Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Friday that industrialized countries in the Group of Seven are imposing a price cap on refined Russian oil products such as diesel and kerosene, as part of a coalition that includes Australia and a tentative agreement from the European Union.
The cap follows similar price limits put on Russian oil exports, with the goal of reducing the financial resources Russian President Vladimir Putin has to wage the nearly year-long war in Ukraine.
"Today's agreement builds on the price cap on Russian crude oil exports that we set in December and helps advance our goals of limiting Russia's key revenue generator in funding its illegal war while promoting stable global energy markets," Yellen said in a statement.
On Friday, EU governments tentatively agreed to set a $100-per-barrel price cap on sales of Russian diesel to coincide with an EU embargo on the fuel. Diplomats representing the 27 EU governments set the cap on Russian diesel fuel, jet fuel and gasoline ahead of a ban taking effect Sunday. It aims to reduce Russia's income while keeping its diesel flowing to non-Western countries to avoid a global shortage that would send prices and inflation higher.
Details about the cap were provided by a G-7 statement and diplomats from three different EU member nations, who agreed to discuss the cap on the condition of anonymity.
The $100-per-barrel cap applies to Russian diesel and other fuels that sell for more than the crude oil used to make them. Officials agreed on a $45-per-barrel limit on Russian oil products that sell for less than the price of crude.
The deal follows a similar G-7 agreement to limit the price of Russian crude oil to $60 a barrel. All the price ceilings are enforced by a requirement for the world's largely Western-based shippers and insurers to abide by sanctions and handle oil products only priced at or below the limits.
Russia has said it will not sell to countries obeying the oil cap, but because its oil is selling for less than $60 per barrel, it has kept flowing to the global market. The price caps encourage non-Western customers that have not banned Russian oil to press for discounts, while outright evasion -- though possible -- carries additional costs such as organizing off-the-books tankers.
The ambassadors of the 27 EU nations put forward the decision, and national governments have until early Saturday to react with a written objection. No changes to the deal were expected.
Europe has been steadily reducing its diesel supplies from Russia from around half of all imports. Diesel is key for the economy because it is used to power cars, trucks carrying goods, farm equipment and factory machinery. Prices have spiked since Russia invaded Ukraine on rebounding demand and limited refinery capacity in some places.
If the price cap works as intended and Russian diesel keeps flowing, fuel prices should not skyrocket, analysts say. Europe could get alternate supplies of diesel from the U.S., India and the Middle East, while Russia could seek new customers outside Europe.
However, the impact of the cap will be unpredictable as shippers reroute flows of the fuel to new destinations, and longer sea journeys could strain tanker capacity.
Fossil fuel sales are a key pillar of Russia's budget, but European governments previously hesitated to cut off their purchases because the economy was heavily dependent on Russian natural gas, oil and diesel. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, that has changed.
Europe cut off Russian coal and later banned its crude oil on Dec. 5. Meanwhile, Moscow has halted most supplies of natural gas to Europe, citing technical issues and a refusal by customers to pay in Russian currency. European officials say it is retaliation for sanctions and an attempt to undermine their support for Ukraine.
------
McHugh reported from Frankfurt, Germany. AP writer Josh Boak contributed to this story from Baltimore.
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.