Ursula von der Leyen
“I am following the situation in Georgia with great concern and condemn the violence on the streets of Tbilisi. The European Union has also clearly expressed its concerns regarding the law on foreign influence. The Georgian people want a European future for their country.”
8 hours ago
Oleksandr Kozachenko
“If we compare it with the beginning (of the Russian invasion), when we fired up to 100 shells a day, then now, when we fire 30 shells it's a luxury. Sometimes the number of shells fired daily is in single digits.”
8 hours ago
Abdallah al-Dardari
“The United Nations Development Programme's initial estimates for the reconstruction of … the Gaza Strip surpasses $30bn and could reach up to $40bn. The scale of the destruction is huge and unprecedented … this is a mission that the global community has not dealt with since World War II.”
8 hours ago
Karine Jean-Pierre
“Americans have the right to peacefully protest. Forcibly taking over a building is not peaceful.”
23 hours ago
Ursula von der Leyen
“I am following the situation in Georgia with great concern and condemn the violence on the streets of Tbilisi. The European Union has also clearly expressed its concerns regarding the law on foreign influence. The Georgian people want a European future for their country.”
8 hours ago
Oleksandr Kozachenko
“If we compare it with the beginning (of the Russian invasion), when we fired up to 100 shells a day, then now, when we fire 30 shells it's a luxury. Sometimes the number of shells fired daily is in single digits.”
8 hours ago
Abdallah al-Dardari
“The United Nations Development Programme's initial estimates for the reconstruction of … the Gaza Strip surpasses $30bn and could reach up to $40bn. The scale of the destruction is huge and unprecedented … this is a mission that the global community has not dealt with since World War II.”
8 hours ago
Karine Jean-Pierre
“Americans have the right to peacefully protest. Forcibly taking over a building is not peaceful.”
23 hours ago
“There are some around the world...who say that we're better off making accommodations with tyranny.... I believe they are profoundly wrong. To try to renormalize relations with Putin after this, as we did in 2014, would be to make exactly the same mistake again, and that is why Putin must fail. This is a turning point for the world and it's a moment of choice. It's a choice between freedom and oppression.”
“In another economic blow to the Putin regime following their illegal invasion of Ukraine, the UK will move away from dependence on Russian oil throughout this year, building on our severe package of international economic sanctions. Working with industry, we are confident that this can be achieved over the course of the year, providing enough time for companies to adjust and ensuring consumers are protected.”
“This is the first tranche, the first barrage of what we are prepared to do. It is absolutely vital that we hold in reserve further powerful sanctions...in view of what President Putin may do next. We want to stop Russian companies from being able to raise funds in sterling or indeed in dollars.”
“Sanctions would hit very very hard, and could include restrictions on Russian businesses' access to the dollar and the pound. We have to accept at the moment that (Russian President) Vladimir Putin is possibly thinking illogically about this and doesn't see the disaster ahead.”
“Every time that Western ministers have visited Kyiv, we have assured the people of Ukraine and their leaders that we stand four-square behind their sovereignty and independence. If Ukraine is endangered, the shock will echo around the world. And those echoes will be heard in east Asia, will be heard in Taiwan. People would draw the conclusion that aggression pays, and that might is right.”
“You've got about 130,000 troops massing on the Ukrainian border. This is a very, very dangerous, difficult situation. We are on the edge of a precipice but there is still time for President Putin to step back.”
“I honestly don't think a decision has yet been taken. But that doesn't mean that it is impossible that something absolutely disastrous could happen very soon indeed. This is probably the most dangerous moment, I would say, in the course of the next few days, in what is the biggest security crisis that Europe has faced for decades, and we've got to get it right. And I think that the combination of sanctions and military resolve, plus diplomacy is what is in order.”
“We have a hard-hitting package of sanctions ready to go and what I think it would be fair to say is we want to see our European friends ready to deploy that package as soon as there should be any incursion at all by Russia into Ukraine. It is absolutely vital that ... the West is united now, because it is our unity now that will be much more effective in deterring any Russian aggression.”
“Though the time for buying presents is theoretically running out, there is still a wonderful thing you can give your family and the whole country and that is to get that jab, whether it is your first or your second or your booster. Omicron is surging. [And] we all know we must together try to stop the spread of this new variant - we must test ourselves and take extra care when meeting elderly or vulnerable relatives.”
“No one should be in any doubt: there is a tidal wave of Omicron coming. I'm afraid we're now facing an emergency in our battle with the new variant Omicron, and we must urgently reinforce our wall of vaccine protection to keep our friends and loved ones safe.”
“There is absolutely no question that this is a reality we must face. I would say that humanity as a whole is about 5-1 down at half-time. We've got a long way to go, but we can do it. We have the ability to come back but it's going to take a huge amount of effort. Team World is up against a very formidable opponent in climate change. Rome's ancient monuments could be seen as a memento mori to us, demonstrating how quickly civilisations can decline. Humanity, civilisation, society, can go backwards as well as forwards, and when things start to go wrong they can go wrong at extraordinary speed. You saw that with the decline and fall of the Roman empire, and I'm afraid to say that it's true today that unless we get this right in tackling climate change, we could see our civilisation, our world also go backwards.”
“I am very worried because it might go wrong and we might not get the agreements that we need and it is touch and go, it is very, very difficult, but I think it can be done.”
“The answer to the present stresses and strains, which are mainly a function of growth and economic revival, is not to reach for that same old lever of uncontrolled immigration to keep wages low. The answer is to control immigration to allow people of talent to come to this country, but not to use immigration as an excuse for failure to invest in people in skills, and in the equipment, the facilities and machinery ... they need to do their jobs. To deliver that change we will get on with our job of uniting and levelling up across the UK - the greatest project that any government can embark on.”
“The way forward for our country is not to just pull the big lever marked uncontrolled immigration, and allow in huge numbers of people to do work ... So what I won't do is go back to the old failed model of low wages, low skills supported by uncontrolled immigration. When people voted for change in 2016 and ... again in 2019 as they did, they voted for the end of a broken model of the UK economy that relied on low wages and low skill and chronic low productivity, and we are moving away from that. There will be a period of adjustment, but that is I think what we need to see.”
“We now are starting to see the situation improve. We are hearing from industry that supplies are coming back onto the forecourt in the normal way and I would just really urge everybody to go about their business in the normal way. What we want to do is make sure that we have all the preparations necessary to get through until Christmas and beyond, not just in supplying the petrol stations but all parts of our supply chain.”
“It's three very like-minded allies standing shoulder to shoulder creating a new partnership for the sharing of technology. I just think it's time for some of our dearest friends around the world to 'prenez un grip' [get a grip] about this and 'donnez moi un break' [give me a break]. I find it very hard to see in this agreement anything not to like.”
“We heard from some of the industrialised countries … the faint signs of progress. Let's see what the president of the United States has to say tomorrow.”
“Everyone nods and we all agree that 'something must be done.' Yet I confess I'm increasingly frustrated that the something to which many of you have committed is nowhere near enough.”
“We are able to continue with the programme in the way we have been running it, according to the timetable that we have got and that is what we are going to do. There were always going to be vulnerabilities to terrorism and opportunistic terrorist attacks. We condemn them, I think they are despicable, but I am afraid they are something we had to prepare for.”
“It is vital that the international community works together to ensure safe evacuations, prevent a humanitarian crisis and support the Afghan people to secure the gains of the last 20 years.”