While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Sept 21
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses a UN Security Council meeting about Russia's invasion of his country.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Zelensky, in UN showdown, says strip Russia of veto power
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday confronted Russia directly at the UN Security Council, denouncing the Kremlin’s invasion of his country as “criminal” and urging the United Nations to strip Moscow of its veto power.
Clad in his trademark military fatigues, Mr Zelensky for the first time since the February 2022 invasion sat in the same room as a Russian official, who responded by scrolling through his smartphone with a look of conspicuous disinterest.
“Most of the world recognises the truth about this war,” Mr Zelensky said. “It is a criminal and unprovoked aggression by Russia against our nation aimed at seizing Ukraine’s territory and resources.”
Mr Zelensky called on the United Nations to vote to end Russia’s veto power on the Security Council, where Moscow joins only Britain, China, France, and the United States in being able to block any resolution.
Poland no longer arming Ukraine, amid grain row
Poland will no longer arm Ukraine to focus on its own defence, the Polish prime minister said on Wednesday, a few hours after Warsaw summoned Kyiv’s ambassador amid a row over grain exports.
“We are no longer transferring weapons to Ukraine, because we are now arming Poland with more modern weapons,” Mr Mateusz Morawiecki said, in response to a question from a reporter on whether Warsaw would continue to support Kyiv despite the grain exports disagreement.
Poland has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters after Russia invaded in February 2022 and is one of Kyiv’s main weapons suppliers.
King Charles greeted in France with pomp, diplomacy
Britain’s King Charles arrived in France on Wednesday for a three-day state visit, during which he and President Emmanuel Macron will hope to build on symbolism and personal bonds to turn the page on years of rocky relations between the two nations.
The king and his wife, Queen Camilla, were greeted by French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne in a windy Paris, before heading to a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe, where they paid tribute to French and British soldiers who died in two world wars.
They then drove down the Champs-Elysees avenue in a French DS car, waving at the thin crowds that had gathered along the tree-lined boulevard. At one point, Charles and Mr Macron stood up through the open roof of the car to wave.
US Fed leaves rates unchanged, sees tighter policy through 2024
The US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday but stiffened its hawkish stance, with another rate increase projected by the end of the year and monetary policy kept significantly tighter through 2024 than previously expected.
As they did in June, Fed policymakers at the median still see the central bank’s benchmark overnight interest rate peaking this year in the 5.5 per cent to 5.75 per cent range, just a quarter of a percentage point above the current range.
But from there the Fed’s updated quarterly projections show rates falling by only half a percentage point in 2024 compared to the full percentage point of cuts anticipated at the meeting in June.
Arsenal crush PSV on ‘beautiful’ Champions League return
Mikel Arteta hailed Arsenal’s “beautiful” return to the Champions League as Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard inspired a 4-0 demolition of PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday.
Back in Europe’s elite club competition for the first time in six years, Arsenal swept aside the overwhelmed Dutch league leaders to prove they can cope with the step up in class.
Arteta’s side ran riot in the first half at the Emirates Stadium, with Saka scoring his first goal in the competition before setting up Trossard to double the lead.
