POLAND SAYS MISSILE THAT HIT IT WAS UKRAINIAN STRAY

A missile that hit Poland was probably a stray fired by Ukraine’s air defences and not a Russian strike, Poland and NATO said on Wednesday, easing global concern that the war in Ukraine could spill across the border.

Nevertheless, NATO’s chief said Moscow, not Kyiv, was ultimately to blame, for starting the war in the first place and launching the attack that triggered Ukraine’s defences.

“This is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

NATO Ambassadors were holding emergency talks to respond to the blast on Tuesday that killed two people at a grain facility in Poland near the Ukrainian border, the war’s first deadly spillover onto the territory of the Western military alliance.

“From the information that we and our allies have, it was an S-300 rocket made in the Soviet Union, an old rocket and there is no evidence that it was launched by the Russian side,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said. “It is highly probable that it was fired by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defence.”

Mr. Stoltenberg also said it was likely a Ukrainian air defence missile.

The incident occurred while Russia was firing scores of missiles at cities across Ukraine.

Kyiv says it shot down most of the incoming Russian missiles with its own air defence missiles.

US MIDTERMS: REPUBLICANS NARROWLY WIN BACK THE HOUSE

Republicans have secured the 218 seats needed for a majority in the lower chamber of the Congress a week after the midterm elections, the BBC's US partner CBS News projects.

While the party's margin in the House of Representatives is razor-thin, it is enough to stall President Joe Biden's agenda for the next two years.

But Democrats will keep control of the Senate when the new Congress convenes in January.

A handful of seats remain to be called.

The Republicans - who had hoped to win back control of both chambers - underperformed expectations in last week's midterms.

They won the seat they needed for their House majority on Wednesday when California's 27th district went to incumbent Mike Garcia.

The Republican party is now projected to win between 218-223 seats in the 435-seat House, according to CBS.

But with votes in cliff-hanger races still being tallied, their majority may not be clear for days or even weeks.

Kevin McCarthy, who was elected by rank-and-file Republicans to be their nominee to replace Democrat Nancy Pelosi as the next Speaker of the House on Tuesday, celebrated having "officially flipped" the chamber.

In order to be elected Speaker, the House Republican minority leader must work to receive majority support from the 435 members of the full House.

CHINA, OTHER LARGE ECONOMIES MUST ALSO PAY FOR LOSS AND DAMAGE: EU

Supporting the demand first put forward by the small island countries, the European Union on Wednesday asserted that China must also be asked to contribute towards loss and damage finance, a new funding mechanism that is proposed to be set up to help poor countries hit by climate disasters.

“China is one of the biggest economies on the planet, with a lot of financial strength. Why should they not be made co-responsible for funding loss and damage? I fail to see that… In 1992, there was a reasoning behind this, which I can follow, but no longer in 2022,” EU’s climate policy head Frans Timmermans said, explaining why China needed to be treated differently now than when the climate negotiations had first begun.

EU’s position deepens the divide on the loss and damage finance, whose resolution is seen as one of the critical markers of success as the climate change conference here.

Timmermans did not mention India by name — he was asked about both India and China – but some small island states have said that India must also be asked to contribute. The US also wants both India and China, and possibly other major economies, to contribute.

When the demand had first come from the small island states, both India and China did not outright reject it, careful not to antagonise those countries who are allies on most other issues. Instead, both countries had maintained that they sympathised with the small island states, and were willing to help, like they were helping through other measures, but that the main responsibility of providing climate finance rested with the developed nations.

G20: XI ACCUSES TRUDEAU OF LEAKS TO MEDIA ABOUT CHINA-CANADA RELATIONS

China's Xi Jinping has been filmed accusing Justin Trudeau of leaking meeting details, days after they held talks at the G20 summit in Bali.

President Xi told the Canadian PM, via a translator, this was inappropriate and accused him of lacking "sincerity".

He was likely referring to reports that Mr Trudeau discussed alleged Chinese espionage and interference in Canadian elections at the sit down.

The talks, which happened behind closed doors, were the pair's first in years.

In the footage, filmed by journalists at the now finished gathering of world leaders, President Xi and Mr Trudeau can be seen standing close to each other and conversing via a translator.

"Everything we discussed has been leaked to the papers and that is not appropriate," the Chinese leader told Mr Trudeau in Mandarin.

It captures a rare candid moment of President Xi, whose image is normally carefully curated by Chinese state media.

After smiling and nodding his head, the Canadian PM responded by saying "in Canada we believe in free and open and frank dialogue and that is what we will continue to have".

"We will continue to look to work constructively together but there will be things we disagree on," he added.

Before Mr Trudeau could finish, President Xi cut his counterpart off and asked that he first "create the conditions" - eventually shaking Trudeau's hand and walking away.

COP27: BRAZIL IS BACK ON THE WORLD STAGE, LULA TELLS CLIMATE SUMMIT

Brazil is back, president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has told rapturous crowds at the UN climate summit COP27 in Egypt.

Walking into a room of supporters singing his name, Lula promised to restore the Amazon rainforest and chase down climate criminals.

Huge numbers gathered to see him speak, making him one of the superstars of this summit.

Nations are meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss tackling climate change.

Just two weeks after his narrow election win, Lula is making his first appearance on the international stage, meeting leaders including from the US, China and the EU at the climate conference.

"We must stop this rush to the abyss. There is no climate security for the world without a protected Amazon," he said, saying climate change would have the highest priority for his government.

"We will do whatever it takes to have zero deforestation and the degradation of our biomes."

PAKISTAN TALIBAN SHOOT DEAD SIX POLICE OFFICERS IN GUN AMBUSH

Six police officers were killed in an ambush in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, officials said, an assault claimed by the nation’s homegrown Taliban. Gunmen with automatic rifles launched an attack around 7 a.m. (0200 GMT) on a police vehicle patrolling the village of Shahab Khel, 100 km from the Afghan border.

WEST DENOUNCES IRAN OVER ‘HOSTAGE-TAKING’ OF CITIZENS

Dubai : France and Britain accused Iran of threatening their nationals on Wednesday after the Islamic Republic said French intelligence agents had been arrested during anti-government protests. Tehran accuses Western adversaries of stoking the nationwide unrest ignited by the death of young Iranian Kurdish.

“People of other nationalities were arrested in the riots, some of whom played a big role,” interior minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Wednesday. “There were elements from the French intelligence agency and they’ll be dealt with according to the law. ” France de-nied statements by Iran’s interior ministry that it had arrested French intelligence officers and demanded the release of its citizens held in Iran.

At the G20 meet in Indonesia, French President Macron said Iran was being increasingly aggressive “with its unacceptable hostage-taking”. Paris says seven French nationals are detained in Iran. Meanwhile, Britain’s domestic spy agency head said Iran’s intelligence services have tried on at least 10 occasions to kidnap or even kill British nationals or individuals based in the UK regarded by Tehran as a threat.

Meanwhile, Iran issued a series of death sentences as women-led protests over Mahsa Amini’s death in custody entered the third month on Wednesday, with clashes overnight leaving at least six people dead. Street violence raged across Iran overnight as protests sparked by the September 16 death of Amini intensified.

NASA’S ARTEMIS ROCKETSHIP ON COURSE FOR MOON AFTER EPIC LAUNCH

Cape Canaveral : Nasa’s huge next-generation rocketship was on course on Wednesday for a crewless voyage around the moon and back hours after blasting off from Florida on its debut flight, half a century after the final lunar mission of the Apollo era. The much-delayed launch kicked off Apollo’s successor programme, Artemis, aimed at returning astronauts to the lunar surface this decade and establishing a sustainable base thereas a stepping stone to future human exploration of Mars.

The 32-story-tall Space Launch System (SLS) rocket lifted off from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center at 1. 47am EST (0647 GMT), piercing the blackness over Cape Canaveral with areddish-orange tail of fire.

About 90 minutes after launch, the rocket’s upper stage successfully thrust the Orion capsule out of Earth orbit and on its trajectory to the moon, Nasa announced. Liftoff cameon the third attempt at launching the multibillion-dollar rocket, after 10 weeks beset by technical mishaps, back-to-back hurricanes and two excursions trundling the spacecraft out of its hangar to the launch pad.

Named for the ancient Greek goddess of the hunt — and Apollo’s twin sister — Artemis aims to return astronauts to the moon’s surface as early as 2025. The Artemis I mission entails a 25-day Orion flight bringing the capsule to within 97km of the lunar surface before flying 64,400km beyond the moon and looping back to Earth. The capsule is expected to splash down at sea on December 11.

KUWAIT PUTS TO DEATH SEVEN IN RARE EXECUTION

Kuwait on Wednesday put to death seven prisoners in a rare mass execution in the small, oil-rich nation despite facing international criticism over its plans.

The state-run KUNA news agency described those executed as all being convicted of premeditated murder and other charges in the sheikhdom. It identified those killed as three Kuwaiti men, one Kuwaiti woman, a Syrian man, a Pakistani man and an Ethiopian woman.

Kuwait said the executions took place at its Central Prison. It did not identify the method it used to carry out the executions, though the sheikhdom typically hangs its condemned prisoners.

However, it can use firing squads as well.

Kuwait hadn’t held an execution since 2017, when it similarly carried out a mass execution of seven prisoners, including a ruling family member.