🇸🇦 Saudi oil giant Aramco unveils $1.5B sustainability fund

Saudi oil and gas company Aramco unveiled a $1.5 billion fund on Wednesday for sustainable investments, part of efforts to burnish the state-owned company’s green credentials in an announcement ahead of the UN climate conference next month in Egypt. Aramco has committed to reaching net zero operational emissions by 2050.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been trying to diversify the economy away from oil revenue, though the government continues to rely heavily on crude exports.

The UN climate conference, known as COP27, will hold negotiations aimed at limiting global temperature increases next month in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

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🇪🇺 Europe sees fastest pace of rate hikes since euro launched

The European Central Bank piled on another outsized interest rate hike aimed at squelching out-of-control inflation, increasing rates at the fastest pace in the euro currency’s history and underscoring the bank’s determination to control prices despite the threat of recession.

The 25-member governing council raised its interest rate benchmarks by three-quarters of a percentage point at a meeting Thursday in Frankfurt, matching its record increase from last month and joining the US Federal Reserve in making a series of rapid hikes to tackle soaring consumer prices.

ECB President Christine Lagarde acknowledged the risk is growing that the 19-country eurozone may plunge into recession but says “inflation remains far too high” and will stay high for an extended period, so the bank expects to keep hiking.

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🚨 JUST IN: North Korea fires ballistic missile toward Sea of Japan, S. Korean military reveals

🤔 President Joe Biden's new National Defense Strategy announced on Thursday was timed to impress the US public before the November 8 midterm congressional elections and is not completely serious, former CIA analyst and station chief Phil Giraldi told Sputnik.

💬 "I think it has to be considered in the context of the upcoming election," Giraldi said on Thursday. "It is mostly propaganda and not completely serious."

▪️ Giraldi described the document as "somewhat unhinged" and said it presumed to present an exegesis on all the presumed threats in the world along with a detailed account of what the Biden Administration was doing to protect Americans from them.

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▪️ North Korea fired two ballistic missiles on Friday toward the Sea of Japan, the South Korean military has confirmed.

▪️ Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has officially taken over Twitter after the social media company's former leaders departed the firm's headquarters in San Francisco, California.

▪️ The US Department of Defense has published its first National Defense Strategy (NDS) in almost five years, combining them with two other documents typically issued separately: the Nuclear Posture Review and the Missile Defense Review.

▪️ Five people were seriously wounded by a man wielding a knife in a shopping center in the town of Assago near Milan on Thursday night, Italian media reported. Among the injured is Arsenal player Pablo Mari.

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🇺🇸 🇨🇳 As tensions continue to simmer between the US and China, Chinese President Xi Jinping has signaled that Beijing is willing to work with Washington so that the countries may respect each other, coexist peacefully and achieve win-win cooperation. How will Joe Biden respond?

👉 Check it out in our latest op-ed article dedicated to the topic

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🇩🇪 🇫🇷 German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron are seeking to try to clinch “a negotiated solution” with Washington over “unfair competition from the US” and the possible need for the EU to strike back, US media reports.

▪️ The two discussed the issue during their recent talks in Paris, where they in particular voiced concern over US state subsidy plans, which “represent market-distorting measures” aimed at making companies shift their production to America.

▪️ Scholz and Macron agreed that the EU should respond if the US goes ahead with the Inflation Reduction Act in its “current form”.

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📌 LIVE UPDATES: Ukraine shells Donetsk 36 times over past day, authorities say

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❗ FSB arrests supporters of Ukrainian radicals preparing terror attack in Stavropol region

❗️ The FSB arrested a group of radicals in the southern region of Stavropol, the service stated on Friday.

💬 "[The FSB] foiled the illegal activities of an organized group (four people) who were planning to commit a terrorist attack in the Stavropol Territory... Being supporters of the ideology of Ukrainian nationalist organizations, the perpetrators planned to commit an attack on one of the administrative facilities in the region," an official statement said.

▪️ Over the past months, Russian authorities registered multiple attempts by Ukrainian agents to stage terror attacks throughout the country.

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📹 The FSB has published a video of the detention of supporters of Ukrainian nationalists who planned to blow up one of the administrative buildings in Stavropol.

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📹 Russia's MoD has published footage dedicated to the 74th anniversary of Army Aviation

🇷🇺 Russia has sent about 10.5 million tonnes of grain, mainly wheat, to Asia and Africa and is ready to deliver 30 million tonnes more before the end of the year, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

💬 "Before the end of the year, we are ready to export about 30 million tonnes of grain, including, first of all, wheat, and bring this figure to 50 million tonnes, taking into account the harvest. About 10.5 million tonnes of grain (77% wheat) have already been shipped to Asia (62%) and Africa (33%)," the ministry said in a statement.

▪️ While Ukrainian goods go along the humanitarian corridor to Europe and developed countries, Russian supplies are sent to those in need in Africa and Asia, the ministry added.

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😱 SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk, who reportedly bought Twitter, intends to abolish the permanent bans of accounts on the social network because he does not believe in lifelong restrictions, American media reported on Friday, citing a source.

🤔 According to the report, citing a source, this means that previously blocked users are likely to be able to return to the platform. At the same time, the reporst added that it is still unclear whether this will apply to the account of former US President Donald Trump.

▪️ Earlier in the day, media reported that Musk finally closed the deal to acquire Twitter and has already taken over management of the company.

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