join.
Ukraine’s candidacy will no doubt irritate Russia, which has described Kiev’s aspirations to join institutions like NATO and the EU as Western attempts to interfere with its rightful sphere of influence. The move indicates that EU countries are convinced that Ukraine’s future lies in an embrace of the democratic West.
Moscow: Asked last week about the prospect of EU candidate status for Ukraine. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, said: “We have no objection.” Since then, Russian officials and analysts have said he didn’t really mean it.
In other news from the war:
‘I didn’t expect to survive’
Villages in southeastern Afghanistan’s Paktika province were devastated by the earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale that struck early Wednesday — the deadliest in the country in two decades.
As rescue efforts progressed, vehicles laden with supplies drove on rough, dirt roads to hilltop villages dotted with ruined homes. Aid officials said yesterday they were now focusing on the survivors, who had endured not only heavy rain but unusually cold temperatures that threatened to bring snow in some areas.
Afghan officials in the worst-hit areas on Wednesday estimated that at least 1,000 people have been killed and 1,600 or more injured. Yesterday, the UN came up with a slightly lower estimate – 770 people killed and 1440 injured – but warned the numbers were likely to rise.
First person: Hawa, a 30-year-old mother of six, felt the walls collapse on her – then everything went dark. “I didn’t expect to survive,” she said from her hospital bed. Her village, Dangal Regab, like many others in the region, was a scene of death and destruction.
An impending energy crisis in Europe
As tensions between Europe and Russia over energy continue to mount in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, European countries are rapidly pumping natural gas into storage chambers, hoping to moderate stratospheric prices, reduce Moscow’s political influence and reduce the possibility of shortages. winter to prevent .
Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled energy giant, last week cut by more than half the amount of gas it supplies through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which serves Germany and other countries. Germany responded by launching the second phase of its emergency gas plan in three steps. The German government has also called on consumers and companies to save gas.
The reduction in supplies from the German pipeline, which also affected flows to France, Italy and the Netherlands, among others, dashed European leaders’ hopes that they could rely on Russian gas, arguably the most difficult fuel to replace. . Analysts say Moscow will likely continue to use gas for maximum leverage.
By the numbers: Since May, the EU has required member states to fill their storage facilities to at least 80 percent of capacity by November 1. The total European storage level is 55 percent. Gas prices are already about six times higher than a year ago.
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The 0.5 selfie, taken with an ultra-wide angle lens that can make subjects look “distorted and crazy”, isn’t difficult. These snaps have become a mainstay of the Gen Z documentation, appearing on Instagram, spreading in group chats, becoming the talk of parties and often simply capturing the details of everyday life.
ART AND IDEAS
A jiggle jiggle moment
Louis Theroux, 52, is hardly an obvious hip-hop sensation. Yet a short rap by Theroux, a bookmark by a British-American documentary maker, takes the internet by storm. If you’ve been on TikTok, you’ve probably heard the hook: “My money doesn’t shake, it folds.”
The song was born in 2000, in ‘Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends’, a BBC series where he delved into different subcultures. Reese & Bigalow, a rap duo in Jackson, Miss., helped shape the song. But it took off this year, when Theroux recited the rap in an even pan on the popular web talk show “Chicken Shop Date.”
That clip has inspired DJs and dancers alike and spawned legions of videos of the same languid moves. Stars like Shakira, Snoop Dogg and Megan Thee Stallion have all danced on the track. Theroux, not wanting to miss the moment, has re-recorded it. “I sincerely hope we can all shake some of the phenomenon. Or maybe a fold,” he said.
