Concerns grow as Kiev, Moscow trade blame over shelling near nuclear plant

The UN Security Council has held an emergency over the situation around Zaporizhzhia plant — Europe's largest nuclear facility — and warned of a "grave" crisis unfolding in Zaporizhzhia.

Backed by Western allies, Ukraine has called for a demilitarised zone around the plant and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces. (AP)

Kiev and Moscow have exchanged blame for fresh shelling around Europe's largest nuclear facility, with the strikes raising fears of a nuclear catastrophe.

The Zaporizhzhia plant in southeastern Ukraine has been occupied by Russian forces since March and has come under fire repeatedly in the past week. It dominates the south bank of a vast reservoir on the Dnipro river.

During his televised address on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of nuclear "blackmail" and using the plant to "intimidate people in an extremely cynical way".

"They arrange constant provocations with shelling of the territory of the nuclear power plant and try to bring their additional forces in this direction to blackmail our state and the entire free world even more," Zelenskyy said.

Backed by Western allies, Ukraine has called for a demilitarised zone around the plant and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces. Kiev accuses Moscow of basing hundreds of soldiers and storing arms there.

In his address, Zelenskyy added that Russian forces were "hiding" behind the plant to stage bombings on the Ukrainian-controlled towns of Nikopol and Marganets.

"Every Russian soldier who either shoots at the plant, or shoots using the plant as cover, must understand that he becomes a special target for our intelligence agents, for our special services, for our army," Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine's nuclear agency Energoatom warned residents in the city of Energodar, where the plant is located, to stay off the streets as much as possible to avoid Russian shelling.

"According to residents, there is new shelling in the direction of the nuclear plant...the time between the start and arrival of the shelling is 3-5 seconds," Energoatom said on Saturday in a message shared on Telegram from a local chief in Energodar city, which remains loyal to Kiev.

READ MORE: Ukraine 'targeting' Russians shooting at, or from nuclear plant

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OwUG_hYrV4[/embed]

Russia-backed officials blame Ukraine

But pro-Moscow officials in the occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia blamed the shelling on Ukrainian forces.

"Energodar and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are again under fire by Zelenskyy's militants," said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Moscow-installed administration.

The missiles fell "in the areas located on the banks of the Dnipro river and in the plant", he said, without reporting any casualties or damage. The river divides the areas occupied by Russia and those under Ukraine's control.

Ukraine said the first strikes on August 5 hit a high-voltage power cable and forced one of the reactors to stop working. Then strikes on Thursday damaged a pumping station and radiation sensors.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak accused Russia of "hitting the part of the nuclear power plant where the energy that powers the south of Ukraine is generated".

"The goal is to disconnect us from the (plant) and blame the Ukrainian army for this," Podolyak wrote on Twitter.

The UN Security Council has held an emergency over the situation and warned of a "grave" crisis unfolding in Zaporizhzhia.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is seeking to inspect the plant, has warned of a nuclear disaster unless fighting stops.

Kiev has said for weeks it is planning a counteroffensive to recapture Zaporizhzhia and neighbouring Kherson provinces, the largest part of the territory Russia seized after its February 24 offensive.

Russian and Ukrainian forces earlier fought for control of Chernobyl, the still-radioactive site of the world's worst nuclear accident, also raising fears of a disaster.

READ MORE: US says Russia set to hold 'sham' referendums in Ukraine regions

Source: TRTWorld and agencies

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Russia Launches Iranian Satellite Amid Ukraine War Concerns

An Iranian satellite launched by Russia blasted off from Kazakhstan early Tuesday and went into orbit amid controversy that Moscow might use it to improve its surveillance of military targets in Ukraine.

A live feed from Russian space agency Roscosmos showed the launch of the Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying the Khayyam satellite from the Russia-controlled Baikonur cosmodrome at the scheduled time of 05:52 GMT.

The Russian mission control confirmed its subsequent entry into orbit. 

Iran, which has maintained ties with Moscow and refrained from criticism of the Ukraine invasion, has sought to deflect suspicions that Moscow could use Khayyam to spy on Ukraine.

Last week, U.S. daily The Washington Post quoted anonymous Western intelligence officials as saying that Russia "plans to use the satellite for several months or longer" to assist its war efforts before allowing Iran to take control.

But the Iranian Space Agency said on Sunday that the Islamic republic would control the Khayyam satellite "from day one."

"No third country is able to access the information" sent by the satellite due to its "encrypted algorithm," it said.

The purpose of Khayyam is to "monitor the country's borders," enhance agricultural productivity and monitor water resources and natural disasters, the space agency said.

In a pre-launch statement on Monday ISA praised "the high reliability factor of the Soyuz launcher."

"Due to Khayyam satellite's weight of more than half a ton and the very high success rate of the Soyuz launcher, the launch of the Khayyam satellite has been entrusted to Russia," the statement on the space agency's website noted. 

As Moscow's international isolation grows under the weight of Western sanctions over Ukraine, the Kremlin is seeking to pivot Russia towards the Middle East, Asia and Africa and find new clients for the country's embattled space program.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran last month -- one of his few trips abroad since the invasion began. 

'Long-term cooperation'

Khayyam, apparently named after the 11th-century Persian polymath Omar Khayyam, will not be the first Iranian satellite that Russia has put into space — in 2005, Iran's Sina-1 satellite was deployed from Russia's Plesetsk cosmodrome.

Iran is currently negotiating with world powers, including Moscow, to salvage a 2015 deal aimed at reining in Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

The United States — which quit the landmark Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA under then-president Donald Trump in 2018 — has accused Iran of effectively supporting Russia's war against Ukraine while adopting a "veil of neutrality."

During his meeting with Putin last month, Iran's Khamenei called for "long-term cooperation" with Russia, and Tehran has refused to join international condemnation of Moscow's invasion of its pro-Western neighbor.

Iran insists its space program is for civilian and defence purposes only, and does not breach the 2015 nuclear deal, or any other international agreement. 

Western governments worry that satellite launch systems incorporate technologies interchangeable with those used in ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, something Iran has always denied wanting to build.

Iran successfully put its first military satellite into orbit in April 2020, drawing a sharp rebuke from the United States.

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Apple Q3 2022 earnings preview: Macroeconomic concerns dominate

Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., speaks during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference at Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California, US, on Monday, June 6, 2022.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Apple reports earnings on Thursday for the quarter ended in June.

The third quarter of Apple's fiscal year is typically the company's smallest by sales. The quarter is in the back half of the iPhone's annual refresh cycle as investors start to look forward to the release of a new model, which boosts sales starting in late September or October.

This year, analysts and investors will be closely watching Apple's earnings in the face of many new macroeconomic trends, including declining consumer confidence, rising interest rates, and decades-high inflation.

So far, Apple's sales have remained strong, partially because its customers are a fairly well-off group/ But any signs that people are putting off Mac and iPhone purchases because of inflation or recession fears could have implications for the whole economy.

Apple also has significant exposure to China, both as a market to sell its products and as the country where most of its products are assembled. Several Apple factories in China had production shifted or suspended at times during the June quarter because of Covid lockdowns.

Analysts polled by FactSet expect Apple to report $82.8 billion in sales, which would be under 2% growth from the same quarter last year and the slowest growth quarter since the start of the pandemic.

Analysts are also expecting $1.16 in earnings per share, which would be a 10.7% decline on an annual basis. Gross margin will also decline from 43.7% last quarter — high for Apple historically — to between 42% and 43%, the company said in April.

Supply issues and China lockdowns

In April, the story for Apple wasn't about demand: it was about supply. "Right now, our main focus, frankly speaking, is on the supply side," Apple CEO Tim Cook told analysts.

Apple warned of a $4 billion to $8 billion revenue hit stemming from supply issues, including chip shortages and production snags. Some analysts say that Apple will signal that it managed the supply chain well and the revenue hit will end up on the low-end of Apple's guide.

"We believe the company has managed its supply chain better than it planned a quarter ago, while it continued to gain share in an otherwise difficult quarter for smartphones and PCs," Deutsche Bank analyst Sidney Ho wrote in a recent note.

That could be good for iPad sales, which have taken a hit in the past few quarters as Apple prioritized parts for iPhones and other products.

"We also anticipate improving iPad sales in part due to improving supply and believe Apple's $4 billion to $8 billion supply headwind commentary for the June quarter was more likely at the lower-end of this range," Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley wrote in a note this month.

Apple has grappled with shutdowns in urban China, including in Shanghai. Covid restrictions could have hurt Apple's iPhone sales in China early in the quarter, but could have charged sales in June as people left lockdown ready to spend.

Analysts polled by FactSet predict that Apple's Greater China sales will be around $13.79 billion, which would be a decline from the $14.56 billion in sales from a year ago.

September quarter demand

Investors will also be listening closely to see if Apple is signaling consumer weakness in any regions around the world.

"We believe outlook/demand commentary will be the key focus as we try to gauge the impact to Apple's earnings in the event of a slowing consumer/macro environment," Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers said in a note.

Smartphone and PC sales have been slowing, but Apple has been less affected because the high-end market, where it sells, has been more resilient. TSMC, Apple's main supplier of processors, warned demand for PCs, smartphones, and consumer electronics is trending weaker.

If Apple signals that demand is slowing, it would be another signal of a potential recession.

Goldman Sachs' Rod Hall believes "high end demand may be beginning to weaken in Europe driven by high inflation and falling consumer confidence."

Apple has not announced a slowdown in hiring or other cost controls, unlike Alphabet, Tesla, Microsoft, and Meta. But Apple is quietly slowing its pace of hiring, according to Bloomberg News, and some analysts believe that company management could talk about its strategy to control expenses.

Apple hasn't provided guidance since the start of the pandemic, citing uncertainty, and some expect this trend to continue.

"While we don't expect Apple to guide F4Q22, the company is likely to provide qualitative commentary as it has done for several quarters," Rakers wrote.

Can Apple remain a safe haven?

Overall, analysts are still confident in Apple as an efficient company with a strong cash balance, loyal customers, and competitive products.

But can Apple remain a safe haven as other tech stocks drop and the markets recede? Apple is down nearly 15% so far in 2022, but that's better than the Nasdaq, which is down 18%.

"Apple remains a best of breed consumer electronics company able to invest through cycles, and with 60%+ of revenue more staples-like in nature, strong brand loyalty, and continued product/services innovation, we believe it is better insulated relative to peers during a downturn," Morgan Stanley's Huberty wrote.

One key for Apple investors in a downturn will be the growth of its services businesses, which makes overall hardware sales growth less crucial. Apple services, which include monthly subscriptions, payment fees, warranties, search licensing fees from Google, and revenue from the iPhone App Store, also offer higher margins than its core hardware business.

Apple's services business is predicted to be up 12% on an annual basis, according to analysts surveyed by FactSet.

That's a slower growth rate than the 17% annualized growth it posted in its second quarter, and a significant decline from the 27% growth Apple posted in its services business in 2021.

JP Morgan's Samik Chatterjee believes that Apple's plan to buy back shares will buoy the stock, even if its earnings underwhelm. Apple's board authorized $90 billion in additional share buybacks and dividends in April.

"We believe the resilience of the earnings estimates in the backdrop of macro deterioration, including both inflation and adverse FX, will continue to drive investors to prefer Apple with strong cash generation and balance sheet that will allow it to offset any earnings dilution on account of the macro through buybacks," Chatterjee wrote in a note.

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