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Northern Ireland’s first minister resigns
The Democratic Unionist Party’s Paul Givan quit over post-Brexit checks
© Photo by Liam McBurney/PA Images via Getty Images
The first minister of Northern Ireland, Paul Givan, on Thursday announced his resignation from the post, as the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) escalated their protest over elements of the Brexit deal that impact on the province’s relationship with the rest of the UK.
The DUP objects to the Northern Ireland Protocol, created under the UK’s Withdrawal Agreement with the EU in an effort to prevent forming a hard border between the region and the Republic of Ireland. However, the Protocol effectively created a border down the Irish Sea by establishing checks on goods coming into Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
Due to the power-sharing agreement at Stormont – Northern Ireland’s seat of government – Givan's departure forces the parallel resignation of Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill of Sinn Féin.
The move comes after DUP agriculture minister, Edwin Poots, on Wednesday ordered a surprise suspension on the Brexit checks concerning food and farm products arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
Rival parties have been quick to condemn Givan’s resignation, with the region’s finance minister, Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy, labeling it “reckless and self-serving.”
Northern Ireland is set to go to the polls for local elections in May.
British energy bills about to skyrocket
People may have to pay twice as much for gas and electricity
after the regulator lifts the cap on energy bills
The UK’s Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem) is lifting the price cap for domestic energy bills by 54%, the regulator said in a press release on Thursday.
“The energy price cap will increase from 1 April for approximately 22 million customers. Those on default tariffs paying by direct debit will see an increase of £693 from £1,277 to £1,971 ($2,670) per year,” the press release reads.
The energy price cap sets a maximum amount energy suppliers can charge customers for the gas and electricity they use. According to Ofgem, the cap “stops energy companies from making excessive profits, ensuring customers pay no more than a fair price for their energy.”
Ofgem sets the cap every six months based on the underlying costs to supply energy, with the previous rise in October hiking energy bills by 12% to an all-time high of £1,277 ($1,731) a year for around 15 million households.
Ofgem says the latest cap hike is made in response to a “record rise in global gas prices over the last 6 months, with wholesale prices quadrupling in the last year” and resulting in closures of dozens of utilities.
“Over the last year, 29 energy companies have exited the market or been put in special administration in the wake of soaring global gas prices, affecting around 4.3 million domestic customers,” the regulator states.
Ofgem expects the cap lift to affect default tariff customers, who haven’t yet switched to a fixed deal on energy consumption.
“This is because energy companies cannot afford to supply electricity and gas to their customers for less than they have paid for it,” the press release says. The regulator, however, noted that it is preparing other measures in order to tackle the worsening energy crisis, including changing the frequency of price cap updates “to ensure that it still reflects the true cost of supplying energy.”
UK consumers are already suffering from soaring prices on everything from energy to consumer goods as inflation races toward its fastest pace in three decades. Ofgem’s announcement also came mere hours before the Bank of England revealed a new interest-rate hike of 0.5%.
On the bright side, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has just announced a package to help households pay their power bills, which will provide £350 ($476) to the “vast majority of households” to offset Ofgem’s cap hike. However, many experts say this will only cushion the impact, with social media users already dubbing Ofgem’s cap move “black Thursday.”
West ‘only makes things worse’ in row over Ukraine – Turkish president
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said US President Joe Biden failed to make
a positive impact on the crisis in Europe
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Western countries haven’t succeeded in trying to resolve the current crisis with Russia. He made his remarks on Friday after returning from a visit to Ukraine.
“Unfortunately, the West until now has not made any contribution to resolving this issue. I can say they are only making things worse,” Erdogan said, as quoted by the Daily Sabah.
Erdogan added that US President Joe Biden “has not yet been able to show a positive approach to this process as of now.”
The Turkish leader said he wanted Ankara to be given the role of mediator in the current tensions between Russia and the West. Last month, Erdogan invited Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky to meet on Turkish soil.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed to Russian media on Friday that Putin’s visit to Turkey was in the works. “We hope it will happen as soon as possible,” Peskov said. The spokesperson did not rule out a future Putin-Zelensky meeting, but said it was “very difficult” to discuss the matter at the moment.
Erdogan, nevertheless, was optimistic about bringing Putin and Zelensky together. “We will now set the date. Then, hopefully, we want to hold this meeting in order to bring together Mr. Putin and Mr. Zelensky at a high level. Our agreement with Mr. Zelensky is in this direction,” he said on Friday.
Russia has repeatedly denied claims by NATO members that it is preparing to invade Ukraine. The US and the EU, nevertheless, threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia if it attacks its neighbor.
Moscow wants the US-led bloc to provide legally binding assurances that it will not expand closer to Russia’s borders. NATO rejected Russia’s demand to officially abandon its ‘open-door policy’ of accepting new members, but, along with the US, offered other steps to reduce tensions in Eastern Europe.
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NATO chief gets another job
Jens Stoltenberg will take the top post at the Norwegian Central Bank
after finishing his term at the military organization
Norwegian authorities named Jens Stoltenberg, the current NATO secretary general, as the new Central Bank governor on Friday. The current chief, Oystein Olsen, will resign on March 1, and Stoltenberg will take over only after his mandate as NATO chief expires this September.
Another candidate for the position, Norges Bank Deputy Chief Ida Wolden Bache, who was Stoltenberg’s main rival, will take over management from March until the new governor steps in.
The head of Norway Central Bank will lead the work in setting interest rates and maintaining the country’s financial stability. He will also be in charge of Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, which is estimated at $1.4 trillion and is the largest in the world.
Stoltenberg’s candidacy has previously sparked criticism from Norwegian economy experts, who are concerned that this appointment could weaken the Central Bank’s independence, despite his training and experience.
Jens Stoltenberg, an economist by education, acted as Norwegian prime minister from 2000 to 2001 and in 2005-2013, before being appointed NATO secretary general the following year. He will be the first politician to occupy the post since the 1990s.
French & German leaders to visit Moscow amid Russia-NATO tensions
Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz will discuss the situation around Ukraine with Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron on February 7, and with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on February 15, the Kremlin said on Friday.
Both events will be followed by joint press conferences.
Putin and Macron last spoke on Thursday evening, which was their third conversation over the phone in a week. They discussed the current tensions around Ukraine and Moscow’s demand for the West to provide “long-term security guarantees” to Russia, according to the Kremlin.
AFP reported that Macron will visit Ukraine next week.
Speaking to German media, Scholz said, referring to Russian soldiers: “The situation is very serious, and you can’t ignore the fact that many troops have been deployed along the Ukrainian border.” Western countries have been accusing Russia of massing troops and military hardware with the intent to attack Ukraine, which Russia has repeatedly denied.
German media reported that Scholz will visit Kiev on February 14 to hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The visits by European leaders will take place after a flurry of talks Russian officials had with the US and NATO last month.
Moscow views the Western military infrastructure close to its borders as a threat and wants the US and NATO to provide legally binding assurances on the matter. Russia also seeks guarantees that NATO will not expand further eastward, which would bar Ukraine’s potential membership in the bloc.
NATO and the US each sent written responses to Russia’s demands that were then leaked to the Spanish media this week. The documents confirmed that NATO refused to abandon its so-called ‘open-door policy’ of accepting new members, but, along with the US, proposed other steps to reduce military tensions in Eastern Europe.
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