$150m boost for Ukraine investment
Ukraine and the US International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC) said they would each commit $75m to a joint investment fund that is part of Kyiv’s minerals deal with Washington, officials said on Wednesday.
“The Development Finance Corporation has made a pilot commitment of $75m, which Ukraine will match,” Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said in a statement.
The IDFC said investment would support Ukraine’s reconstruction and long-term economic recovery and strengthen US natural resources supply chains. Reuters
US ‘likely to target friends as easily as it does foes’
Countries that see themselves as US allies are now considering whether President Donald Trump’s administration could one day disrupt their payments systems to exert diplomatic pressure, a former top Bank of England official said.
Jon Cunliffe, the central bank’s deputy governor for financial stability from 2014 to 2024, said Western countries relied heavily on US-headquartered Visa and Mastercard for day-to-day domestic transactions and found it hard to avoid US banks when making foreign payments.
"[T]his particular administration appears to be as likely to use all the levers it has against jurisdictions that you would traditionally think of as its allies as its opponents,” he told an event hosted by the UK’s National Institute of Economic and Social Research. Reuters
Pope speaks out on conditions in Gaza
Pope Leo denounced the “unacceptable” conditions faced by Palestinians in Gaza, voicing solidarity with civilians and renewing his appeal for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.
“I express my deep closeness to the Palestinian people in Gaza, who continue to live in fear and survive in unacceptable conditions, forced once again to leave their land,” the pope said in his weekly general audience at the Vatican.
Israel launched a major ground assault on Gaza City on Tuesday, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes amid what residents said was the heaviest bombardment in two years of war. Reuters
Merz accuses Putin of murder and anti-West tactics
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of murder and trying to destabilise the West by testing its limits and sabotage.
Speaking in a parliamentary debate where he clashed with the far-right opposition, Merz said recent Russian incursions into Polish and Romanian air space were part of a long-running trend of testing the West’s boundaries.
“Putin has long been testing the borders, he is sabotaging. He is spying, he is murdering, he is trying to unsettle us. Russia wants to destabilise our societies,” Merz said. Reuters
Poland urges end to buying of Russian energy
Poland has urged EU members states who are still buying Russian energy to stop those imports by the end of 2026 and will offer them help towards that effort, energy minister Milosz Motyka said.
The Druzhba oil pipeline delivers Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia, which continue to buy supplies from Russia after other EU nations cut ties after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“I appeal to you to agree on a common goal of completely phasing out imports of Russian crude oil by the end of 2026,” Motyka wrote to EU nations’ energy ministers.
Motyka said this was relevant in light of recent events, such as a Russian drone incursion on Poland’s territory last week. Reuters
US, Taiwan unveil Barracuda-500 missile
Taiwan has unveiled its first missile to be jointly manufactured with a US company, marking a major step in the fast-growing defence co-operation between Taipei and Washington to counter China’s military threat.
Ahead of the Taipei Aerospace and Defence Technology Exhibition, the military-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) displayed the Barracuda-500, an autonomous, low-cost cruise missile designed by US defence technology start-up Anduril Industries.
The NCSIST said that through technology transfer, it plans to mass produce the missile, designed for group attacks on warships and similar to exploding drones, in Taiwan. Reuters
Ivanhoe Mines secures $500m Qatar investment
Canadian mining company Ivanhoe Mines said on Wednesday it will raise $500m from Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) in a private placement, giving the sovereign wealth fund a 4% stake.
QIA will buy 57.5-million Ivanhoe shares at C$12 apiece, below the stock’s closing price of C$13.19 on Tuesday.
The proceeds will support growth opportunities in critical minerals exploration and development as well as general corporate purposes, the miner said.
Ivanhoe operates three principal projects in Southern Africa, including its flagship Kamoa-Kakula copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the world’s largest high-grade copper deposits.
The deal gives QIA customary rights including the option for board representation if its stake exceeds 10%. Reuters
Social media CEOs to testify at Charlie Kirk hearing
Washington — A US House committee on Wednesday asked the CEOs of Discord, Steam, Amazon-owned Twitch and Reddit to testify at a hearing on October 8 after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, citing the “radicalisation of online forum users”.
Kirk, co-founder of the conservative student movement Turning Point USA and a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, was speaking at an event attended by about 3,000 people when he was gunned down last week.
Utah governor Spencer Cox this week blamed some social media for inciting tension that may have influenced the killing. Reuters
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