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Rishi Sunak landed in Bali on Monday evening with a clear message to viewers back home: the problems besetting the UK economy are shared with other industrialised nations around the world.

And there are two very good reasons why he has chosen to frame the G20 summit in Indonesia in this way.

Firstly, it’s an attempt by the new prime minister to present domestic economic problems as a consequence of bigger forces than just Conservative party own-goals – although he too admits mistakes were made (to say the least) – as he eyes Thursday’s autumn statement and the reaction to it from voters and MPs with inevitable dread.

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Announcing new tax rises and spending cuts when you’re already 20-plus points behind in the polls is hardly something a new prime minister wants to do and how this economic statement will be received is undoubtedly playing on Mr Sunak’s mind.

Secondly, this is a prime minister far more comfortable in economic than foreign policy and in calling on this summit as a moment to discuss with world leaders how to “fix the global economy” (what that means in reality, I’m waiting to see) is a way that Mr Sunk can play to his strengths and show leadership.

And he has had a minor diplomatic win on Monday, as the UK and French governments announced a new deal to try to clamp down on small boat crossings – which has now become, alongside the economic strife, the government’s main policy focus amid alarm of record crossings this year, with more than 40,000 people risking the journey.

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The quick deal between London and Paris, scoped out when Mr Sunak met President Macron on the edges of the COP27 summit in Egypt, point to a different approach from a prime minister who is seeking to convey a sense of stability and co-operation of the world stage after the more unpredictable behaviour of both Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

But how Mr Sunak actually wants to define his foreign policy strategy, beyond co-operation on Ukraine and economic policy with allies, is woolly.

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Sunak ‘confident’ over new migrant deal

On Ukraine, Mr Sunak told broadcasters on Monday night that he wanted to use the G20 to “condemn” Russia’s war.

He acknowledged too that this group of industrialised nations were divided on the issue of explicitly criticising the invasion, with the Western allies splitting with China and India over their refusal to condemn President Putin’s war, as well as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and South Africa which have rebuffed Western demands to punish Russia for the invasion.

Clearly aligned with the US when it comes to Ukraine, where we might get more clarity from Mr Sunak is around his approach to China at this summit.

Mr Sunak said he hoped to have a meeting with China’s president at this summit after President Biden’s three-and-a-half hour bilateral on Monday afternoon in which the US leader criticised China’s “increasingly aggressive” actions towards Taiwan, amid growing tension between Washington and Beijing.

For his part, Mr Sunak appears more hawkish on China, seeing the country as presenting a challenge to UK values and interests.

Watch at this summit to see how closely the new PM aligns with the US on China (I suspect it will be very closely) and talk about the UK’s approach to the Indo-Pacific region in the face of growing Chinese aggression.

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Concerns about how to contain China’s military ambitions have prompted new arrangements, such as the new ‘Quad’, which includes the US, Japan, Australia and India, and the Aukus pact, a deal that will see the UK and the US help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

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Beyond a dash to COP27, this is the new prime minister’s first big moment on the world stage and he’ll want it to cement new relationships with leaders and flesh out his approach to foreign policy. But what really matters for this PM in the coming weeks is economic policy.

This summit isn’t his real test, that will come on Thursday when his chancellor reveals the autumn statement that these two men have been working on for the past three weeks.

On Monday night, fresh off the heels of his chancellor warning that taxes were going up for everyone, Mr Sunak said he’d have to make “difficult but necessary decisions” this week to ensure stability remains in the markets.

Here he’s dealing with a very unstable global order as the G20 convenes for the first time in its 15-year history with war on the continent of Europe.

But this is a prime minister who also faces a destabilised party and disillusioned public back home. New into No 10 and now tasked with making a string of unpopular announcements, as his premiership gets going in earnest so too do the challenges.

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Climate-vulnerable islands storm out of COP29 negotiation room in row over funding

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Climate-vulnerable islands storm out of COP29 negotiation room in row over funding

Representatives of dozens of climate vulnerable islands and African nations have stormed out of high-stakes negotiations over a climate funding goal.

Patience is wearing thin and negotiations have boiled over at the COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan, which were due to finish yesterday but are now well into overtime.

After two weeks of talks, the more than 190 countries gathered in the capital Baku are still trying to agree a new financial settlement to channel money to poorer countries to both curb and adapt to climate change.

Talks have now run well into overtime at COP29, but a deal now feels much more precarious.

The least developed countries like Mozambique and low-lying island nations like Samoa say their calls for a portion of the fund to be allocated to them have been ignored.

Samoa’s minister of natural resources and environment Toeolesulusulu Cedric Schuster is one of the representatives who walked out.

“We are here to negotiate but we have walked out… at the moment we don’t feel we are being heard in there,” he said on behalf of more than 40 small island and developing states, whose shorelines are being lost to rising sea levels.

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Shortly after he made a veiled threat of leaving COP29 altogether, saying: “We want nothing more than to continue to engage, but the process must be INCLUSIVE.

“If this cannot be the case, it becomes very difficult for us to continue our involvement here at COP29.”

Evans Njewa, who chairs a group of more than 40 least developed countries, said the current deal is “unacceptable for us. We need to speak to other developing countries and decide what to do.”

The last official draft on Friday pledged $250bn a year annually by 2035.

This is more than double the previous goal of $100bn set 15 years ago, but nowhere near the annual $1.3trn that experts say is needed.

Sky News understands some developed countries like the UK were this morning willing to bump up the goal to $300bn.

Developing countries are angry not just about the finance negotiations, but also on how to make progress on a pledge from last year to “transition away from fossil fuels”.

A group of oil and producing countries, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, have tried to dilute that language, while the UK and island state are among those that have fought to keep it in.

Mr Schuster said all things being negotiated contain a “deplorable lack of substance”.

He added: “We need to see progress and follow up on the transition away from fossil fuels that we agreed last year. We have been asked to forget all about that at this COP, as though we are not in a critical decade and as though the 1.5C limit is not in peril.”

“We need to be shown the regard which our dire circumstances necessitate.”

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At least 11 killed in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities say

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At least 11 killed in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities say

At least 11 people have been killed and 63 injured in an Israeli strike on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.

Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dug through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.

State-run National News Agency (NNA) said the attack “completely destroyed” an eight-storey residential building in the Basta neighbourhood early on Saturday.

Footage broadcast by Lebanon’s Al Jadeed station also showed at least one destroyed building and several others badly damaged around it.

The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut, where four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike
Image:
The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut, where four people were killed in an Israeli airstrike

Map of Lebanon and Israel

The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack – the fourth targeting the centre this week.

At least four bombs were dropped in the attack, security sources told Reuters news agency.

The blasts happened at about 4am (2am UK time).

A seperate drone strike in the southern port cuty of Tyre this morning killed one person and injured another, according to the NNA.

The blasts came after a day of bombardment of Beirut’s southern suburbs and Tyre. The Israeli military had issued evacuation notices prior to those strikes.

Pic: AP
Image:
Pic: AP

Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.

Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.

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‘Dozens’ of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike

US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.

Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.

According to the Lebanese health ministry, Israel has killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon and wounded more than 15,000.

It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.

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Vladimir Putin vows to increase production of Russia’s ‘unstoppable’ missile – as NATO and Ukraine to hold talks

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Vladimir Putin vows to increase production of Russia's 'unstoppable' missile - as NATO and Ukraine to hold talks

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia will ramp up the production of a new, hypersonic ballistic missile.

In a nationally-televised speech, Mr Putin said the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was used in an attack on Ukrainian city Dnipro in retaliation for Ukraine’s use of US and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.

Referring to the Oreshnik, the Russian president said: “No one in the world has such weapons.

“Sooner or later other leading countries will also get them. We are aware that they are under development.”

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Putin’s warning to the West

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He added: “We have this system now. And this is important.”

Detailing the missile’s alleged capabilities, Mr Putin claimed it is so powerful that using several fitted with conventional warheads in one attack could be as devastating as a strike with nuclear weapons.

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General Sergei Karakayev, head of Russia’s strategic missile forces, said the Oreshnik could reach targets across Europe and be fitted with either nuclear or conventional warheads – while Mr Putin alleged Western air defence systems will not be able to stop the missiles.

Mr Putin said of the Oreshnik: “There is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasise once again that we will continue testing this newest system. It is necessary to establish serial production.”

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Testing the Oreshnik will happen “in combat, depending on the situation and the character of security threats created for Russia“, the president added, stating there is “a stockpile of such systems ready for use”.

NATO and Ukraine are expected to hold emergency talks on Tuesday.

Meanwhile Ukraine’s parliament cancelled a session as security was tightened following the strike on Dnipro, a central city with a population of around one million. No fatalities were reported.

EU leaders condemn Russia’s ‘heinous attacks’

Numerous EU leaders have addressed Russia’s escalation of the conflict with Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying the war is “entering a decisive phase [and] taking on very dramatic dimensions”.

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Russia’s new missile – what does it mean?

Speaking in Kyiv, Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavsky called Moscow’s strike an “escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe”.

At a news conference, Mr Lipavsky gave his full support for delivering the additional air defence systems needed to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks”.

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