Authorities say they expect the death toll to rise significantly. Wildfires are still burning and firefighters are working to bring them under control. These pictures are from the Us National Guard which is providing assistance. Hawaiians are donating supplies to be sent to the worst affected areas. But locals on the island of maui say much more help is needed. Hawaiis governor gave this update. It is a harrowing sight in maui. When those providers, the police in this division, do come across scenes in houses or businesses, its very difficult for them because they know ultimately theyll be sharing with our people that there have been more fatalities. I do expect the numbers to rise. Our North America correspondent sophie long, whos on maui, has been hearing from some of the bereaved and survivors who have lost everything. She sent this report. The fire left more than a city devastated, and charred black buildings behind. Existential questions hover above the emptiness. How can you rebu
Macro advisory in moscow. He said the situation for the russian currency is unique. You should not be looking at it in the same way as if there was a slide in a normally functioning economy or a european economy. The rouble is entirely managed now by the central bank in conjunction with the Finance Ministry, and has been since we last saw the rouble collapse down to about 130 in march of last year. So the Central Banks priority last year was to keep the Rouble Exchange rate high at around 60, because it was tackling inflation, but this year, because of the sanctions impact and because that has led to a big hit on the value of russias oil exports in particular, they have devalued the rouble in order to compensate for that fall in dollar terms. In other words, weaker rouble translating dollars into a higher rouble amount to balance the budget. Thats been the priority this year. It doesnt reflect an imminent crisis. Sort of a broad collapse in the economy. Its the result of the central Ba
The International Energy agency has revealed that lng now makes up 35 of europes energy supplies, not far off the 40 contribution that russia made before it was sanctioned over ukraine. Joining me now is ben mcwilliams, whos an Affiliate Fellow at bruegel. Thank you very much for being with us today. What are your concerns about where gas prices could go if these workers do indeed strike . This is certainly a concern, but to be clear up front, nothing comparable to last year. The position we are in is that, as you mentioned, as russian Pipeline Supplies have been cut over the last 12 months, the eu and uk have become more dependent on liquefied national gas. Natural gas. Australia typically supplies asia. If it were cut to asian consumers, we would see asian consumers turning around and looking to qatar and competing with european buyers there, which would in turn have some Knock On Effect on prices. As it had last week, 40 increase from around 30 to 36 euros just nothing like close to