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War has brought the world to the brink of a food crisis
London (CNN Business)Svein Tore Holsether says the world is careening toward a food crisis that could affect millions of people.
Record high natural gas prices have forced the company he runs, fertilizer producer Yara International, to curtail its production of ammonia and urea in Europe to 45% of capacity. With less of those two essential agricultural ingredients, he expects knock-on effects for global food supplies.
"It's not whether we are going to have a food crisis. It's how large that crisis will be," Holsether told CNN Business.
Two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, the prices of key agricultural products produced in the region have skyrocketed. The biggest problem is wheat, a pantry staple. Supplies from Russia and Ukraine, which together account for almost 30% of global wheat trade, are now at risk. Global wheat prices hit an all-time high earlier this week.
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Instagram users in Russia are told service will cease at midnight
Meta, which also owns Facebook (FB), said Friday that the temporary change in its hate speech policy applied only to Ukraine, in the wake of Russia's Feb. 24 invasion.
The company said it would be wrong to prevent Ukrainians from "expressing their resistance and fury at the invading military forces".
The decision was greeted with outrage in Russia, where authorities have opened a criminal investigation against Meta and prosecutors on Friday asked a court to designate the US tech giant as an "extremist organisation".
The head of Instagram has said the block will affect 80 million users. Russia has already banned Facebook in the country in response to what it said were restrictions of access to Russian media on the platform.
The message to Instagram users from the state media regulator, Roskomnadzor, described the decision to allow calls for violence against Russians as a breach of international law.
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'It's too late for me to be afraid:' Why this Russian journalist is staying in the country
New York (CNN)In light of Russia's newly imposed draconian anti-press law, journalists are ceasing to report from inside Russia and many have left the country — including international reporters from outlets such as CNN and The New York Times.
But one Russian journalist — Yevgenia Albats, editor-in-chief and CEO of the liberal, independent New Times, is staying. She told CNN's chief media correspondent Brian Stelter on Reliable Sources Sunday that she's "not afraid" of the Kremlin's crackdown.
"I'm not a martyr. But I feel like somebody has to do that," Albats said, noting that up to 160 of the "best reporters" have left Russia.
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Tato and Mama gave me a home in Ukraine. Now they're under attack
(CNN)They're not my parents, but after two years of living in Ukraine, they grew to become my Tato and Mama -- Ukrainian for "mom" and "dad."
Five years ago, they welcomed me into their home like a daughter -- now they're living under Russian bombardment, the sound of shelling punctuating every precious call.
Tato, a white-haired man in his early 60s, tells me on the phone he can see explosions from the front yard of their home in a small village outside the northern city of Chernihiv. Mama, who's a few years younger, sobs as she tells me they have no water, no power, and no safe way to leave.
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Escaping the horror in Ukraine is not an option for many disabled children and their families
Kyiv and Lviv, Ukraine (CNN)Vova doesn't know there is a war raging right outside his window.
He doesn't understand the meaning of the air raid sirens. He is unaware of the destruction caused by Russian bombs dropping on Kyiv. He just wants to build towers from his toy blocks and press the buttons on his mom's phone that make it play songs and cartoons he likes.
Vova, a pet name for Volodymyr, is 17 and has Opitz-Kaveggia syndrome, a rare genetic condition that causes severe intellectual disabilities. He needs round-the-clock care and anti-seizure medication that has become impossible to obtain as Russian troops close in on the Ukrainian capital, according to his mother, Natalia Komarenko.
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For loved ones ripped apart by war in Ukraine, phone messages bring hope and despair
Lviv, Ukraine — In the midst of a days-long, chaotic cross-country train ride to the northwestern city of Lviv, near Ukraine's border with Poland, a terrible realization dawned on Marina.
The 54-year-old carer, who managed to evacuate an orphanage in a besieged industrial town in the eastern Luhansk province, had no way to return to her own family.
Marina, who did not give her surname, was still reeling from the journey -- days spent desperately trying to calm the panic-stricken children in her care against the backdrop of booms and thuds of Russia's brutal assault, while still fearing for her family at home.
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Flying on Russian planes is about to get much more dangerous
New York (CNN Business)As Russia's economy gets pummeled by increasingly severe western sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine, the country's crucial airline industry could soon find itself on life support.
Russian airlines have been essentially cut off from much of the world. But that is the least of the industry's problems. Russia's domestic airline industry could soon become a mere shell of its former self due to restrictions on its operations.
Sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union mean that the world's two major aircraft makers, Boeing (BA) and Airbus (EADSF), are no longer able to supply spare parts or provide maintenance support for Russian airlines. The same is true of jet engine makers.
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No diplomatic off-ramp in sight for Russia's war in Ukraine
Washington (CNN)With Russia's war in Ukraine now in its third week, US and European officials have little optimism that the diplomatic channels can deliver a way out of the conflict at this point.
Talks between Ukraine's and Russia's diplomats this week yielded no discernible progress. Supposedly safe evacuation routes out of the country have repeatedly been contested. The civilian death toll continues to rise, and by the end of the week both sides were trading accusations over the use of chemical weapons.
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War has brought the world to the brink of a food crisis
London (CNN Business)Svein Tore Holsether says the world is careening toward a food crisis that could affect millions of people.
Record high natural gas prices have forced the company he runs, fertilizer producer Yara International, to curtail its production of ammonia and urea in Europe to 45% of capacity. With less of those two essential agricultural ingredients, he expects knock-on effects for global food supplies.
"It's not whether we are going to have a food crisis. It's how large that crisis will be," Holsether told CNN Business.
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Russia's second biggest oil company calls for an end to Putin's war
London (CNN Business)Russia's second largest oil company has broken ranks with President Vladimir Putin.
Lukoil, which produces more than 2% of the world's crude oil and employs over 100,000 people, has called for an end to Russia's war in Ukraine.
The company's board of directors said in a statement to shareholders, staff and customers that it was "calling for the soonest termination of the armed conflict."
"We express our sincere empathy for all victims, who are affected by this tragedy. We strongly support a lasting ceasefire and a settlement of problems through serious negotiations and diplomacy," the board added.
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Russia owes Western banks $120 billion. They won't get it back
London (CNN Business)Goldman Sachs is the first major Western bank to get out of Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. More are likely to follow at a cost of tens of billions of dollars.
The Wall Street giant said Thursday that it is "winding down its business in Russia in compliance with regulatory and licensing requirements," a Goldman Sachs spokesperson said.
The departure follows a scramble by Western banks to tally their exposure to Russia after President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, triggering punishing sanctions that cover most of the country's financial system, including its central bank and top commercial lenders — VTB and Sberbank.
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Bipartisan pressure mounts for US to do more in Ukraine amid frustration over Polish jets
(CNN)After two weeks of unity surrounding the Biden administration's swift and sweeping response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, patience is quickly thinning on Capitol Hill, with Republicans -- and even some Democrats -- challenging the administration to go further to help Ukrainian allies under attack.
The tension comes as the administration has exhausted some of its most obvious tools to rein in Russian aggression. Debilitating sanctions, humanitarian aid, military support and diplomatic efforts have all been used in conjunction with Europe in the lead-up to and opening days of Russia's war, which slowed but has not stopped Moscow's assault on Ukrainian cities and civilians. Now there are mostly hard choices ahead as the US weighs whether to take even further steps amid risks of escalating tensions between Russia and NATO.
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How Putin 'destroyed' the ruble and brought Russia to the brink of default
London (CNN Business)Russia has banned its citizens from buying US dollars, completing the isolation of an economy that once had ambitions to join the global club of financial powers.
As recently as the 2008 global financial crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his lieutenants had promoted the ruble as a potential alternative to the US dollar, arguing that it should be an integral part of the global financial system. Russia would become one of the world's five biggest economies, they claimed.
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Analysis: Russia and QAnon have the same false conspiracy theory about Ukraine
New York (CNN Business)A new conspiracy theory has become popular among some of the online communities that formed around QAnon -- one simultaneously being promoted by the Kremlin as a justification for its invasion of Ukraine. The false claim: the United States is developing bioweapons in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin has stepped in to save the day and destroy the weapons.
QAnon's core prophecy has always been that there is a "plan" and that former President Donald Trump will rid the world of an evil cabal, culminating in the unmasking, imprisonment or even execution of cabal members. But that prophecy dates back to when Trump was actually president -- now that he's not, believers have been convincing themselves there is evidence that the plan is still very much in place, maybe even more so than ever before. In the Kremlin's disinformation, some have seen that hope.
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China's promotion of Russian disinformation indicates where its loyalties lie
Beijing (CNN)In public statements and at international summits, Chinese officials have attempted to stake out a seemingly neutral position on the war in Ukraine, neither condemning Russian actions nor ruling out the possibility Beijing could act as a mediator in a push for peace.
But while its international messaging has kept many guessing as to Beijing's true intentions, much of its domestic media coverage of Russia's invasion tells a wholly different story.
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Russia's attack on Ukraine reveals political fault lines in Asia
Hong Kong (CNN)India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi called him a "dear friend." Chinese leader Xi Jinping went a step further, calling him his "best and bosom friend."
But Russian strongman Vladimir Putin's unprovoked assault on Ukraine has thrown Russia's previously warm relations with the Asian powers into question.
Both China and India have refused to condemn Russia's brutal invasion outright, and both abstained from voting on United Nations Security Council and General Assembly resolutions demanding Moscow immediately stop its attack on Ukraine.
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US and Europe weigh plans for Ukrainian government in exile
(CNN)US and European officials have been discussing how the West would support a government in exile helmed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should he have to flee Kyiv, Western officials told CNN.
The discussions have ranged from supporting Zelensky and top Ukrainian officials in a potential move to Lviv in western Ukraine, to the possibility that Zelensky and his aides are forced to flee Ukraine altogether and establish a new government in Poland, the officials said.
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