World
Ukraine’s Zelenskiy: Russia aims to seize east, south of country

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday (April 2) said Russian forces aimed to seize the east and south of the country.
In a late night video address, Zelenskiy said Russia had to resources to “put pressure” on the east of Ukraine.
He has regularly complained that Western nations have not provided Kyiv with enough anti-missile systems to combat Russia’s aerial threat.
Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces would “do everything to repel” the Russian military.
He also singled out for praise the forces defending the besieged port of Mariupol, saying their resistance was allowing other cities to gain valuable time.
World
Fire in shop kills 35 people in southeastern Benin

At least 35 people were killed in southeastern Benin on Saturday after a fire broke out at a shop where witnesses said gasoline was being unloaded, a justice ministry representative said.
The fire broke out at 0930 local time in Seme-Podji municipality, near the border with Nigeria, Reuters reported.
“The fire burned down the store and according to an initial assessment resulted in 35 deaths including one child,” said Prosecutor Abdoubaki Adam-Bongle in a ministry statement, adding that an investigation had been opened to determine the cause.
“According to the witnesses interviewed, the fire was probably started during the unloading of bags of gasoline.”
More than a dozen others were seriously injured and are being treated in hospital, he said.
A video shared widely on social media, purportedly of the fire, shows a tower of black smoke and flames spewing into the air above what appears to be a market place as shocked people watch from a safe distance.
Reuters was not immediately able to verify the video.
World
Polish PM tells Ukraine’s Zelenskiy ‘never to insult Poles again’

Poland’s prime minister told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday not to “insult” Poles, maintaining harsh rhetoric towards Kyiv after the Polish president had sought to defuse a simmering row over grain imports.
Poland decided last week to extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports, shaking Kyiv’s relationship with a neighbour that has been seen as one of its staunchest allies since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, Reuters reported.
Zelenskiy angered his neighbours when he told the United Nations General Assembly in New York that Kyiv was working to preserve land routes for grain exports, but that the “political theatre” around grain imports was only helping Moscow.
“I… want to tell President Zelenskiy never to insult Poles again, as he did recently during his speech at the U.N.,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told an election rally.
Poland holds a parliamentary election on Oct. 15, and Morawiecki’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party has come in for criticism from the far right for what it says is the government’s subservient attitude to Ukraine.
Analysts say this has forced PiS, which looks set to remain the biggest party but may not secure a majority, to adopt a more confrontational approach to Kyiv in the closely fought campaign.
Earlier on Friday, President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, had said the dispute between Poland and Ukraine over grain imports would not significantly affect good bilateral relations, in an apparent move to ease tensions.
“I have no doubt that the dispute over the supply of grain from Ukraine to the Polish market is an absolute fragment of the entire Polish-Ukrainian relations,” Duda told a business conference.
“I don’t believe that it can have a significant impact on them, so we need to solve this matter between us.”
World
Oil prices rise as Russia fuel export ban stokes supply concerns

Oil prices rose on Friday as renewed global supply concerns from Russia’s fuel export ban counteracted fears that slowing economies and high interest rates could crimp demand, Reuters reported.
Brent futures were up 78 cents, or 0.84%, at $94.08 a barrel by 1443 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) futures rose by $1.02, or 1.14%, to $90.65 a barrel.
For the week, both benchmarks were relatively flat, after rising more than 10% in the previous three weeks on concerns about tight global supply.
Russia’s Transneft suspended deliveries of diesel to the key Baltic and Black Sea terminals of Primorsk and Novorossiysk on Friday, state media agency Tass said.
Russia temporarily banned exports of gasoline and diesel to all countries outside a circle of four ex-Soviet states with immediate effect to stabilise the domestic fuel market, the government said on Thursday, without a specified end date.
The ban will “bring new uncertainty into an already tight global refined product supply picture and the prospect that the impacted countries will be seeking to bid up cargoes from alternative suppliers,” RBC said in a note.
Russian wholesale gasoline prices were down nearly 10% and diesel down 7.5% on Friday on the St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange, read the report.
But macroeconomic headwinds continue to weigh on oil demand sentiment.
“It is signals on the demand side that are mainly likely to affect oil prices in the short term,” Commerzbank analysts said in a note.
The euro zone economy is likely to contract in the third quarter, according to Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data released on Friday.
A contraction in UK economic activity deepened further in September compared to August, additional PMI data showed.
The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday maintained interest rates, but stiffened its hawkish stance, buoying fears that higher rates could dampen economic growth.
“Progress on inflation is likely to be slow given the current level of monetary policy restraint,” Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said on Friday. “Energy prices could rise further and reverse some of the progress we have seen,” she added.
U.S. offline refinery capacity was expected to reach 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) this week according to IIR Energy versus 800,000 bpd offline last week.
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