Anadolu Agency's Morning Briefing - Sept. 29, 2022

ANKARA 

Anadolu Agency is here with a rundown of the latest developments around the world.

• Danish authorities confirmed that more than half of the gas in the damaged Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines has escaped into the atmosphere.

• Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia said they will not recognize the referendums recently held in four Ukrainian regions.

• Russia welcomed the results of the referendums in Ukraine's breakaway regions, saying they were carried out in accordance with international law.

• The EU proposed a new package of "biting" sanctions on Russia over its "escalation" in the ongoing Ukraine war, including an oil price cap.

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the US for its tilted stance amid simmering tensions between Türkiye and Greece, calling out Washington for its unequal treatment of NATO allies.

• Hurricane Ian made landfall near Florida's southwestern Cayo Costa state park as an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm, the National Hurricane Center announced.

• Recently-discovered leaks in the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea appear to be acts of sabotage, the US State Department said.

• The US Embassy in Russia urged its citizens to refrain from traveling to Russia and those who are already in the country to leave immediately.

• Russian authorities have opened an “international terrorism” case over the recent Nord Stream gas leaks, local media reported.

• The US is providing Ukraine with an additional $1.1 billion package of weapons and equipment, the White House spokeswoman said.

• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the US is getting closer to becoming a party to the conflict in Ukraine.

• Radoslaw Sikorski, a European Parliament member and former Polish foreign minister, insinuated that the US had deliberately inflicted damage on the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

• US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides said Washington opposes Israeli settlement buildings in the occupied West Bank.

• US President Joe Biden asked if a deceased congresswoman was in the crowd during a speech at a White House conference on hunger and nutrition.

• The World Economic Forum (WEF) Community of Chief Economists said it expects reduced growth and stubbornly high inflation to continue in the remainder of 2022 and in 2023, while real wages will keep falling.

• Mortgage rates in the US are at 6.52% -- the highest since 2008 for a 30-year fixed loan, data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) showed.

• Negotiations to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can no longer be pushed off indefinitely, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process said.

• Soaring energy costs have put Slovakia’s economy at risk of “collapse,” the country’s prime minister said.

• Iraqi lawmakers voted to reject the resignation of Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi.

• Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched attacks on the Kurdish region of northern Iraq targeting armed rebel groups, Iranian state media reported.

• Hailing the Black Sea grain deal signed in July in the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul, China told the UN that the move has shown that even in conflict situations, “diplomacy can produce results and bring hope.”

• Israeli forces killed a Palestinian and injured nine others in an incursion into the northern occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian officials.