BERLIN — China has overtaken Germany in the use of robots in industry, an annual report published by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) showed on Wednesday, underscoring the challenges facing Europe’s biggest economy from Beijing.

In terms of robot density, an important indicator for international comparisons of the automation of the manufacturing industry, South Korea is the world leader with 1,012 robots per 10,000 employees, up 5% since 2018, said the IFR, which is based in Germany.

Singapore comes next, followed by China with 470 robots per 10,000 workers – more than double the density it had in 2019.

That compares with 429 per 10,000 employees in Germany, which has had an annual growth rate of 5% since 2018, said IFR.

“China has invested heavily in automation technology and ranks third in robot density in 2023 after South Korea and Singapore, ahead of Germany and Japan,” said IFR president Takayuki Ito.

Germany has in the past relied heavily on its industrial base and exports for growth but is facing ever tougher competition from countries like China. It expects economic contraction for the second year running in 2024, making it the worst performer among the Group of Seven rich democracies.
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MOSCOW/IRTYSH VILLAGE, RUSSIA — Russian farmers say they will sow less wheat after heavy losses this year, switching to more profitable crops such as peas, lentils, or sunflowers.

Such decisions will have direct implications for global wheat prices and inflation in major buyers like Egypt, as Russia is the world’s top exporter of the grain.

The trend represents a challenge for President Vladimir Putin’s plan to expand exports and cement Russia’s position as an agriculture superpower, while trying to gain more international clout amid confrontation with the West over its actions in Ukraine.

The country’s wheat harvest will decline to 83 million tons this year due to frosts and drought, down from 92.8 million tons in 2023 and a record 104.2 million tons in 2022. New forecasts point to a clouded outlook for next year as well.

Although Russia has been exporting wheat at a near record pace in the recent months, exports are expected to slow due to a bad harvest and export curbs aimed at containing domestic price growth, including an expected cut in export quota by two-thirds from January 2025.

At a farm in Siberia’s Omsk region, which was hit by heavy rain during the peak of the harvesting season, farmer Maxim Levshunov takes advantage of a rare sunny day to collect what remains in the fields.

He chuckles as he picks up ears of wheat that sprouted early due to the moisture. Now, most of his crops are only suitable for animal feed, meaning the farm will receive a fraction of the price, and income, it had hoped for.

“We’ll probably start moving away from wheat, cutting back as much as possible. So, we’ll be thinking about what more profitable crops we can replace it with right now,” Levshunov told Reuters.

As this year’s harvesting campaign comes to an end, Russian farmers are assessing their losses from the exceptionally bad weather and considering their next steps amid falling profit margins for wheat, Russia’s main agricultural export.

Winter wheat became the first victim as areas sown with it are set to shrink by 10% this year, the lowest since 2019, according to data from Rusagrotrans, Russia’s flagship grain rail carrier.

“There are losses on each ton. The selling price does not cover the cost,” said Arkady Zlochevsky, head of the Russian Grain Union industry lobby, predicting that Russia’s 26% share of the global wheat trade will shrink.

Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut joked that farmers might pray to Saint Ilya, the patron saint of weather in Russia, to improve conditions for winter crops. The joke did not go down well with farmers, who are considering more pragmatic options.

Some say they have already decided to plant less wheat next year. Others are waiting to see how global wheat prices perform in the next few weeks before making a final decision.

“The profitability of grain crops is approaching zero. The company has reduced the volume of winter wheat sowing by 30%. There are two drivers now — soybeans and sunflower,” said Dmitry Garnov, CEO of Rostagro Group, which owns land in the Penza and Saratov regions around the Volga River.

Rising costs of equipment and fuel, high export duties, a rising benchmark interest rate that hit 21% in October as the country’s central bank fights inflation, and the removal of some agricultural subsidies have also eaten into profit margins.

“It is evident that in 2022-2024, the price has been practically the same, while the cost of grain production has increased by at least 28%,” said Sergei Lisovsky, a member of the lower house of Russia’s parliament from the Kurgan region.

Lisovsky argued that the high export duty for grains, introduced in 2021, as well as rising transportation costs for regions with no direct access to seaports, were also factors behind low margins.

“Therefore, as of today, farmers are not planting grain, not because of the autumn drought, but because they are waiting to see what the price will be, and have not yet made a decision,” Lisovsky added, referring to spring wheat sowing.

In Russia’s most fertile Krasnodar region, the profitability of wheat is still holding around 10%, but some large local farms are also pondering a change of strategy as droughts become more severe each year.

“It is gradually getting warmer in the south, and we need to think about changing the structure of the sowing areas for the future,” said Yevgeny Gromyko, executive from Tkachev Agrocomplex, one of Russia’s largest landowners, and a former deputy agriculture minister.

The niche crops have the potential to become new export success stories with Russia’s allies among the BRICS countries, aiding the government in achieving Putin’s goal of increasing agricultural exports by half by 2030.

Russia overtook Canada this year as the top peas exporter to China. Regulators in India, the leading importer of lentils, used to make daal, a staple for millions of people, gave a green light to Russian imports.

Russia takes pride in being the world’s top wheat exporter, with the older generation recalling the food shortages of the Soviet era and the humiliating grain imports from Cold War foes like the United States and Canada.

However, for struggling farmers, it is declining profits, not global status, that matter most.

“Many farms that specialized exclusively in wheat crops have operated at a loss this year and will face very serious financial difficulties, potentially leading to bankruptcy,” Levshunov said.
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Rovaniemi, Finland — Thousands of NATO soldiers are taking part in large-scale artillery exercises in Finland’s Arctic this month, seen by some as a signal to neighboring Russia over its war on Ukraine.

Sounds of cannon fire and rocket artillery echo across the snowy, hilly Lapland landscape as some 3,600 soldiers from the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom, France and other NATO members conduct live fire drills throughout November.

They are part of NATO’s largest artillery exercise ever held in Europe, dubbed Dynamic Front 25, which also includes drills in Estonia, Germany, Romania and Poland involving a total of around 5,000 soldiers.

Joel Linnainmaki, a researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, said the massive exercises should be interpreted as a message to Russia, with which Finland shares a 1,340-kilometre border. 

“These NATO exercises are increasingly intended to show other countries, in this case especially Russia of course, that the alliance is united and is capable of defending its members,” he said.

The exercises are the first large-scale maneuvers held in Finland since the Nordic country joined NATO last year, when it dropped decades of military non-alignment following Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The move angered Moscow, which has long opposed any expansion of NATO.

Colonel Janne Makitalo, director of the Dynamic Front 25 exercise in Finland, said the main goal was to train and develop inter-operability within the alliance’s artillery units, and prepare troops for harsh Arctic conditions, now that Norway, Sweden and Finland are all NATO members.

“Of course this sends a message that we are able to train together and we are developing our assets,” he told reporters.

“Artillery is basically the king and queen of the battlefield, as we have seen from experience of combat in Ukraine,” Makitalo said.

He dismissed the notion that NATO could provoke Moscow by flexing its military might in Russia’s backyard.

“It is not any sort of show of force,” he insisted.

That said, Finland joining NATO brought “280,000 soldiers to NATO’s northern flank,” he said.

In the hilly Rovajarvi area, troops are camped and stationed at gun positions covered in thin layers of snow and ice.

The sun rises at around 9:30 am this time of year above the Arctic Circle and sets less than six hours later, before 3:00 pm.

Measuring more than 1,000 square kilometers, it is Europe’s largest firing range and training area, and allies come to rehearse in its difficult conditions. 

“This is a unique place to train, because this is one of the few places where you can train things at their actual scale,” said lieutenant Antti-Matti Puisto, a firing platoon leader for the Finnish Karelia brigade.

In a region where temperatures typically drop to below minus 20 degrees Celsius during winter months, the Finnish defense forces are known for being well-trained and equipped for harsh winter conditions.

Puisto underlined the importance of staying warm by wearing many layers of clothes, and of keeping encampments dry and free of humidity.

“The aim is to practice our skills as artillerymen and mountaineers, working in a very cold environment,” said Captain Romain, the French unit commander of the Ecrins battery of the 93rd mountain artillery regiment, told AFP.

“Also to work on interoperability with our allies, to carry out artillery fire in coherence with our NATO allies,” he told AFP, choosing only to give his first name.

“We are making history and it’s really nice to see different nations in Finland,” conscript and sergeant Olli Myllymaki said after his brigade conducted fire drills with K9 tanks in a snowy forest.
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The United States will soon provide antipersonnel mines to Ukraine, a U.S. official confirmed late Tuesday, in a move that followed Ukraine’s first deployment of long-range U.S.-supplied ballistic missiles in an attack on Russia.

The official said the United States sought commitments from Ukraine on how it will use the mines, with the expectation they will be deployed only on Ukrainian territory in areas where Ukrainian civilians are not living.

The official also pointed to the function of the mines, which they said require a battery for operation and will not detonate once the battery runs out after a period of a few hours to a few weeks.

Ukrainian forces hit ammunition warehouses in Russia’s Bryansk region before dawn Tuesday using the long-range missiles that Ukrainian officials long sought to hit areas Russia has used to deploy daily waves of rocket and drone attacks against Ukrainian cities.

The two sides disputed the effectiveness of the attack, which came two days after it was reported that President Joe Biden had reversed U.S. policy and approved use of the longer-range missiles as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reached the 1,000-day mark.

Two U.S. officials confirmed to VOA on Tuesday that the policy prohibiting Ukrainians’ use of U.S.-provided, long-range weapons to hit military targets deep inside Russia “has changed.”

The Russian defense ministry said in a statement, “Ukraine’s armed forces last night struck a facility in the Bryansk region” with six U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile System rockets, or ATACMS, but that its forces shot down five of them and damaged the sixth. It said falling fragments from the exploding rockets caused a fire at the military facility, but there were no casualties.

Ukraine’s military general staff said in a post on Facebook that its forces had “caused fire damage” to “warehouses with ammunition for the army of the Russian occupiers” in Bryansk, about 100 kilometers from Ukraine’s border.

The attack caused “12 secondary explosions and detonations in the area of the target,” the statement said, while not specifying that ATACMS had been used. But a Ukrainian official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations, confirmed the use of the American weapons system.

The initial target using the long-range missile system was far short of the 300-kilometer range of the missile system. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had long sought U.S. approval of its use to launch attacks on military sites deep inside Russia. Until Sunday, though, Biden had resisted for fear of escalating tensions in the nearly three-year conflict between Moscow and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance, four of whose member countries border Russia.

Biden reportedly reversed his position after North Korea sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to fight alongside Moscow’s forces in Russia’s Kursk region that Ukraine captured in August and still holds.

Biden leaves office in two months, and it is not clear what stance President-elect Donald Trump might adopt. Trump has been a skeptic of continued U.S. military support for Ukraine, claiming he would end the war before he even takes office; however, Trump has not offered any public plan on how he would do so.

With Ukraine now having the ability to fire the long-range missiles into Russia, President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a revised nuclear doctrine stating that a conventional attack on Russia by any nation supported by a nuclear power is considered a joint attack and could trigger a nuclear response.

When Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked if the revised doctrine was issued in response to the U.S. missile authorization, he said it was put forth “in a timely manner” and that Putin wanted it updated to be “in line with the current situation.”

In response, a White House National Security Council spokesperson said the United States was not surprised by Russia’s announcement that it is updating its nuclear doctrine since it had been signaling its intent to do so for several weeks. The spokesperson said the U.S. sees no need to change its posture.

“This is more of the same irresponsible rhetoric from Russia, which we have seen for the past two years,” the spokesperson said.

The Russian doctrine states nuclear weapons could be used in the case of a massive air attack involving ballistic and cruise missiles, aircraft, drones and other flying vehicles.

It says an attack against Russia by a nonnuclear power with the “participation or support of a nuclear power” will be seen as their “joint attack on the Russian Federation,” a definition that would fit the Ukraine-U.S. alliance.

It doesn’t specify whether such an attack would definitely be met with a nuclear response.

Peskov said the aim of the updated policy was to make potential enemies understand the inevitability of retaliation for an attack on Russia or its allies.

It also states that Russia could use nuclear weapons if another country attacks Belarus, a Moscow ally.

Tear gas detected near front line

Also on Tuesday, Ukraine urged action after the international chemical weapons watchdog said banned CS riot control gas, also known as tear gas, had been found in Ukrainian soil samples from the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Russia has not reacted to the report by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which did not assign blame for the chemical.

The Chemical Weapons Convention strictly bans the use of riot control agents including CS outside riot control situations when it is used as “a method of warfare,” Agence France-Presse reported.

CS gas causes irritation to the lungs, skin and eyes.

Both sides have accused each other of using chemical weapons in the conflict, and Ukraine’s Western allies have claimed Moscow has employed banned weapons.

“Russia’s use of banned chemicals on the battlefield once again demonstrates Russia’s chronic disregard for international law,” a statement from Ukraine’s foreign ministry said.

The OPCW stressed however, that the report did “not seek to identify the source or origin of the toxic chemical.”

Carla Babb, Jeff Seldin and Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report.
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rio de janeiro — Leaders of the world’s largest economies ended their two-day G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro with a statement supporting the priorities of the Global South: climate change, poverty reduction and taxing billionaires.

The Global South is generally considered to be developing countries, as well as Russia and China.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, host of the G20 summit, focused the talks around three key pillars: social inclusion and tackling hunger and poverty; energy, transitions and climate action, and reforming global governance.

Globalization has failed, Lula said.

“In the midst of growing turbulence, the international community seems resigned to sailing aimlessly through hegemonic disputes,” he said. “We remain adrift as if swept along by a torrent pushing us towards tragedy.”

In their joint statement, the group underscored the need to slow global warming and reduce poverty. They agreed to work together to “ensure that ultra-high-net-worth individuals are effectively taxed.”

The communique states that progressive taxation “is one of the key tools to reduce domestic inequalities … promote strong, sustainable balanced and inclusive growth and facilitate the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs].”

Call for expansion

The G20 again called to expand the United Nations Security Council beyond its five current permanent members.

The outcomes are a reasonable reflection of Biden administration priorities, said Matthew Goodman, director of the Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“But it isn’t clear how much of this will carry forward into a second Trump administration,” he said.

President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated in January. A senior Biden administration official said they’re working to ensure the durability of U.S. commitments with a “multiprong, multitier approach,” including through civil society, so “there is some real staying power.”

At the summit, President Joe Biden continued his “legacy of leadership,” the White House said, including rallying leaders “to invest in their futures, accelerate the global clean energy transition, tackle global health threats, and champion an inclusive digital transformation” while building on the U.S.’s “longstanding leadership on food security.”

Global conflicts

The group called for a cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon but did not mention Israel’s right to defend itself, a line that Biden pushes for in various global forums.

“I ask everyone here to increase the pressure on Hamas, which is currently refusing this deal,” Biden said.

As in last year’s summit, G20 leaders highlighted the human suffering and economic impact of the war in Ukraine, without any condemnation of Russia. The war is escalating as Ukraine begins using long-range weapons provided by the U.S. and Britain to strike inside Russian territory.

Kyiv accuses the G20 of failing to act.

“Today, G20 countries are sitting in Brazil. Did they say something? Nothing strong,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday. “G20 countries don’t have any strong strategy? So, our strategy is to be strong.”

There is “less international consensus now on Russia’s culpability than there was before,” said Kristine Berzina, managing director of GMF Geostrategy North.

“Countries skeptical of a rules-based or rights-based order are flexing their muscles at the G20, much as they brazenly sidled up to Russia at the BRICS summit in Kazan weeks ago,” she said.

Support for Ukraine is on the minds of leaders ahead of the incoming U.S. administration under Trump, who has criticized sending aid to help Kyiv.

Biden and Lula met on the summit’s sidelines, underscoring the urgent need to address the climate crisis, another area of uncertainty among leaders here.

Trump has repeatedly called climate change a hoax and withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accords in 2017 during his first term.

Brazil ended the summit by passing the baton to South Africa, the next G20 president.
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In Ukraine, wounded veterans who need long rehabilitation are mostly cared for by relatives. They face the difficult job with little help from the state. Lesia Bakalets has more from Kyiv. Camera: Vladyslav Smilianets
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China has asked Germany to support efforts to resolve a dispute between the European Union and Beijing over electric vehicle tariffs. Last month, the EU decided to raise tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China to as much as 45.3%.

Beijing has been negotiating with the EU to repeal the tariffs and sees Germany – the bloc’s biggest economy and Beijing’s largest trading partner in Europe – potentially playing a key role.

In a meeting Tuesday on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, China’s President Xi Jinping told Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz that, in return Beijing would “continue to provide broad market opportunities for German companies,” according to readout of the meeting from state news agency Xinhua.

“China regards Germany as an important partner in advancing Chinese modernization,” Xi said. “It is hoped that Europe and China will resolve the issue of electric vehicles through dialogue and negotiation as soon as possible, and the German side is willing to make active efforts in this regard.”

Xi also urged Beijing and Berlin to strengthen their “long-term” strategic partnership.

“China and Germany are both major countries with significant influence,” Xi told Scholz, according to Xinhua. He also said: “The two countries need to view and develop bilateral relations from a long-term and strategic perspective.”

A German government spokesman said the meeting between Scholz and Xi lasted 30 minutes and that the chancellor also discussed the war in Ukraine and the Middle East.

“In particular, he warned of (the dangers of) escalation due to the deployment of North Korean troops, the statement said, a reference to the deployment of what the U.S. estimates is at least 11,000 North Korean troops to fight for Russia against Ukraine.

The meeting between Germany’s chancellor and China’s president was their first since April in Beijing, where Scholz urged Xi to leverage his influence over Russia to help end the war in Ukraine.

Some material in this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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TEHRAN, IRAN — Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday slammed as unjustified the new sanctions by the European Union and United Kingdom against Tehran over its support for Russia’s war on Ukraine.

“While the president of Ukraine has admitted that no Iranian ballistic missiles have been exported to Russia, the measures of the European Union and United Kingdom in applying sanctions against Iran cannot be justified,” ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said in a statement.

Later Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassador of Hungary, which holds the rotating EU presidency, to protest the new sanctions.

The European Union on Monday widened sanctions against Iran over its alleged support for Russia’s war on Ukraine, including targeting the national seafaring company, vessels and ports used to transfer drones and missiles.

Acting in parallel, the U.K. also announced fresh sanctions against Iran on Monday, freezing the assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line.

The sanctions also included the national airline, Iran Air, for transporting ballistic missiles and military supplies to Russia for use in Ukraine.

Iran has repeatedly rejected Western accusations that it has transferred missiles or drones to Moscow for use against Kiev.

Ahead of the sanctions announcement, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday the EU was using the “nonexistent missile pretext” to target its shipping lines.

“There is no legal, logical or moral basis for such behavior. If anything, it will only compel what it ostensibly seeks to prevent,” Araghchi wrote on X.

“Freedom of navigation is a basic principle of the law of the sea. When selectively applied by some, such shortsightedness usually tends to boomerang,” Araghchi wrote.

Iran’s economy is reeling from biting U.S. sanctions following the unilateral withdrawal of Washington in 2018 from a landmark nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

Baghaei said the new sanctions against Iran, which “affect the interests and fundamental rights of Iranians, are clear examples of systematic violations of human rights.”

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will use all of the capacities of cooperation with its partners to ensure its interests and national security,” he said.
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As the war in Ukraine entered its 1,000th day Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a revised nuclear doctrine stating that a conventional attack on Russia by any nation supported by a nuclear power is considered a joint attack and could trigger a nuclear response.

The proclamation came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to use long-range weapons from the U.S. to attack military targets in Russia.

When Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked if the revised doctrine was issued in response to the U.S. authorization, he said it was put forth “in a timely manner” and that Putin wanted it updated to be “in line with the current situation,” the Associated Press reported.

The doctrine states nuclear weapons could be used in case of a massive air attack involving ballistic and cruise missiles, aircraft, drones and other flying vehicles.

It says an attack against Russia by a nonnuclear power with the “participation or support of a nuclear power” will be seen as their “joint attack on the Russian Federation.”

It doesn’t specify whether such an attack would definitely be met with a nuclear response.

Peskov the aim of the updated policy was to make potential enemies understand the inevitability of retaliation for an attack on Russia or its allies.

It also states that Russia could use nuclear weapons if another country attacks ally Belarus.

1,000 days of fighting

Both Russia and Ukraine issued statements about the 1,000th day of the war, both vowing that they would continue fighting against each other.

The Kremlin said Western support for Kyiv would have no impact on the military campaign.

“The military operation against Kyiv continues,” Peskov said, adding that Western aid “cannot affect the outcome of our operation. It continues, and will be completed.”

Ukraine, meanwhile, said it would continue to resist the Russian invasion.

“Ukraine will never submit to the occupiers, and the Russian military will be punished for violating international law,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Attack on Russian weapons depot

There was no word if long-range U.S. weapons were used in Ukraine’s strike against a large weapons depot near the Russian town of Karachev in the Bryansk region more than 110 miles from the border with Ukraine.

Reuters reported that Ukraine often uses domestically produced drones to hit targets deep inside Russia, and in an announcement on Tuesday, the military did not specify which weapons had been used for the strike.

“The destruction of ammunition depots will continue for the army of the Russian occupiers in order to stop the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine,” the Ukrainian military said on the Telegram messaging app.

An overnight Russian drone attack in the northeastern Sumy region killed eight people, including one child, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.

The attack on a residential building in the border town of Hlukhiv also wounded 12 people, including two children, Ukraine’s national police force said on Telegram.

Two high-rise buildings and a hospital were damaged, and more people could be in the rubble.

Ukraine’s air force said on Tuesday it shot down 51 out of 87 drones launched by Russia overnight.

Tear gas detected near front line

Also on Tuesday, Ukraine urged action after the international chemical weapons watchdog said banned CS riot control gas, also known as tear gas, had been found in Ukrainian soil samples from the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Russia has not reacted to the report by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which did not assign blame for the chemical.

The Chemical Weapons Convention strictly bans the use of riot control agents including CS outside riot control situations when it is used as “a method of warfare,” Agence France-Presse reported.

CS gas causes irritation to the lungs, skin and eyes.

Both sides have accused each other of using chemical weapons in the conflict, and Ukraine’s Western allies have claimed Moscow has employed banned weapons.

“Russia’s use of banned chemicals on the battlefield once again demonstrates Russia’s chronic disregard for international law,” a statement from Ukraine’s foreign ministry said.

OPCW stressed however that the report did “not seek to identify the source or origin of the toxic chemical.”

Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. 
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VILNIUS, Lithuania — Lithuania’s Navy said on Tuesday it had increased monitoring of its waters after an undersea communications cable connecting the country with Sweden had been damaged.

An assessment is now being carried out along with allies, a spokesperson for the Lithuanian armed forces told Reuters.

The cable was one of two fiber-optic cables in the Baltic Sea which were severed in recent days, raising suspicions of sabotage by bad actors, countries and companies involved said on Monday.

A spokesperson for Arelion, the owner and operator of the communications cable, told Reuters on Tuesday that the link between Lithuania and Sweden was “fully out” but that the reason remained unclear.
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