Press TV's News Headlines

Israeli demolitions 

The United Nations says Israel has razed around 9,000 Palestinian structures in the occupied territories since 2009. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the figure includes hundreds of houses which the residents were forced to self-demolish. The latest such incident took place in al-Quds where three Palestinian families were forced to destroy the building they lived in on Saturday. The UN body says the policy has displaced 13,000 Palestinians and negatively affected the lives of 152,000 others. The buildings are demolished with the excuse that they lack construction permits, even though many were built decades ago. Israel also tears down the houses of Palestinians suspected of carrying out attacks, a practice human rights groups say is an unfair act of collective punishment.

Europe energy crisis 

The energy crisis in Europe is snowballing as nations across the continent continue to grapple with rising costs and supply shortages ahead of the cold season. Sweden is planning to offer liquidity guarantees worth billions of dollars to Nordic and Baltic energy companies to help them avert a financial crisis. Sweden's prime minister says the country could be facing what she calls a war winter. Meanwhile, in the Czech Republic's capital, Prague, tens of thousands of people have staged a protest, calling on their government to step in to tame energy prices. The protesters want their country to be neutral militarily and enter into direct contracts with gas suppliers, including Russia. Energy prices are growing in the Czech Republic and other European countries following a drop in gas supplies from Russia.

Germany rising inflation 

Sweden is not the only country trying to cushion the blow from the energy crisis in Europe. Germany too is working on measures of its own. The German government has approved a 65-billion-euro inflation relief package to ease pressure on households, as Russian gas supplies are dwindling, and energy bills soaring. Berlin says timely and proportionate relief is necessary for citizens and businesses, so they can cope with the high energy costs. Germany is bracing for a shortage of supply as well, since Russia shut down the Nord Stream Pipeline a few days ago, citing repairs and technical problems. Germany's network regulator is giving assurances that for now there's a sufficient supply, but says the situation is fluid and could worsen rapidly. 

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