QUICK READ

Ukraine

RUSSIA has hinted that it is seeking to cut off Ukraine from Europe’s largest nuclear plant unless Kyiv pays Moscow for electricity. The Zaporizhzhia plant was captured by Russian troops in February.

“If the energy system of Ukraine is ready to receive and pay, then the plant will work for Ukraine. If not, then

(the plant) will work for Russia,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said during a trip to the region this week, Russian news agencies reported.

His remarks came after Russian officials indicated that Moscow intended to remain in territories it controls in Ukraine.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry also said that if it were to heed a UN appeal to open access to Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, the removal of sanctions against Russia would have to be considered, the Interfax news agency reported. | AFP and Reuters

United States

THE US government will fly in baby formula on commercial planes contracted by the military in an airlift aimed at easing the major shortage plaguing the country, the White House said.

The lack of formula – the result of a perfect storm of supply chain issues and a massive recall – has become a political headache for President Joe Biden as midterm elections loom.

Biden invoked the Defense Production Act this week in an effort to address the nationwide shortage of baby formula.

The Department of Defense “will use its contracts with commercial air cargo lines, as it did to move materials during the early months of the Covid pandemic, to transport products from manufacturing facilities abroad”, the White House said. | AFP

IRAN said it was reviewing a request to delay the execution today of an Iranianborn Swedish academic convicted of espionage.

The case of Ahmadreza Jalali, a disaster medicine doctor, has drawn international condemnation and put a spotlight on Iran’s pattern of arresting dual nationals on spurious charges.

Iranian authorities arrested Jalali,

50, when he travelled to Tehran for a conference in 2016. Officials accused him of spying for Israel’s Mossad, including leaking details that led to the killing of two Iranian nuclear scientists in 2010. | The Washington Post

Australia

AUSTRALIANS vote today in a national election, with the conservative Liberalnational coalition seeking a fourth straight term and the Labor Party seeking a return to power after nine years in opposition.

Opinion polls have shown Labor leading, but the gap has narrowed in the final weeks of campaigning. A strong showing by independent candidates campaigning on climate action, anticorruption and better treatment of women could lead to a hung parliament. | Reuters