WORLD NEWS May 17: Oil prices rise; Sri Lanka ran out of petrol

Sri Lankans wait in line to buy gasoline in the capital Colombo on May 16 – Photo: REUTERS

* New Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of Sri Lanka said the country had used up the last drop of gasoline and urged people not to wait in line to buy fuel.

“Currently, we only have 1 more day of gas left. The coming months will be the hardest for us. We must prepare to make sacrifices and face challenges during this period.” Reuters news agency quoted Wickremesinghe as saying.

It is expected that some diesel and gasoline purchased on Indian credit will arrive in Sri Lanka in the next few days.

However, Mr. Wickremesinghe said the country still lacks 14 essential medicines. The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka said that it is urgently needed 75 million USD to import essential items.

* Head of European foreign policy, Mr. Josep Borrell, said The European Union (EU) foreign ministers could not convince Hungary to join the Russian oil embargo May 16th.

According to Reuters news agency, Hungary wants hundreds of millions of dollars in support from the EU to compensate for stopping oil imports from Russia. The bloc’s countries are expected to continue discussing this issue at a summit on May 30, which will include a proposal to extend the transition period for Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The EU sanctions measure will need the consensus of all 27 members of the bloc.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson announced her decision to join NATO at a press conference on May 16 – Photo: REUTERS

* Goverment Sweden officially decided to apply to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). over the next few days, following in the footsteps of neighboring Finland. Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson announced: “There is a majority (Members) in Parliament in favor of joining NATO” after the debate on security policy.

Previously, on May 15, Finland officially announced its intention to join NATO. Finland and Sweden are reportedly preparing to apply to join the NATO military alliance this week. On May 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Finland and Sweden’s decision to join NATO is not a direct threat to Russia, but warned that the bloc’s expansion of military infrastructure on the territory The territories of these two countries will force Moscow to respond.

In a later reaction, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he did not support Finland and Sweden joining NATO, while France, Britain and Canada announced their support for these two Nordic countries.

* Appointed by French President Emmanuel Macron Labor Minister Elisabeth Borne is the new Prime Minister of the country, the first woman to hold the position of prime minister since 1992..

New French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne waves at the transfer ceremony in Paris after being appointed – Photo: REUTERS

In her post-appointment speech, Borne mentioned a number of upcoming policy priorities, such as trade or climate change. In addition, she also wants to inspire all girls to live their dreams.

Earlier, French Prime Minister Jean Castex submitted his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron. Mr Castex’s move paved the way for a long-awaited cabinet reshuffle by President Macron, who, after being re-elected in April 2022, said the new government should be more “centralised”. , with fewer ministers.

* More than 260 Ukrainian soldiers, including 53 wounded, have been evacuated from the underground area of ​​the Azovstal steel factory complex.according to information from Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Ms. Ganna Malyar.

On May 16, 53 seriously wounded soldiers were taken from the last resistance point in the city of Mariupol to Novoazovsk for medical care, and another 211 soldiers were brought to Olenivka through the humanitarian corridor. religion.

In a video statement broadcast on social media, Malyar said that the two locations mentioned above are the areas currently controlled by Russian and pro-Russian forces, so they can be considered as prisoners and will be handed over. upcoming change.

* May 17, North Korea says 6 more people have died and 270,000 have “fever” amid the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country. The total number of deaths in this country as of the evening of May 16 is 56 while the total number of fever cases is 1.48 million.

According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the North Korean military “emergently deployed powerful forces to all pharmacies in Pyongyang and started distributing drugs”. Earlier, leader Kim Jong Un asked officials to stabilize the supply of medicine and mobilize the army to participate in stabilizing the medicine.

Acts against the LGBT community mostly occur in urban areas – Photo: INGRAM

* Complaints against criminal assaults and crimes against LGBT+ people increased by 28% in France in 2021 compared to the previous year, according to new data released by the Ministry of the Interior on May 16. LGBT is a community of people whose sexual orientations and gender identities are different from those of normal sexual orientation and gender identity.

A total of 2,170 cases were recorded by the authorities in 2021. Compared to 2019 (that is, before the COVID-19 pandemic), the increase is only 12%. Considering in 5 years (2016-2021), the number of anti-human acts belonging to the LGBT+ community has doubled.

* Stocks in the US fluctuated before the risk of the world’s largest economy falling into recession. On May 16, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.08% while the S&P 500 index fell 0.39% and the Nasdaq Composite index fell 1.2%. In Europe, the STOXX 600 index was mostly unchanged, up 0.04%.

Gold price increased slightly by 0.3% in the US market, reaching 1,814 USD/ounce. Meanwhile, crude oil prices also increased when the EU discussed the ban on Russian crude oil imports and the risk of COVID-19 epidemic in China decreased. Oil price in the US market increased by 3.71 USD to 114.2 USD/barrel while Brent oil price increased by 2.69 USD to 114.24 USD/barrel. The price of bitcoin virtual currency fell 5.21% to $ 29,664 / bitcoin, according to Reuters.