US President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met Friday to try to complete a plan that the White House hopes will turn the page on a spat between the US and European Union over electric vehicle tax credits.
Biden and von der Leyen opened negotiations between Washington and Brussels on a deal that could boost the use of European minerals critical in the production of electric vehicle batteries that are eligible for US tax credits through Biden's roughly € 352 billion clean energy law that passed last year.
Biden, hosting von der Leyen in the Oval Office, said the alliance to support Ukraine marked "a new era."
However, tensions are swirling in Europe over the Biden administration's landmark Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a government spending spree championing US manufacturing in climate-friendly technologies.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House following the meeting, von der Leyen said, "Today, we agreed that we will work on critical raw materials that have been sourced or processed in the European Union and give them access to the American market as if they were sourced in the American market."
The inflation reduction legislation stipulates that if US consumers want to be eligible for a tax credit of up to €7,043 on their EV purchase, the EV's battery need to largely contain minerals from the US or a country with which Washington has a free-trade agreement.
Additionally, 50% of components in batteries must be manufactured or assembled in North America by 2024, with that percentage rising gradually to 100% by 2028.
The European Commission, in part, responded by launching its own Green Deal Industrial Plan last month in response to Biden's legislation. The measure is expected to make it much easier to push through subsidies for green industries and pool EU-wide projects.
"I think for us it's very important that...we join forces because it is crucial for our future for fighting climate change and limiting global warming," von der Leyen said.
"So for us, it was and is important that we join forces, that we are complementary, that we boost the respective cleantech industry on both sides" she added.
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By Jenny Hill in Hamburg and Emily McGarvey in London
BBC News
Seven people, including an unborn baby, have been killed in a shooting at a Jehovah's Witness meeting hall in the German city of Hamburg, police say.
They say the gunman acted alone in Thursday's attack, and later took his own life. His motives are unknown.
The suspect, named only as Philipp F, 35, is a former member of the religious community, who had "ill-feelings".
Dramatic footage has now emerged that appears to show the suspect firing many rounds through a window of the hall.
He is a former member of the religious community, who had "ill-feelings", the police said at a briefing.
All those shot dead were German nationals.
Officers were called at about 21:15 local time (20:15 GMT) on Thursday, to reports that shots had been fired in the building on Deelböge street, Gross Borstel district, police spokesman Holger Vehren said.
Officers who went in found people who "may have been seriously injured by firearms, some of them fatally", he said.
"The officers also heard a shot from the upper part of the building and went upstairs, where they also found a person. So far we have no indications that any perpetrators fled."
It is thought people had gathered, possibly for a Bible study, when the shooting began at around 21:00 local time.
Gregor Miesbach, who filmed the gunman shooting through a first-floor window, told the Bild newspaper: "I didn't realise what was happening. I was filming with my phone, and only realised through the zoom that someone was shooting at Jehovah's Witness.
"I heard loud gunshots... I saw a man with a firearm shooting through a window and filmed it," he said.
Lara Bauch, a 23-year-old student who lives nearby, told the DPA news agency that "there were about four bursts of gunfire - several shots were fired in each burst - with gaps lasting roughly 20 seconds to a minute".
She said that from her window she could see a person frantically running from the ground floor to the first floor. "The man was wearing dark clothing and moving fast," she added.
An alert was sent on the federal warning app, NINAwarn, at about 21:00 local time telling locals that "one or more unknown perpetrators shot at people in a church".
Local residents were told not to leave their homes amid the ongoing police operation.
Footage showed police escorting people out of the meeting hall, some to ambulances.
Hamburg's Interior Minister Andy Grote said on Twitter that police special forces and a large number of officers had been deployed to the scene.
Reuters
Reuters
The reasons behind the shooting were "still completely unclear".
On Friday morning, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described it as a "brutal act of violence", saying his thoughts were with the victims and their relatives.
In a statement, the Jehovah's Witness community in Germany said it was "deeply saddened by the horrific attack on its members at the Kingdom Hall in Hamburg after a religious service".
Forensic experts in white suits worked through the night inside the brightly lit interior of the meeting house.
Jehovah's Witnesses are members of a Christian-based religious movement, founded in the US at the end of the 19th Century.
In its latest report from 2022, the movement says there are about 8.7 million Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide, including about 170,000 in Germany.
In the city of Hamburg, there are believed to be nearly 4,000 members of the organisation.
Jehovah's Witnesses are probably best known for their door-to-door evangelical work; witnessing from house to house and offering Bible literature.
Although Christian-based, the group believes that the traditional Christian Churches have deviated from the true teachings of the Bible, and do not work in full harmony with God.
Germany has some of the strictest gun laws in Europe, including a clause that anyone aged under 25 must pass a psychological evaluation before getting a gun licence.
In 2021, there were around one million private gun owners in Germany, according to the National Firearms Registry. They account for 5.7 million legal firearms and firearm parts, most of them owned by hunters.
After mass arrests were made last December in relation to a suspected plot to overthrow the government, the German authorities are planning to tighten the country's gun laws even further.
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Officials in the Chinese city of Xi'an have sparked a backlash by saying they may turn to lockdowns "when necessary" to combat future flu outbreaks.
Xi'an will lock down areas and shut schools if an outbreak poses a "severe threat", according to an emergency response plan published on Wednesday.
Many internet users have called the plan "excessive", especially after criticism of China's Covid controls.
Flu cases have surged across China just as its latest Covid wave is waning.
The spike in flu cases has also led to a shortage of antiviral medication at pharmacies across the country.
While there is no suggestion of an imminent lockdown in Xi'an, some have expressed fears that its plan could see a return to the zero-Covid approach, which the country abruptly abandoned in December.
Famous for the terracotta army, Xi'an experienced some of the country's strictest lockdowns during the pandemic. Locals were banned from leaving their homes - even to buy food and other basic supplies - for a month in December 2021.
One person wrote on Chinese social media platform Weibo that influenza outbreaks had always been common before Covid, but "life went on as per normal" when they hit.
Another remarked that some local governments were "addicted to sealing and controlling".
Xi'an's plan segments its response into four levels, according to severity of the situation. Lockdowns may be called for when community spread reaches an acute level.
It is not the only Chinese city that has such emergency plans. In 2015, for instance, the Shanghai government said it may stop classes and work, as well as set restrictions on gatherings, in the event of a serious influenza pandemic.
"To local residents who were traumatised by the lockdown measures not long ago, the return to the same draconian method in coping with flu outbreaks is by no means justified," Huang Yanzhong, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, told the BBC.
But Tang Renwu, dean of Beijing Normal University's School of Government said China was not likely to see a comeback of stringent lockdown policies.
Speaking to Singapore newspaper Lianhe Zaobao, Prof Tang said other local governments may put out similar plans in the days to come - as Chinese authorities are intent on containing the seasonal flu.
"Local governments should pay attention to their wording when issuing similar documents so as not to trigger social panic," he said.
Air raid sirens sounded across the country, including the capital, Kyiv. The wave of attacks is the first of its kind in three weeks.
Ukrainian officials said that at least five people had been killed in the wave of attacks, four of whom were killed in the western Lviv region and one in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said, "Two people were injured" in the Svyatoshynsky district of the capital following the strikes.
The governor of the northeastern Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said there had been more than 15 strikes on Ukraine's second-largest city of Kharkiv. "Objects of critical infrastructure are again in the crosshairs," Syniehubov said in a Telegram post.
In the southern Odesa region, Governor Maksym Marchenk said energy facilities and residential buildings had been hit in strikes. "Fortunately, there were no casualties," he said but added that "power supply restrictions" were in place.
The attacks were reported to have struck a wide arc of other targets. Explosions were also reported in the cities of Chernihiv, Dnieper, Lutsk, and Rivne, as well as the western Lviv region.
"This was a major attack and for the first time with so many different types of missiles...The enemy launched six Kinzhals [hypersonic missiles]," air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said. "It was like never before."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it had been "a difficult night" but added that Russia would not get away with "terrorizing civilians."
"The occupiers can only terrorize civilians. That's all they can do. But it won’t help them. They won’t avoid responsibility for everything they have done," Zelenskyy said.
Moscow has been launching massive missile attacks against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, in particular targeting energy infrastructure and often plunging whole cities into darkness, since last October.
The barrages were initially weekly but eventually became more intermittent, leading to speculation that Moscow may be saving up ordnance. The last major wave was on February 16.
Here are some of the other notable developments concerning the war in Ukraine on Thursday, March 9:
"Ukrenergo specialists have restored energy supplies to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which was interrupted by today's missile strikes," the company said in a social media post.
The plant was forced to run on diesel generators for much of Thursday, with enough fuel for 10 days. The fifth and sixth reactors were also shut down, Energeoatom said.
"This is the sixth time — let me say it again SIXTH time, that [Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant] has lost all off-site power and has had to operate in this emergency mode," he wrote in a statement. "Let me remind you — this is the largest nuclear power station in Europe. What are we doing? How can we sit here in this room this morning and allow this to happen? This cannot go on."
Zaporizhzhia is occupied by Russian forces and Thursday marks the sixth time since the occupation began that the facility has lost power. Previous incidents have triggered a site inspection by the IAEA.
Russia's own nuclear energy operator Rosenergoatom confirmed that power had been cut, but said that it was Ukraine that had cut the power.
IAEA chief renews call for Zaporizhzhia safe zone
Lithuanian intelligence says Russia could continue war for two more years
Lithuania's military intelligence chief has said that Russia has enough resources to continue its war in Ukraine for another two years.
"The resources which Russia has at the moment would be enough to continue the war at the present intensity for two years", Elegijus Paulavicius told reporters in Vilnius.
"How long Russia is able to wage the war will also depend on the support for Russia's military from states, such as Iran, North Korea. But if you look at what Russia has today, such as the strategic reserve, equipment, ammunition, armaments - it can wage it at the present intensity for two years", he added.
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began just over a year ago but it quickly became clear that a rapid Russian victory was not an option.
Ukraine's western backers have continued to pledge their support, but there have been warnings that this support may begin to wane as the war drags on.
Russia claims massive strikes were "retaliatory"
The Russian Defense Ministry has called the wave of airstrikes on Wednesday a "retaliation" after an alleged Ukrainian attack in the Russian border region of Bryansk.
"In response to the March 2 terrorist actions organized by the Kyiv regime in the Bryansk region, Russia's Armed Forces dealt a massive retaliatory strike," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Kyiv has previously distanced itself from Russia's claim of an attack carried out by Ukrainian forces in Bryansk and called it a "deliberate provocation."
Russia says it has issues with continuing the Black Sea grain deal
Moscow has said it still has questions over the possibility of continuing the Black Sea grain deal which will need approval for an extension this month.
The deal was brokered by the UN and Turkey as a means of allowing Ukrainian grain to be exported from ports on the Black Sea that had until then been blocked by Russian ships.
It first came into effect in July and was extended in November for 120 days. It is up again for renewal on March 18, but Moscow could block it.
"There are still a lot of questions about the final recipients, questions about where most of the grain is going. And, of course, questions about the second part of the agreements are well known to all," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Peskov was referencing previous complaints that Ukrainian grain was going primarily to wealthy countries, as well as the other side of the agreement was meant to keep Russian agricultural products also flowing, but which Russia says have been inhibited by sanctions on payments, logistics and insurance industries.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also shared similar sentiments, saying "if the package is half fulfilled, then the issue of extension becomes quite complicated."
Russia rejoins Ukraine grain export deal
Ukraine to join EU's joint gas-buying bloc
An EU scheme to jointly purchase gas as a single bloc will also include Ukraine, the EU's energy commissioner Kadri Simson said on Thursday.
"We have integrated Ukraine in the gas joint purchasing platform with a view to help secure 2 billion cubic meters of additional gas," Simson told EU lawmakers.
The bloc is expecting to sign its first contracts this summer.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent gas prices skyrocketing in Europe and has sent European states looking for alternative sources after having relied heavily on Russian gas for years.
Transnistria says it foiled Ukrainian assassination attempt
Pro-Russian separatists in the breakaway region of Transnistria in Moldova have said that they foiled a plot to attack the region's capital which they say was planned by Ukraine.
Transnistria's security forces said in a statement that they had halted "a terror attack ... directed by Ukrainian security services, being prepared against a number of officials. The suspects have been detained. They have given confessions."
Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti reported that the attack had targeted the president of the breakaway region, Vadim Krasnoselsky.
The Russian agency also said that Ukrainian security forces had planned to carry out the attack in the Transnistrian capital Tiraspol.
Ukraine rejected the accusation as a form of provocation.
"Any statements by representatives... of the fake 'People's Republic of Transnistria' regarding the participation of the SBU in the preparation of a terrorist attack should be considered exclusively as a provocation orchestrated by the Kremlin," Ukraine's SBU security service said in a statement.
Cities hit with power cuts after wave of airstrikes
The overnight strikes have left large parts of Ukraine once again without proper access to electricity.
In Kyiv, some 40% of households were left without heating on Thursday.
"Emergency power outages currently prevent 40% of Kyiv consumers from being provided with heating," the military administration said.
The country's second-largest city, Kharkiv, was deprived entirely of power, heating or even water, according to the city's mayor.
"There is no electricity in the whole city. We have switched to generators at critical infrastructure. Electric-powered transport is not working. There is no heating and water supply, due to the lack of voltage in the electricity network," Mayor Igor Terekhov said on local television.
Ukraine's national grid operator Ukrenergo said it had limited power in all regions during the strikes as a precaution. It added that the strikes had caused longer power cuts in at least three regions.
Ukraine says it shot down 34 cruise missiles
The Ukrainian air force said that Russian forces fired 81 missiles — of which six were Kinzhal hypersonic missiles — and eight drones in its Thursday morning barrage.
The statement also said that Ukraine shot down 34 missiles and four of the Iranian-made Shahed "kamikaze" drones. A further eight missiles and drones were prevented from hitting their targets, the air force added.
"The enemy fired 81 missiles in an attempt to intimidate Ukrainians again, returning to their miserable tactics. The occupiers can only terrorize civilians," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an online statement.
Ukrainian air defenses are unable to intercept Kinzhal hypersonic missiles.
More on the war in Ukraine
The European Union is looking at how to boost ammunition supplies in both the short and long term at a meeting in Stockholm. A top EU official has called for "a war economy."
EU countries agreed to buy more shells to help Ukraine but still have to work out the specifics. Ukraine and the UN called for an extension of the Black Sea grain deal. Read Wednesday's updates here.
Russia has launched a massive missile attack across Ukraine - striking targets in the capital Kyiv, the second biggest city of Kharkiv and the Black Sea port of Odesa - killing at least six people.
The northern city of Chernihiv and the western Lviv region, as well as the cities of Dnipro, Lutsk and Rivne, also came under fire, and Ukrainian media reported explosions in the western regions of Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil.
Thursday's attack - targeting the country's energy infrastructure but also hitting residential areas - was the first of its kind on such a scale for three weeks.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 10 regions were affected and described the barrage that came while many people slept as an attempt by Moscow "to intimidate Ukrainians again".
Image:Three Russian rockets launched against Ukraine from Russia's Belgorod region are seen at dawn in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Pic: AP
Ukraine's military said Russia had fired 81 missiles and eight drones during the offensive.
Defence systems were activated and 34 cruise missiles and four drones were destroyed.
The airstrikes caused widespread power cuts and set off air raid sirens. Many areas were left without water too.
In Kyiv, a seven-hour air strike alert through the night was the longest of the Russian air campaign that began in October.
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The country's energy minister Herman Halushchenko condemned the missile strikes as "another barbaric massive attack on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine".
Image:The Ukraine capital Kyiv was among the targets of the Russian missile strikes
Image:People shelter inside a subway station during a Russian missile attack in Kyiv
Image:The aftermath of a Russian missile strike on the capital
Andriy Yermak, chief of the Ukrainian presidential staff, wrote on the Telegram messaging app: "The terrorists are doing everything they can to leave us without power... They are continuing their terror against peaceful people."
Five people were killed in the Lviv region after a missile struck a residential area, its governor Maksym Kozytskyi said. Three buildings were destroyed by fire after the strike and rescue workers were searching the rubble for more possible victims, he said.
A sixth person was killed in several airstrikes in the Dnipropetrovsk region that targeted its energy infrastructure and industrial facilities, Governor Serhii Lysak said.
Image:Rescuers in a residential area destroyed in the Russian airstrikes in the Lviv region. Pics: State Emergency Service of Ukraine/via Reuters
'They are frightening the children'
Officials said the capital was attacked with both missiles and exploding drones and that many were intercepted but that its energy infrastructure was hit.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said explosions were reported in the city's Holosiivskyi district and emergency services were heading there.
"I heard a very loud explosion, very loud. We quickly jumped out of bed and saw one car on fire. Then the other cars caught on fire as well. The glass shattered on the balconies and windows," said Liudmyla, 58, holding a toddler in her arms.
"It's very frightening. Very frightening. The child got scared and jumped out of bed. How can they do this? How is this possible? They are not humans, I don't know what to call them. They are frightening the children."
"Objects of critical infrastructure is again in the crosshairs of the occupants," said Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov in a Telegram post after 15 missiles struck the eastern Ukrainian city and the outlying northeastern region, hitting residential buildings.
The city's mayor, Ihor Terekhov, reported "problems with electricity" in some parts.
Image:A house burns following a missile strike in the southern port city of Kherson. Pic: Ukraine's Presidential Office/via Reuters
Energy facilities and residential buildings were also hit in the southern Odesa region, according to its governor Maksym Marchenko.
"The second wave is expected right now, so I ask the residents of the region to stay in shelters!" he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Preventive emergency power cuts were applied in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Odesa regions, supplier DTEK said.
Ukrainian Railways also reported power outages in areas.
Russia says its campaign of targeting Ukraine's infrastructure is intended to reduce its ability to fight. Ukraine says the air strikes have no military purpose and aim to harm and intimidate civilians, a war crime.
Nuclear plant down to diesel power
The power supply at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was also knocked out during the offensive.
Energoatom state company said in a statement: "The last link between the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and the Ukrainian power system was cut off."
It said the fifth and sixth reactor had been shut down and electric power needed for the plant to function was being supplied by 18 diesel generators which had enough fuel for 10 days.
Nuclear plants need constant power to run cooling systems and avoid a meltdown.
"The countdown has begun," the company added.
The nuclear power plant was captured by Russian forces early on in their invasion of Ukraine and remains under their control.
It is strategically critical to both sides of the Ukraine-Russia conflict but its ongoing stalemate has led to increasing concerns about nuclear safety.
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3:02
Why is Bakhmut so important?
Battle of Bakhmut rages on
The missile offensive came as Ukrainian forces fought off fierce assaults by Russian soldiers on the eastern mining town of Bakhmut.
"The enemy continued its attacks and has shown no sign of a let-up in storming the city of Bakhmut," the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said on Facebook.
"Our defenders repelled attacks on Bakhmut and on surrounding communities."
Image:A Ukrainian tank fires towards Russian positions on the front line near Bakhmut, Ukraine. Pic: AP
President Zelenskyy said in a video address late on Wednesday that the battle for Bakhmut and the surrounding Donbas region is "our first priority".
Russia's Wagner mercenary group claimed control of the eastern part of Bakhmut.
"Everything east of the Bakhmutka River is completely under the control of Wagner," the group's leader and founder Yevgeny Prigozhin wrote on Telegram.
Control of Bakhmut would give Russia a stepping stone to advance on two bigger cities it has long coveted in the Donetsk region: Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
Russia has said it has annexed nearly 20% of Ukrainian territory.
Georgia's ruling party has said it will withdraw a controversial draft law, in the face of mass protests and widespread international criticism.
Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Tbilisi this week in anger as a Russian-style law began its passage through parliament.
Under the bill, non-government groups and media would be targeted if they take over 20% of funding from abroad.
The main ruling party said it was pulling the bill "unconditionally".
Describing itself as a party of government responsible to all members of society, Georgian Dream referred to the need to reduce "confrontation" in society.
Georgia has applied for candidate status of the European Union and sought to join Nato. EU officials had condemned the draft legislation as incompatible with EU values.
The government's U-turn followed a second night of clashes between riot police and protesters outside parliament. Tear gas and water cannon were used to disperse the demonstrators as they chanted "no to the Russian law".
In its statement, Georgian Dream complained that the proposal had been unfairly labelled and said that as the "emotional background subsides" it would explain the importance of the bill and transparency in foreign funding to the public.
Despite the decision to drop the bill, opposition parties said they had no plans to halt the protests. They called for clarity on how the proposals were to be withdrawn and demanded the release of protesters detained this week.
Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili had earlier condemned the "stir" over the bill. His party maintained that the legislation mimicked American laws from the 1930s, an argument also used by the Kremlin when it passed a similar law in 2012.
That Russian law has gradually intensified and now suppresses Western-funded NGOs, independent media, journalists and bloggers, who are required to label their content with the sinister phrase "foreign agent".
"Again and again they are trying everything to take us far away from the European Union, European values," said 30-year-old protester Luka Kimeridze.
Eka Gigauri of Transparency International in Georgia told the BBC that NGOs were already subject to 10 different laws and the finance ministry already had full access to accounts, funding and other information.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili backed the protesters and had vowed to veto the proposal, although ultimately the government would have had the power to override her move.
