UK announces $19 billion investment in first major nuclear plant since the 1990s
Officials said the investment will go into building the new Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk, on England's eastern coast, saying it will generate enough low-carbon electricity to power 6 million homes when it becomes operational in the 2030s.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said previous governments had dithered and delayed over nuclear power.
No new nuclear plant has been opened in the UK since Sizewell B in 1995. 'Having our own energy in this country that we control, gives us security, gives us independence, so (Russian President Vladimir) Putin can't put his boot on our throat,' Starmer said.
'And it means that we can control the prices in a way that we haven't been able to in recent years, which has meant very high prices for businesses, for households and for families.
'The government also announced that Rolls-Royce is the preferred bidder to develop a number of small modular reactors, which it said can power around 3 million homes and help fuel power-hungry industries like AI data centers. The Treasury said building Sizewell C will create 10,000 jobs. The investment announced Tuesday is in addition to 3.7 billion pounds the UK government already committed to the project.
Nuclear power is seen as an increasingly important electricity source as the government seeks to decarbonize Britain's electricity grid by 2030, replacing fossil fuels with low-carbon power. The UK also wants to reduce its dependence on imported oil and gas, especially in light of soaring energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
But critics have said nuclear plants are far more expensive and slow to build compared with renewable energy options such as solar and wind power. Environmental groups have also argued Sizewell C will damage local nature reserves that host wildlife like otters and marsh birds.
About 300 people joined a protest against the development at the Suffolk site over the weekend. 'Net zero is supposed to happen by 2030 — there is no way this is going to be completed by then,' said Jenny Kirtley, a local resident who chairs the campaign group Together Against Sizewell C.
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The Wire
27 minutes ago
- The Wire
India ‘Perplexed' By US Logic Behind Steep Tariffs, China ‘Stands With India'
Diplomacy External affairs minister S. Jaishankar also said that the US had urged India to help stabilise global energy markets, including by buying Russian oil. S. Jaishankar attends a joint news conference with his Russian opposite number Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on August 21, 2025. Photo: AP/PTI. New Delhi: India on Thursday (August 21) said it was 'perplexed' by Washington's justification for slapping steep new tariffs on Indian goods over its Russian oil imports, even as China publicly backed New Delhi, with ambassador Xu Feihong warning that 'silence or compromise only emboldens the bully' and declaring that Beijing 'firmly stands with India' against the US measures. The tariffs, announced earlier this month and due to take effect next week, will raise overall duties on Indian exports to the US to as high as 50%. They were defended in recent interventions by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, writing in the Financial Times, and US treasury secretary Scott Bessent in an interview with CNBC. Both argued that India's discounted oil imports from Russia indirectly strengthened Moscow's war effort and alleged that politically connected Indian conglomerates, rather than ordinary citizens, were profiting. However, recent data shows that India's reliance on Russian crude has already declined. According to Bloomberg, Russia's seaborne crude shipments to India have plunged nearly threefold this month, falling to about 400,000 barrels a day this month from an average of 1.18 million earlier this year. Despite the decline, Russia still remained India's top oil supplier in July, though volumes were down 24.5% compared to June, Reuters reported. Speaking in Moscow after talks with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar dismissed the US argument as flawed. 'Quite honestly, we are very perplexed at the logic of the argument that you had referred to,' he told reporters in response to a question about Navarro's remarks. Jaishankar stressed that India was far from being Russia's largest energy customer. 'We are not the biggest purchasers of Russian oil, that is China. We are not the biggest purchasers of Russian LNG. I'm not sure, but I think that is the European Union. We are not a country which has the biggest trade surge with Russia after 2022. I think there are some countries to the south,' he said. While China is the largest buyer of Russian oil, the US has not imposed any specific tariffs on Beijing in response to its purchases of crude from Moscow. Both countries are currently in the middle of talks for a trade deal, with Washington postponing the imposition of country-specific tariffs on China until November. India has consistently maintained that its imports are guided by market factors and cited the necessity of securing cheap energy for its large population. Jaishankar also recalled that Washington itself had urged New Delhi to help stabilise global energy markets. 'We are a country where actually the Americans said for the last few years that we should do everything to stabilise the world energy markets, including buying oil from Russia. Incidentally, we also buy oil from America and that amount has been increasing,' he added. He noted that his talks with Lavrov and first deputy prime minister Denis Manturov had focused on preparing concrete outcomes for the annual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin later this year. Discussions covered negotiations on a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, market access, trade barriers and cooperation in energy, fertilisers, infrastructure and skilled labour mobility. The minister also called on Putin at the end of his three-day visit. He additionally raised concern over Indian nationals recruited into the Russian Army. 'While many have been released, there are still some pending cases and some missing persons. We hope that the Russian side will expeditiously resolve these matters,' he said. According to official Indian figures, 126 Indians had been enlisted, of whom 96 have been discharged, 12 were killed and 16 remain missing or unaccounted for. China, meanwhile, went beyond merely opposing the US tariffs to explicitly aligning itself with India. In a speech in New Delhi to mark the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, ambassador Xu accused the US of undermining global trade rules. 'The United States has imposed tariffs of up to 50% on India and even threatened for more. China firmly opposes it,' he said. He warned that 'in the face of such acts, silence or compromise only emboldens the bully', and pledged that 'China will firmly stand with India to uphold the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organisation at its core'. Xu also framed Sino-Indian cooperation as essential for the wider region. Calling China and India the 'double engines of economic growth in Asia', he urged the two neighbours to 'enhance strategic mutual trust' and work together to 'safeguard international fairness and justice' in the face of tariff wars and protectionism. Modi is expected to travel to China later this month for the SCO summit, his first visit in seven years. Ties between the two countries were largely frozen for four years during the military standoff in eastern Ladakh, which was resolved in October 2024. This article went live on August twenty-first, two thousand twenty five, at twenty-eight minutes past eleven at night. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments. Advertisement
India Today
27 minutes ago
- India Today
Putin's Ukraine ceasefire demands: Control over Donbas, no NATO and western troops
Vladimir Putin is demanding that Ukraine give up all of the eastern Donbas region, renounce ambitions to join NATO, remain neutral and keep Western troops out of the country, three sources familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking told Russian president met Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday for the first Russia-US summit in more than four years and spent almost all of their three-hour closed meeting discussing what a compromise on Ukraine might look like, according to the sources who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive afterwards beside Trump, Putin said the meeting would hopefully open up the road to peace in Ukraine - but neither leader gave specifics about what they discussed. In the most detailed Russian-based reporting to date on Putin's offer at the summit, Reuters was able to outline the contours of what the Kremlin would like to see in a possible peace deal to end a war that has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of essence, the Russian sources said, Putin has compromised on territorial demands he laid out in June 2024, which required Kyiv to cede the entirety of the four provinces Moscow claims as part of Russia: Dontesk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine - which make up the Donbas - plus Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the rejected those terms as tantamount to his new proposal, the Russian president has stuck to his demand that Ukraine completely withdraw from the parts of the Donbas it still controls, according to the three sources. In return, though, Moscow would halt the current front lines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, they controls about 88% of the Donbas and 73% of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, according to US estimates and open-source is also willing to hand over the small parts of the Kharkiv, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine it controls as part of a possible deal, the sources is sticking, too, to his previous demands that Ukraine give up its NATO ambitions and for a legally binding pledge from the U.S.-led military alliance that it will not expand further eastwards, as well as for limits on the Ukrainian army and an agreement that no Western troops will be deployed on the ground in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force, the sources the two sides remain far apart, more than three years after Putin ordered thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine in a full-scale invasion that followed the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and prolonged fighting in the country's east between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian foreign ministry had no immediate comment on the Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly dismissed the idea of withdrawing from internationally recognised Ukrainian land as part of a deal, and has said the industrial Donbas region serves as a fortress holding back Russian advances deeper into Ukraine."If we're talking about simply withdrawing from the east, we cannot do that," he told reporters in comments released by Kyiv on Thursday. "It is a matter of our country's survival, involving the strongest defensive lines."Joining NATO, meanwhile, is a strategic objective enshrined in the country's constitution and one which Kyiv sees as its most reliable security guarantee. Zelenskiy said it was not up to Russia to decide on the alliance's White House and NATO didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the Russian scientist Samuel Charap, chair in Russia and Eurasia Policy at RAND, a U.S.-based global policy think-tank, said any requirement for Ukraine to withdraw from the Donbas remained a non-starter for Kyiv, both politically and strategically."Openness to 'peace' on terms categorically unacceptable to the other side could be more of a performance for Trump than a sign of a true willingness to compromise," he added. "The only way to test that proposition is to begin a serious process at the working level to hash out those details."advertisementTRUMP: PUTIN WANTS TO SEE IT ENDEDRussian forces currently control a fifth of Ukraine, an area about the size of the American state of Ohio, according to U.S. estimates and open-source three sources close to the Kremlin said the summit in the Alaskan city of Anchorage had ushered in the best chance for peace since the war began because there had been specific discussions about Russia's terms and Putin had shown a willingness to give ground."Putin is ready for peace - for compromise. That is the message that was conveyed to Trump," one of the people sources cautioned that it was unclear to Moscow whether Ukraine would be prepared to cede the remains of the Donbas, and that if it did not then the war would continue. Also unclear was whether or not the United States would give any recognition to Russian-held Ukrainian territory, they added.A fourth source said that though economic issues were secondary for Putin, he understood the economic vulnerability of Russia and the scale of the effort needed to go far further into has said he wants to end the "bloodbath" of the war and be remembered as a "peacemaker president". He said on Monday he had begun arranging a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, to be followed by a trilateral summit with the U.S. president."I believe Vladimir Putin wants to see it ended," Trump said beside Zelenskiy in the Oval office. "I feel confident we are going to get it solved."Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Putin was prepared to meet Zelenskiy but that all issues had to be worked through first and there was a question about Zelenskiy's authority to sign a peace has repeatedly raised doubts about Zelenskiy's legitimacy as his term in office was due to expire in May 2024 but the war means no new presidential election has yet been held. Kyiv says Zelenskiy remains the legitimate leaders of Britain, France and Germany have said they are sceptical that Putin wants to end the GUARANTEES FOR UKRAINETrump's special envoy Steve Witkoff was instrumental in paving the way for the summit, and the latest drive for peace, according to two of the Russian met Putin in the Kremlin on August 6 with Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. 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First Post
27 minutes ago
- First Post
Trump, Putin can make a deal but they can't sell it to Ukrainians and Europeans: Mearsheimer
Political scientist John Mearsheimer asserts the Russia-Ukraine war will be settled on the battlefield, not by Trump's diplomacy as Moscow and Kyiv remain deeply divided over security guarantees. This handout photograph taken by the Ukrainian Emergency Service and released on August 21, 2025, shows a Ukrainian emergency workers using water hoses on a fire following a Russian air attack, in Lviv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Image- AFP Prominent American political scientist John Mearsheimer, known for his stark forecasts on the Russia-Ukraine war said that despite high-level diplomatic manoeuvring, the conflict will ultimately be decided on the battlefield rather than at the negotiating table. Mearsheimer argued that US President Donald Trump who has opened channels with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will find himself unable to bridge the gulf between Moscow and Kyiv. 'The two countries are poles apart and no compromise acceptable to both sides is in sight,' he said, stressing that Trump's personal diplomacy cannot substitute for hard military realities. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD His remarks follow fresh attempts by Trump to position Washington as a guarantor of Ukraine's security. Recently, Trump's public commitment at a White House summit to some form of security guarantee for Ukraine was welcomed by European leaders and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte even hailed it as a 'breakthrough,' though officials acknowledged that the details of such guarantees remain . Russia says Ukraine 'not interested' in long-term peace Russia, meanwhile, dismissed Ukraine's pursuit of security guarantees as proof it was not interested in a long-term settlement. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that Kyiv's demands were 'absolutely unacceptable' and warned that any presence of European troops in Ukraine would be treated as direct foreign intervention. 'The Ukrainian regime and its representatives comment on the current situation in a very specific way, directly showing that they are not interested in a sustainable, fair, long-term settlement,' Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference. Lavrov also said any presence of European troops in Ukraine would be 'absolutely unacceptable', as Kyiv's allies worked on security guarantees for the country. 'This would be absolutely unacceptable for the Russian Federation,' Lavrov said in response to a journalist's question about security guarantees for Ukraine, calling them 'foreign intervention in some part of Ukrainian territory." Ukrainian President Zelensky countered by accusing Moscow of dodging serious negotiations. In his nightly address, he said Russia was 'trying to avoid the necessity to meet' and did not want to bring the war to an end. Mearsheimer's analysis cuts through these competing narratives. Even if Trump and Putin could arrive at a deal, he argued, such an agreement would face insurmountable resistance among Ukrainians unwilling to cede sovereignty and among Europeans deeply wary of rewarding Russian aggression. 'Any deal struck over their heads would be politically impossible to sell,' he said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Zelenskyy says Russia trying to avoid leaders meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday accused Russia of avoiding the 'necessity' of holding a meeting between the two countries' leaders despite US-led efforts to arrange such summit to try to end the war. 'Current signals from Russia are, to be honest, indecent. They're trying to avoid the necessity to meet. They don't want to end this war,' Zelensky said in his evening address published on social media. With both sides entrenched and outside powers divided over how far to go in underwriting Kyiv's security, the war appears set to grind on. For Mearsheimer, the trajectory is clear: the final settlement will be determined not by summits or security pledges but by the balance of forces on the battlefield. With inputs from agencies
