Zelenskiy to meet Starmer in Downing Street ahead of Trump-Putin summit, Sky News reports
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Daily Mail
18 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
We'll need gas for decades to come, says Centrica's boss
Britain will rely on gas for decades to come, Centrica's boss said yesterday after it backed a £1.5billion deal to buy Europe's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal. Centrica, the owner of British Gas, and US infrastructure investor Energy Capital Partners have agreed to acquire the facility at Grain, on the Kent banks of the Thames Estuary, from National Grid, subject to regulatory approval. They said the site 'will be able to provide up to 33 per cent of UK gas demand and so is a critical piece of our energy security infrastructure'. And Centrica chief executive Chris O'Shea told the BBC: 'I do think that gas will be a key part of the energy transition for decades to come.' It comes as Labour's aim to shift away from oil and gas runs into trouble, with a drive to use more wind power in particular facing increasing challenges. Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has banned the issuing of new oil and gas licences in the North Sea. Critics argue that gas will be vital to fulfil demand – in a less polluting way than oil and coal – at a time when the capacity of renewable sources and infrastructure is still being built up. The Grain site imports and stores gas, and supplies European energy markets with customers including Centrica, Shell and Qatar Energy. O'Shea said: 'We'll have more wind and we'll have more solar but there are points where we don't have enough sun, we don't have enough wind. 'You need to have something that when you don't have your renewables you need to be able to turn on your electricity generation and gas is the best way that we've got that now.' The acquisition comes soon after Centrica announced it was investing £1.3billion for a 15 per cent stake in the new Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk. LNG, which is chilled to minus-162C (minus-259F) and transported on specialist ships, has become increasingly important to Europe since imports from Russia were cut off following the invasion of Ukraine. The fuel met 15 per cent of the UK's gas demand last year. That is expected to soar to about 60 per cent by 2050. Centrica's equity investment totals about £200million as it will also take on £1.1billion of debt. The shift to renewable energy is being hit by US President Donald Trump who has promised to ban new wind farms and recently branded turbines 'a con job'. Shares in Danish wind giant Orsted nosedived this week after it tapped up investors for £7billion to plug a financial hole, blaming its struggles on Trump's policies. Separately, UK figures showed how wind farm operators were paid £117million this year to stop producing energy that could have powered every home in Scotland for six months.
Reuters
20 minutes ago
- Reuters
King Charles warns of war's 'true cost' at VJ Day's 80th anniversary
LONDON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Britain's King Charles on Friday released a message commemorating the 80th anniversary of VJ Day, which marks the Allied victory over Japan and the end of World War Two, reflecting on current conflicts and warning that the cost of war reaches far beyond battlefields. While fighting in Europe ended in May 1945, the conflict with Japan continued until it signalled its intention to surrender on August 15 that year after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States. Charles said the war's final act brought an "immense price" for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, one he prayed no nation would ever pay again. Charles will be joined by his wife Queen Camilla, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the Japanese ambassador and veterans for a National Service of Remembrance to pay tribute to those who were killed in the last three months of the war. There will be a flypast featuring historic military planes, a two-minute silence at midday and famous buildings across the country will be lit up to mark the occasion. The monarch used his six-minute address to highlight ongoing conflicts: "War's true cost extends beyond battlefields, touching every aspect of life, a tragedy all too vividly demonstrated by conflicts around the world today." He said that in World War Two, nations that had never fought side by side learned to work together, proving "that in times of war and in times of peace, the greatest weapons of all are not the arms you bear, but the arms you link". "That remains a vital lesson for our times," he added. Starmer said in a statement the "country owes a great debt to those who fought for a better future, so we could have the freedoms and the life we enjoy today". At dawn military bagpipers performed at The Cenotaph war memorial in central London, at Edinburgh Castle and the National Memorial Arboretum in central England where the service of remembrance will be held later, the government said. A piper was also expected to perform at a Japanese peace garden to recognise the reconciliation between Britain and Japan in the decades since the war ended. On Friday evening, dozens of buildings and locations across the country including Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, the Tower of London, and the White Cliffs of Dover will be illuminated to mark the anniversary.
The Sun
20 minutes ago
- The Sun
Putin begins journey to Alaska for Trump war talks – but keeps up Ukraine onslaught as Doomsday Radio bursts into life
Scroll down to read our live coverage of today's meeting TYRANT EN ROUTE Putin begins journey to Alaska for Trump war talks – but keeps up Ukraine onslaught as Doomsday Radio bursts into life VLADIMIR Putin is on his way to Alaska to hold crucial war talks with Donald Trump. The tyrant has continued to order barbaric attacks on Ukraine just hours before he is expected to be pressured into agreeing to a peace deal. 4 Vladimir Putin's huge team started their journey across to the US today as they sped through the shabby streets of Magadan Credit: East2West 4 Dozens of civilians in Sloviansk woke up to their homes being bombed in Russian drone strikes just hours before the meeting Credit: Getty 4 Ukrainian drones hit a residential building in Kursk in a last message to the Kremlin ahead of the talks Credit: East2West 4 Putin is on his way to Alaska to hold crucial war talks with Donald Trump Credit: Reuters Putin's huge team started their journey across to the US today as they sped through the shabby streets of Magadan before boarding a jet to Alaska. Trump is expected to leave Washington later today with the pair officially starting peace talks at around 8:30pm UK time. The US President has been adamant the bloodshed in Ukraine must end but a merciless Putin is yet to relent. He continued to launch aerial bombs in Dnipropetrovsk region overnight with his troops edging forwards on the frontline. Putin is expected to ask to keep hold of all the land he has managed to illegally seize since starting the conflict in February 2022. The continued assaults were met with the Kremlin's "Doomsday Radio" which blurted out strange coded messages as the despot started his travels. The station is known to send out strange messages during tense times for Russia with experts saying it is likely linked to the Kremlin's nuclear defence forces. Today the signals NZHTI 88751 MAREL 5057 6881 and NZHTI 03649 STOKOTON 2751 2830 were broadcasted with no explanation. The same mysterious codes were sounded only six weeks before the start of Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv launched their own warning shots at Russia as they sent a final message to the Kremlin ahead of the talks. They are believed to have downed Putin's £32 million Su-30SM fighter close to Ukrainian-controlled Snake Island in the Black Sea. Russia was also hit by heavy Ukrainian bombardment on the Olya port in Russia's Astrakhan region. The port has been used to import military goods for Putin's war machine from Iran via the Caspian Sea across the past three years. Ukraine also exploded Syzran Oil Refinery with a major drone swarm which triggered deafening explosions and sparked two major blazes.
