Europe

LONDON (AP) — British food prices rose at the fastest pace since 1980 last month, driving inflation back to a 40-year high and heaping pressure on the embattled government to balance the books without gutting help for the nation’s poorest residents.

Food prices jumped 14.6% in the year through September, led by the soaring cost of staples such as meat, bread, milk and eggs, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. That pushed consumer price inflation back to 10.1%, the highest since early 1982 and equal to the level last reached in July.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Liz Truss described herself as “a fighter and not a quitter” Wednesday as she faced down a hostile opposition and fury from her own Conservative Party over her botched economic plan.

Yet the grim faces of Conservative lawmakers behind her in the House of Commons suggested that Truss faces an uphill struggle to save her job. Within hours of Truss’ appearance at the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session, a senior member of her government left her post with a fusillade of criticism.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered martial law on Wednesday for four illegally annexed Ukrainian regions, doubling down on a faltering invasion he described as “very difficult.” In a tacit acknowledgment that another stinging battlefield defeat may be unfolding, his forces organized evacuations of civilians from one of the first major cities they seized.

18 October 2022; MEMO: Sanaa Seif, the sister of the detained Egyptian political activist, Alaa Abdelfattah, confirmed that she witnessed detainees being tortured during her detention in Egypt.

MOSCOW, October 18. /TASS/: The price of gas in Europe fell below $1,200 per 1,000 cubic meters for the first time since mid-June, according to London’s ICE.

The November futures price at the TTF hub in the Netherlands fell to $1,175 per 1,000 cubic meters or 115.56 euro per MWh (based on the current euro/dollar exchange rate, ICE prices are presented in euro per MWh).

MOSCOW, October 18. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a virtual meeting of the Russian Security Council on Wednesday, October 19, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

"It’s planned to consider issues related to the neutralization of threats to national security in the migration area and the regulation of migration processes in the interests of the socio-economic development of the country and socio-political stability," the Kremlin said in a statement.

VILNIUS, October 18. /TASS/: Deputies of Estonia's Riigikogu (unicameral parliament) on Tuesday declared Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, the national TV and radio broadcasting portal ERR reported.

MOSCOW, October 18. /TASS/: A Moscow court of cassation rejected blogger Alexey Navalny’s cassation appeal against his conviction for fraud and contempt of court, a TASS correspondent reported.

Navalny took part in the hearing via video link from a penal colony where he is serving his sentence. The defense asked that the verdict be overturned and that Navalny be acquitted. The prosecution, in turn, asked the court to uphold the verdict.

MOSCOW, October 18. /TASS/: Google’s move to block the YouTube accounts of the Russian Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) won’t lead to a ban on the video hosting platform in Russia, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Andrey Klishas told TASS.

When asked if Google’s decision could result in a nationwide ban on YouTube, the senator said: "No. We need to promote our own platforms and make them comfortable for domestic users."

BERLIN, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Economy Minister Robert Habeck on Tuesday endorsed the decision of Chancellor Olaf Scholz to use his executive authority to settle a long-running row within the coalition over extending the life of Germany's three remaining nuclear power stations.

Robert Habeck's Greens, opponents of nuclear power, wanted two plants kept running until April, while the business-friendly Free Democrats wanted an extension involving all three plants. On Monday, Scholz, a Social Democrat, ordered that all three should be kept going until April at the latest.