Ukraine hits major Russian oil port near Finland

The surge in fuel prices triggered by the war in the Middle East has prompted countries to take measures to limit the financial impact on consumers and businesses.

Countries have also moved to reduce consumption, especially when they have limited reserves.

Here are some of the measures that have been adopted:

- Tax cuts and aid -

Some countries are targeting the price of fuel in order to limit the impact of the rise of crude oil prices on consumers and businesses.

Spain has launched a five-billion-euro ($5.8-billion) plan that reduces the value added tax (VAT) on fuel which should result in a reduction of 30 euro cents per litre.

A similar measure is in place in Portugal and has been announced in Sweden.

Since US-Israeli attacks on Iran set off the war on February 28 a number of countries such as Croatia, Hungary, South Korea and Thailand have set price limits on fuel.

Vietnam has waived customs duties on fuel imports through the month of April.

Japan is using subsidies to refiners to ensure the pump price of petrol stays around 170 yen ($1.07) per litre, having hit a record 190.8 yen in the middle of the month.

Taiwan uses a mechanism that absorbs 60 percent of increases.

China on Monday limited the amount that fuel prices may rise at the pump.

Greece has earmarked 300 million euros ($347 million) in relief for households and farmers in April and May to help them cope with rising fuel prices.

Morocco has put in place a special direct subsidy for road transport firms.

Brazil has announced temporary measures to limit fuel price increases, including suspending taxes on diesel fuel.

Germany has banned service stations from raising prices more than once per day.

- Stocks, rationing, restrictions -

The war is also forcing countries to dip into their strategic stocks and take other measures to avoid shortages, including rationing and reducing travel.

The 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency (which includes the G7 nations) have released a record amount from their strategic reserves.

Bangladesh has imposed rationing.

Egypt has limited non-essential travel by government employees. 

The Philippines has reduced ferry services and prices of local public transport have risen.

India, the world's number two importer of liquefied petroleum gas which is used to produce cooking gas, has prioritised supplies for households.

South Korea's ruling party said the country will lift a cap on coal-powered generation capacity set at 80 percent and boost the use of nuclear power to about the same level.

- Reducing energy consumption -

Other countries are introducing measures to reduce fuel consumption.

Thailand is encouraging government employees to work from home, while Vietnam is encouraging employers to do so.

Indonesia is looking at imposing one day of working from home for government employees, while the Philippines has gone further, introducing a four-day work week for government employees. 

In Thailand, the temperature in public buildings has been raised to 26 degrees Celsius (79F) to reduce electricity consumption for air conditioning.

Vietnam is encouraging people to ride bicycles, share rides and use public transport.

Bangladesh shut universities and brought forward the Eid holidays, the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, to limit electricity consumption. 

It also cancelled decorative light displays on government buildings on Eid and those scheduled for Independence Day celebrations on March 26 and asked shopping malls to do the same.

Countries are also looking at importing Russian crude after the United States temporarily suspended sanctions in mid-March.

ole/uh/rl/kjm

How long will the Iran war last and what are the US goals? President Donald Trump has issued a dizzying number of conflicting answers to these questions since launching the conflict three weeks ago.

The stakes have risen as Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes across the Gulf after the United States and Israel started their attacks on February 28.

Here, in Trump's own words, are his shifting positions:

- Duration of the war -

March 1: "Well, we intended four to five weeks." (To the New York Times)

March 9: "I think the war is very complete, pretty much.” (To CBS)

March 20: "We are getting very close to meeting our objectives." (Truth Social).

March 20: "I think we have won.... I don't want to do a ceasefire." (To reporters at the White House)

March 23: "If talks fail..., we'll just keep bombing our little hearts out." (To reporters in Florida)

- Negotiate or not? -

March 1: "They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them." (To The Atlantic)

March 3: "They want to talk. I said 'Too Late!'" (Truth Social)

March 21: "There's nobody to talk to. We have nobody to talk to. And you know what -- we like it that way." (To reporters at the White House)

March 23: "I AM PLEASED TO REPORT THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS." (Truth Social)

- Hormuz: need allies or not? -

March 14: "Many countries...will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe." (Truth Social) 

March 16: "We strongly encourage the other nations to get involved with us and get involved quickly and with great enthusiasm." (To reporters at the White House)

March 17: "WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!" (Truth Social)

- What does winning mean? -

Feb. 28: Trump announces war in a video message. Says goals are to eliminate Iran's ballistic missile capability, destroy their navy, ensure it never gets a nuclear weapon, and ensure Iranian proxy groups can no longer carry out attacks. 

He also encourages a popular uprising: "Take over your government." (Video message, speaking to Iranians)

March 9: "We've already won in many ways." (Speaking to Congressional Republicans)

March 13: "When I feel it in my bones." (Response to Fox Radio on when the war will be over)

March 21: "If Iran doesn't FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS." (Truth Social)

March 23: "I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST IRANIAN POWER PLANTS." (Truth Social)

msp/sms

Moments before an Air Canada Express plane collided with a firetruck on the runway of New York's LaGuardia Airport, a traffic controller cleared the truck to cross the runway and then urgently ordered it to halt, a recording showed.

The collision Sunday night killed the pilot and co-pilot, and 41 people on board were taken to the hospital, officials said.

The plane, operated by Jazz Aviation, a regional partner of Air Canada, struck the firetruck on Runway 4 at around 11:40 pm as the truck drove to a separate incident.

Below is a transcript of the exchange:

Driver: "Truck one and company, LaGuardia Tower. Requesting to cross four at Delta."

Controller: "Truck one and company, cross four at Delta."

Driver: "Truck one and company crossing four at Delta."

Controller: "Frontier 4195, stop there please. (Pause.) Stop, stop, stop, truck one, stop, stop, stop. Stop, truck one, stop! Stop, truck one, stop." 

(Alarm goes off.)

"Jazz 646. Jazz 646, I see you collided with vehicle. (Inaudible) Hold position. I know he can't move. Vehicles are responding to you now."

After further dialogue.

Second controller: "Man, that wasn't good to watch."

First controller: "Yeah, I know. I was here. I tried to reach out to my staff. And we were dealing with an emergency earlier. I messed up."

Second controller: "No man, you did the best you could."

mjf/bgs

BOZEMAN, Mont. - Four new nursing education buildings in the Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing at Montana State University (MSU) are set to open this fall in Bozeman, Billings, Kalispell and Missoula. Funding for the buildings was awarded by Mark and Robyn Jones five years ago, a gift of $101 million that marked the largest-ever private donation to a nursing college.

The nursing school's model of "five campuses one college" allows students to take pre-requisite courses at MSU's Bozeman campus before applying to complete the program in Bozeman, Billings, Great Falls, Kalispell or Missoula. The nursing building in Great Falls opened in 2025. 

The university said in a press release that the building design prioritizes a student-centered experience. 

"Each of the new nursing education buildings features large classrooms, a foundational skills room and a state-of-the-art simulation center with three separate rooms for maternal and newborn care, adult care and pediatrics." 

Grand opening times will be listed online at a later date for the following opening days: 

• Bozeman: Friday, September 18, 2026
• Billings: Wednesday, September 23, 2026
• Kalispell: Monday, October 12, 2026
• Missoula: Tuesday, October 13, 2026

“Our growth as Montana’s premier nursing college is a benefit both for students and all Montanans, who are cared for by the impressive numbers of Bobcat nurses who have chosen to stay in Montana and serve their communities,” Dean of Nursing Sarah Shannon said. "This additional infrastructure will allow our college to increase enrollment, increase the number of nursing graduates each year and bolster the health care workforce in every corner of the state." 

MSU said the four buildings are opening ahead of schedule due to effects of this year's mild winter. 

The World Health Organization chief on Monday urged countries to complete the missing piece of a pandemic agreement designed to avoid the panic and chaos of Covid-19 this week.

WHO member states meeting at the UN health agency's Geneva headquarters have until Saturday to thrash out the trickiest bit of the entire treaty -- the nuts and bolts of how a vital portion of the text will work in practice.

"We must get this done. The next pandemic will not wait," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insisted.

He urged nations not to fall for the "dangerous temptation" to opt for yet more negotiating time, as the "increasingly unfavourable climate" would only mean "this will get harder, not easier".

In May 2025, WHO member states adopted a landmark pandemic agreement on tackling future health crises, after more than three years of negotiations sparked by the shock of Covid-19.

The accord aims to prevent future pandemics from leading to the disjointed responses and international disarray that surrounded the coronavirus crisis by improving global coordination, surveillance and access to vaccines.

But the heartbeat of the treaty, the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system, was left aside in order to get the deal over the line.

Countries were given another year to sort out the details of how it will operate.

The PABS mechanism deals with sharing access to pathogens with pandemic potential, then sharing the benefits derived from them: vaccines, tests and treatments.

Countries are tasked with getting PABS finalised by the next World Health Assembly, the WHO's decision-making body, in mid-May. 

- 'Not there yet' -

Tedros welcomed negotiators back on Monday for the sixth and "for what we all hope will be the final meeting" on finalising PABS.

"We're so close -- but of course, we're not there yet," he said, warning that it was "probably the only chance" to secure an outcome.

"The conflict in the Middle East and crises elsewhere in our world are reminders that health emergencies can erupt suddenly and affect multiple countries, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks."

Tedros, who led the WHO during Covid-19, said countries must ask themselves whether the text would solve the problems faced during the pandemic.

"We need to do everything in our collective power to finalise the (deal) so we do not waste the last four-and-a-half years," he said.

"If we don't, we are left with the status quo: no PABS system, and a Pandemic Agreement that exists only on paper."

rjm/nl/sbk

Kristi Noem visited Honduras in her new role as US President Donald Trump's special envoy for his "Shield of the Americas" regional crime-fighting initiative, after being fired from her position as homeland security chief.

The 54-year-old made the trip on Sunday and met with Honduras's new right-wing president, Nasry Asfura, he told press afterward.

A former congresswoman and governor of South Dakota, Noem was one of the leading faces of Trump's controversial immigration crackdown since his return to power in January 2025.

Trump announced earlier this month that she would be removed and take up the role of special envoy to the "Shield of the Americas," a coalition with 17 Latin American nations -- so far -- aimed at countering cartels.

According to multiple media reports, Trump was upset with Noem's handling of the mass immigration crackdown in Minnesota, during which federal immigration agents shot dead two Americans.

"It was a meeting...with a very positive reception," Asfura said after the talks at the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa.

Honduras is one of the most violent countries in Central America, with gangs including Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 -- designated as terrorist organizations by Washington -- in operation.

Issues including security and migration were discussed to "work together and build a more prosperous America," Asfura said. 

Both parties agreed on "strengthening cybersecurity and waging a full-scale fight against drug trafficking and organized crime," as well as bolstering the Honduran police and military "through specialized technical assistance," a Honduran government statement said.

Trump backed Nasfura in his election late last year and threatened US funding if he did not win, raising accusations of foreign meddling.

Nasfura's rise to power comes amid a series of right-wing wins in Latin America on promises of taking a firm approach to crime.

lkd/des/sms

Russia and Vietnam on Monday signed a cooperation agreement on the construction of Vietnam's first nuclear power plant, Russia's Rosatom nuclear agency said on Monday.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh was visiting energy-rich Russia as Vietnam seeks to shore up its fuel reserves at a time of disruption to energy supplies caused by the war in the Middle East, sparking fears of fuel shortages around the world.

Since the US-Israeli war against Iran began in late February, the cost of 95-octane petrol and diesel in Vietnam, a manufacturing hub, has soared by 50 percent and 70 percent respectively.

The agreement lays out the legal framework for the construction of two reactors with a total output of 2400 MW at Vietnam's proposed Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant, Rostam said.

Rosatom head Alexey Likhachev said the agreement would be the "foundation for a long-term industrial partnership, which will strengthen Vietnam's energy independence and open up new opportunities for economic growth".

No timeline was given for when construction would start or when the plant might come online.

Moscow and Hanoi had initially agreed to build the Ninh Thuan 1 atomic power station back in 2010, but later decided to suspend construction.   

Another agreement between Russia's top liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer Novatek and a Vietnamese buyer was also signed recently, Novatek's CEO Leonid Mikhelson said on Monday.

"We have been in negotiations with potential buyers for over five years, and have very recently signed a preliminary supply agreement with one of them. We are ready to commence deliveries at the earliest opportunity," he told state broadcaster Rossiya 24, without naming the customer. 

Russia and Vietnam have also signed a deal on oil and gas production in both countries, the TASS state news agency reported, citing Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, without giving details.

bur/sbk

The head of Europe's video game rating system, PEGI, has warned against supposed "silver bullet" child protection solutions such as age verification, in an interview with AFP.

A new set of PEGI (Pan-European Game Information) age ratings, coming into force from June, will take into account factors including in-game purchases, incentives to constantly revisit games or the ability to limit in-game messages from strangers.

It had taken "a couple of years" for PEGI to work out the new classification, its director general Dirk Bosmans told AFP.

The games sector has in recent years been the subject of debate, including over allegedly addictive mechanics such as "loot boxes" -- virtual items purchasable for real money that contain a random in-game reward.

PEGI's new ratings will not apply to games released before June this year -- even the most widely played titles, such as "Fortnite" or "League of Legends".

In future, "we will have to work out a plan of attack, an approach to live service games," Bosmans said, "especially games that will continually provide new updates".

Introduced in 2003, PEGI is the only media age classification system harmonised across European countries, its chief noted -- although Germany has its own ratings.

As a self-regulatory mechanism by the games industry, its rules are applied by major console makers Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, as well as by Google on its app store.

Apple has its own age rating system, while the dominant PC gaming platform Steam -- based in the US -- has not implemented one.

- 'Regulatory pressure' -

PEGI has updated its approach in part in response to growing "regulatory pressure" within the European Union, Bosmans said.

Even as the EU has tightened digital regulation in recent years, member states are taking their own steps -- including a draft law in France barring under-15s from social media, which the government has warned would cover some online games with social aspects, such as "Roblox".

If passed, the law will require all users to prove their age from 2027.

While automated online verification "sounds like it's going to fix everything... data protection organisations are very concerned", Bosmans said.

"We first need to have a really good conversation before we start deciding on where to apply it."

He added that companies in the sector have welcomed the updated PEGI classifications.

"They understand that by making PEGI better and stronger, they are better protected against lack of nuance, quick fixes," Bosmans said.

- Parents needed -

Bosmans also spoke out against full-on bans of games for children below a certain age -- as mooted by French President Emmanuel Macron last month ahead of an expert inquiry.

"A ban is not very nuanced. It's not very proportionate, no matter for what you apply it," he said, recalling that PEGI was created to avoid just such a scenario in the early 2000s.

What's more, in Australia -- where social media has already been banned for under-16s -- "there is now concern that kids are primarily busy with trying to circumvent the rules, sometimes with the help of their parents," Bosmans said.

"You can try all kinds of technical or legal methods to enforce PEGI ratings. If in the end parents decide, no, my 13-year-old is going to play this 16 (rated) game, it doesn't change anything," he added.

"Thinking that you can do it without the parents is the biggest mistake you can make."

kf/tgb/jhb

The US Supreme Court was weighing on Monday whether mail-in ballots received by electoral authorities after Election Day can be counted, in a case that could have repercussions for November's midterm elections.

The case involves a challenge by the Republican National Committee (RNC) to a law in the southern state of Mississippi that allows ballots to be counted if they arrive within five business days after Election Day.

The ballots must be postmarked by Election Day.

Fourteen US states allow mail-in ballots to be tallied after the date of the election if they bear a postmark by Election Day.

Republican President Donald Trump has been a vocal critic of mail-in ballots and has falsely claimed that they contributed to his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

A federal judge ruled in favor of Mississippi but was overturned by an appeals court panel which said ballots must arrive by Election Day to be counted.

Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart, arguing before the top court on Monday, said "states have broad power over elections" and have been allowed to count ballots received after Election Day for "over a century."

"Congress has respected it and no one challenged it until now," Stewart said.

Democrats tend to use mail-in ballots more than Republicans and the practice became more widespread during the Covid pandemic.

The Trump administration has joined the opponents of the Mississippi law and a ruling by the conservative-dominated Supreme Court could affect the ballot-counting rules in other states.

The mail-in ballot counting case is one of a number of voting rights cases being heard by the Supreme Court this term.

The court, which includes three justices nominated by Trump, heard arguments last year over the use of race to draw congressional electoral districts.

The Supreme Court is likely to deliver its rulings in the cases by the end of June or early July, which would provide enough time for them to be applied to the November congressional elections.

cl/des

An experimental vaccine for Lyme disease is broadly effective, pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Valneva announced Monday, however the latter firm's shares fell because the clinical trial did not reach its main goal.

There are currently no approved vaccines to treat Lyme disease -- the world's most common tick-borne illness. 

The new vaccine candidate "demonstrated more than 70 percent efficacy in preventing Lyme disease in individuals aged five years and above" during a phase 3 clinical trial, the US and French-Austrian companies said in a joint statement. 

However, because there were fewer cases of Lyme disease than expected during the study period, the trial did not meet its primary endpoint, they added.

Following the announcement, Valneva's share price plunged more than 38 percent at around noon GMT on the Paris stock exchange, which was otherwise up 0.7 percent.

Prizer said in the statement it remains "confident in the vaccine's potential and is planning submissions to regulatory authorities" in the United States and European Union.

"These results bring us a step closer to our goal of delivering a much-needed vaccine to help protect against Lyme disease," Valneva CEO Thomas Lingelbach added.

The vaccine LB6V, formerly called VLA15, creates antibodies in humans that fight off the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease.

The condition is rarely fatal, but people bitten by an infected tick often get a rash and suffer flu-like symptoms including muscle and joint ache, headache, nausea and vomiting. 

In some cases, it can also cause neurological problems.

Research in 2022 estimated that more than 14 percent of the global population has had the disease, warning that transmission rates could increase as climate change brings longer, drier summers. 

pan/dl/gv