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Russian energy giant Gazprom on Monday cut its gas supplies to Italy by a third, Italian fuels giant Eni said.

The cut came on the same day Gazprom shut down the Nord Stream1 gas pipeline to Europe for 10 days, officially for maintenance, Italian ANSA news reported.

Germany and France, as well as the EU, voices fears of a total stop to Russian gas supplies amid the Ukraine war.

Gazprom cut its flow of gas into Italy to 21 million cubic meters, a third down on the average of the last few days.

Gas prices fell markedly in Europe thanks to Canadas decision to allow the delivery of a turbine that should enable supplies to Germany to return.

In Amsterdam gas quotations lost as much as 12%, only to rise to a 7% loss, at 163 euros per MegaWattHour.

Italy has been pressing for Europe to introduce a gas price cap and Premier Mario Draghi extracted a pledge from the June 23-4 EU summit to draft a report on the issue to be examined by the end of September, according to ANSA.

Oil and gas infrastructure operator Snam said Monday that gas stocks were now up to 6.1 billion cubic metres or 64% of their target.

Ecological Transition Minister Roberto Cingolani said Monday that the government was discussing a campaign to save gas and water, to be launched shortly.

We are discussing with other ministries about a rapid information project on two major sectors: water and energy.

Among other things, they are closely connected. We are thinking of constructing a series of messages to give suggestions for behaviour and sobriety in the use of resources.

It will be fundamental to launch these messages shortly, seeing that the period in which consumption grows will start after the summer.

The Italian government has been working hard to end the nations reliance on Russian gas since Moscows invasion of Ukraine, reaching and preparing a series of agreements to boost supplies from elsewhere.

The proportion of Italys gas supplied by Moscow has already fallen from 40% at the start of the conflict to around 25% now, sources said recently.

Algerias share has risen to over 30%.

The Italian government has moved rapidly to diversify suppliers by scrambling to set up alternatives with countries like Algeria, Angola, Congo, Libya, Egypt, Israel and Mozambique, Premier Mario Draghi said recently.

Eni recently joined the worlds largest Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in Qatar.

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Gazprom cuts Italy's gas supplies by a third - Libya Update

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In line with the Biden-Harris Administrations commitment to robust re-engagement and leadership in multilateral institutions, the United States marked its second session back on the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) by actively advancing respect for and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms during the bodys 50th regular session.

The United States supported the Councils role of shining a spotlight on countries of concern, promoting accountability for governments and actors that abuse human rights, and addressing human rights issues across the globe.

Defending the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons:The United States strongly supported the mandate renewal of the UN Independent Expert (IE) on protection against violence and discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI). As a co-sponsor of the resolution, the United States successfully worked with partners to galvanize support to renew the mandate for the next three years and to secure inclusion of new language on intersectionality; decriminalization of consensual adult, same-sex conduct; and the importance of non-discrimination. The United States welcomes the SOGI IEs official visit to the United States in August.

Supporting the Rights of Women and Girls: Across several resolutions, joint statements, interactive dialogues, and side events, the United States strongly advocated for greater respect for the human rights and health of women and girls in all their diversity. The United States co-sponsored resolutions focused on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and Girls and the mandate renewal of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and its consequences. The Biden-Harris Administration remains resolutely committed to advancing and protecting sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) at home and abroadSRHR are essential to health, gender equality and equity, and sustainable development and are a central U.S. foreign policy priority.

Highlighting Human Rights Concerns in Afghanistan with an Urgent Debate: The United States, with the international community, supported an Urgent Debate and a resolution focused on the human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. We are alarmed by human rights abuses in Afghanistan, often attributed to the Taliban, and are disturbed by the extensive restrictions on the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms by Afghan women and girls. The resolution will enable Afghan civil society to address the HRC directly during its September session.

Opposing the Open-Ended Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Israel:The United States led a joint statementon behalf of 22 countries (representing all UN regional groups) expressing deep concern about the unprecedented and open-ended COI on the situation in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza.

Condemning the Human Rights Situation in the Peoples Republic of China (PRC):The United States was proud to be one of the record-breaking 47 countries to publicly condemn Beijings domestic human rights recordvia a Netherlands-led joint statement that expressed deep concernover human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong.

Addressing the Deteriorating Human Rights Situation in Russia:The United Stateswas one of 47 signatories to a strong European Union (EU)-led joint statement addressing the deteriorating human rights situation inside Russia. This statement highlighted serious concerns about the arrest of peaceful protestors, political prisoners including Alexei Navalny, the closure of civil society and media outlets, the particularly concerning situation in the Chechen Republic up to and including extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances, and discriminatory laws, policies, and practices against LGBTI persons and members of religious minority groups.

Upholding Freedoms of Peaceful Assembly and of Association (FOAA):The United States was a member of the Core Group that drafted the resolution renewing the mandate for the Special Rapporteur on FOAA. As a co-sponsor, the United States successfully lobbied for the resolution to include language encouraging States to support diverse civil society participation in UN fora, stressing the importance of ensuring internet access extends to everyone, and calling upon States to establish and maintain a safe environment in which civil society can operate freely.

Promoting and Protecting Peaceful Protest:The United States co-sponsored the resolution on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests. This resolution urges States to facilitate peaceful protests by providing protesters with access to public space within sight and sound of their intended target audience and to promote a safe and enabling environment for individuals to exercise their rights to freedoms of peaceful assembly, expression, and association, both online and offline.

Exposing Violations and Abuses in Belarus:The United States co-sponsored the EU-led resolution to extend the mandate for the Special Rapporteur on Belarus so they can continue to expose the Lukashenka regimes systemic and systematic human rights violations and abuses, including restrictions on the media and freedom of expression and interference with the work of journalists and civil society.

Addressing Ongoing Violations and Abuses in Syria:As part of the Core Group, the United States supported a resolutionaddressing a range of ongoing human rights violations and abuses in Syria, particularly against women and girls and including the issues of arbitrarily detained and missing persons.

Renewing the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya:The United States worked closely with Libya to renew the mandate for the Independent Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Libya. The FFM will release its final report in March 2023.

Calling for Cooperation on the Situation in Eritrea:The United States co-sponsored the EU-led resolution that successfully extended the mandate for the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea. The resolution calls for the government to fully cooperate with the Special Rapporteur.

Ensuring Continued Reporting on Sudan:As part of the Core Group, the United States helped draft and co-sponsored the resolution on the situation in Sudan, ensuring continued support for the Independent Expert (IE) on Sudan and ensuring the IEs mandate remains, along with reporting requirements on the human rights situation, until the restoration of Sudans civilian-led government.

Co-sponsored Resolutions: The United States co-sponsored more than half of the resolutions adopted this session, including the resolutionson SOGI, FOAA, Freedom of Expression and Opinion, Peaceful Protest, Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and Girls, Violence Against Women and Girls, Internally Displaced Persons, the Independence and Impartiality of the Judiciary with a focus on womens participation, the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, as well as the human rights situations in Belarus, Eritrea, Libya, Sudan, and Syria.

Joint Statements: Besides leading the joint statement on the COI on the situation in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza and signing onto the joint statements on the PRC and Russia, the United States also joined the joint statements on Sri Lanka and Ukraine (with a specific focus on Mariupol). The United States also supported thematic joint statements focused on SOGI, food security, special procedures, migrants, responsibility to protect, women and girls in the context of atrocities, the importance of ensuring stronger language on gender equality across HRC activity, water, and extreme poverty.

Across resolutions, joint statements, and interactive dialogues, the United States advanced language to promote equity and inclusion, including regarding women and girls in all their diversity, internally displaced persons, LGBTQI+ persons, persons with disabilities, indigenous persons, members of ethnic and religious minority groups, and members of other marginalized and vulnerable groups.

Additionally, the United States participated in multiple interactive dialogues related to the human rights situation in Ukraine. We were also pleased to participate in the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on racism, highlighting the Administrations commitment to racial justice.

Side Events:

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Outcomes of the 50th Session of the UN Human Rights Council - United States Department of State - Department of State

Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi has announced a political initiative with two proposals to get the country out of its crisis, as he put it.

The first proposal provides that a neutral party sets urgent legal and executive arrangements for non-exclusive parliamentary and presidential elections in which everyone participates, without exclusion, and leaves the decision to the Libyan people to choose.

In his second proposal, Gaddafi calls on controversial candidates to withdraw from the presidential elections collectively without exception, saying that this would be "a last attempt to save the country and find a peaceful solution to its crisis."

"All those in the positions are holding on to power, for the.. benefits they obtained as a result of their presence in the sovereign positions.. this has become clear to the Libyans and the international community." He added.

He said the situation in Libya is getting worse every day, and the door is open to all possibilities as everyone "refuses to make concessions," warning that the country will be facing major and grave events.

The son and one-time heir apparent of the late dictator Muammar Gadafi was disqualified from running for the presidential elections in December last year, on the backdrop of his previous convictions.

Saif Al-Islam had been sentenced to death by a Tripoli court in 2015 for using violence against protesters in the 2011 uprising against his father. He is also wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity.

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Saif al-Islam says has initiative to solve the political crisis - The Libya Observer

NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday, June 19, that the war in Ukraine could last for years, but that the West must not let up in supporting Ukraine, even if the costs are high, not only for military support but also because of rising energy and food prices.

Yet polling indicates that support for Ukraine aid among Americans is slowly slipping as the conflict turns into a grinding battle of attrition that increasingly appears to favor the invading Russian forces. The Pew Research Center has found that a plurality of Americans no longer believe that the United States is not providing enough assistance to Ukraine, with the share who think that Washington is providing too much assistance rising from 7 percent to 12 percent between March and May.

The downturn in support has been particularly stark among Republicans. According to a Morning Consult poll taken in May, the share of GOP voters who say Washington is doing too much to halt Russias invasion of Ukraine has more than doubled from 13 percent to 27 percent between early March and mid-May, while the share of those who think the United States is not doing enough has dropped from 36 percent to 25 percent. These attitudes closely coincide with the mounting belief among Americans, according to YouGov/Economist polling from mid-March to mid-June, that Ukraine is losing. The share of Americans who think Russia will be the eventual winner of the conflict has reached its highest point since March at 29 percent.

The number of Americans who are explicitly against further aid to Ukraine, though still relatively small, has steadily risen in past months. This shift has been accompanied by a growing minority of Republican lawmakers and GOP candidates who have expressed skepticism over continued U.S. involvement in the Ukraine conflict. The result has been something of an avalanche effect: with each subsequent bill in support of Ukraine, a few more Republicans joined the side of the skeptics. This creeping dissent came to a head with the passage of President Joe Bidens May request for $40 billion in weapons and economic aid to Ukraine, which drew opposition from as many as fifty-seven House Republicans.

In what could be remembered as a watershed moment for contemporary American foreign policy discourse, the conservative Heritage Foundationlong a proponent of what Frederick Jackson Turner famously described as a vigorous foreign policysurprised its allies and opponents alike by taking a stance against the bloated bill, arguing that it suffered from a lack of strategic clarity and meaningful oversight.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), supported by ten of his Republican colleagues, blocked the bill from being fast-tracked. Kyiv would become the largest yearly recipient of U.S. military aid over the past two decades, Paul said. It is more than any other country spends on their entire military expenditures ... our total aid to Ukraine will almost equal the entire military budget of Russia. Paul sought to modify the $40 billion aid package with the appointment of an inspector general to oversee how the money is being spent. Paul was overruled by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who worked with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to get the mammoth aid bill over the finish line without any amendments.

But what exactly is motivating the opposition to Ukraine aid among some Republicans and GOP candidates?

A growing chorus of voices on the Right are driving opposition to giving Ukraine the assistance it needs. You even see these sentiments emanating from the Heritage Foundation, which is shocking, said Melinda Haring, deputy director of the Atlantic Councils Eurasia Center. Theres long been an isolationist wing within the GOP that wants to focus on U.S. priorities, pointing to the disasters in Afghanistan and Iraq as evidence of the stupidity of nation building. They arent wrong about Afghanistan and Iraq, but supporting Ukraine from Russias unprovoked attack is hardly nation building, Haring added.

These Congressional Republicans, whose growing ranks include Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), have been criticized as isolationists and anti-Ukraine by their detractors within and without the GOP. Honestly there is an isolationist wing within the party thats traditionally been there, Rep. Michael McCaul told the Washington Post.

Still, others have questioned the use of these labels. It is absolutely unfair to characterize lawmakers who oppose sending more U.S. taxpayer dollars to Ukraine or want to see greater oversight of our aid to that country as anti-Ukraine, said Will Ruger, former President Donald Trumps nominee for ambassador to Afghanistan and vice president for research and policy at the Charles Koch Institute. These legislators just happen to be pro-American and have a different view than others about how best to support U.S. national interests in this case and how they read the cost-benefit analysis of such efforts. The charge of isolationism is now and has always been just a pejorative slur used against those who have perfectly legitimate reasons for opposing any particular U.S. intervention or activism. It is simply trying to police who is a legitimate voice and using the slur to marginalize voices of realism and restraint.

Conservative Ukraine detractors are informed by a wide range of foreign and domestic concerns that are difficult to distill into a unitary set of ideas. Author and politician J.D. Vance, fresh off his win in the Ohio Senate primary election, has become one of the loudest conservative voices of Ukraine skepticism. Using American power to do the dirty work of Europe is a pretty bad idea, said Vance at a Washington conference in April. We dont have that many non-insane people in Washington. I need you to be some of them. Vances message is resonating with a part of the GOP base that sees Washington policymakers as overly preoccupied with a far-away foreign conflict at a time when they should be focusing their undivided attention on the multiple crises gripping American life. Some Republicans understand that the politics have changed post-Trump, said a foreign policy expert familiar with the thinking of Congressional Republicans. The Republican base was always realist, but the edifice is still somewhat interventionist. The old pre-WWI roots of American republicanism and anti-interventionism are coming back, and might argue, for good, especially after the disastrous last thirty years.

Haring said she supports Pauls proposal for an inspector general to oversee Ukraine aid spending, citing a growing concern among watchdogs that the funds making their way to Kyiv could be misappropriated by local authorities. But there is an attitude among some conservatives in Washington DC that the inspector general proposal and other initiatives to draw soft boundaries around Ukraine spending do not sufficiently address the underlying long-term problems in U.S. foreign policy. That would just add an additional tier of bureaucracy, the foreign policy expert said, adding that the establishment of sub-departments and specialized commissions within the State Department and Pentagon has only served to push U.S. foreign policy in a more interventionist direction over time.

The Ukraine conflict has become a rallying point for a growing wing of the conservative movement espousing a commitment to realism and restraint, broadly defined as the position that Washington should abandon ideas of liberal universalism in favor of a foreign policy grounded in realist thought. Realism and restraint is a much stronger force now than the last time we saw green shoots of Republican opposition to primacy in the 90s that didnt last after 9/11. There is a larger body of ideas circulating within this paradigm and the approach is more institutionalized, even on the Right, said Ruger.

For these GOP lawmakers and candidates, the implications of realism and restraint extend beyond the immediate conflict unfolding in Ukraine. I think this opposition isnt just about these legislators putting on their green eyeshades or worrying about escalation with a nuclear Russia, said Ruger. It is also about a growing block of Republican politicians who are explicitly questioning establishment bromides and rethinking U.S. foreign policy more broadly with greater realism in mind. So, in one sense it is about the particular case of Ukraine, how we got here, and how engaging stacks up relative to our interests. But in another sense, it is about something broader and how the particular fits into it.

The realism and restraint faction within the GOP is best conceived not as a concrete party platform, but as a loose coalition organized around shared attitudes about Americas place in a changing world order. While this group doesnt agree on everything, especially how to deal with the relative rise of China, they have different assumptions and views about the nature of the world that is emerging and Americas proper role within it than many of their, often older, colleagues, said Ruger. So, they dont reflexively think of our allies as sacred the way Joe Biden does and even many other Republican voices do. They dont think as idealistically and in as Manichean a fashion as we see with many Democrats and saw with many Bush-era Republicans. They dont see threats the same way.

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How Ukraine Triggered a War Inside America - The National Interest Online

Fort Campbell barracks dating back to the Vietnam era are set tobe reconditioned using a portion of $73 millionin defense funds included as part of a government bill.

The project is one of several secured in this years congressional funding bill aimed at helping to improve quality of life for soldiers stationed at Fort Campbell.

The barracks set for renovation house the 1st Brigade Combat Team andare the last of the VOLAR style barracks on the installation, according to a news release from Fort Campbell Strong Defense Alliance.

VOLAR barracks are Volunteer Army barracks that were originally built in the mid-1970s.

"This is exciting news, and we are thrilled to know that this additional funding will allow for the acceleration of renovations of these barracks, Kelli Pendleton,president and CEO of the Campbell Strong Defense Alliance, said in a release.

Weare grateful to our lawmakers from both Tennessee andKentucky who understand the critical role that Fort Campbell plays in global defense and who work hard to ensure that our soldiers have the resources they need to be successful.

Funding for these upgrades was a priority this year for the Campbell Strong Defense Alliance.

Deployment: Russian immigrant among hundreds of Fort Campbell soldiers deployed to Europe

Pendleton said in the release legislatures serve in important roles on committees.

When it comes to Fort Campbell, the state line can often prove to be beneficial, she explained.

Senators representing Kentucky are Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul. Senators representing Tennessee are Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty. Fort Campbell is also included in the House Districts for Representative Mark Green, TN-7th District, andRepresentative James Comer, KY- 1st District.

Campbell Strong Defense Alliance is a regional nonprofit of local business, community and retired military leaders with a shared vision to support Fort Campbell and strengthen regional economy. The goal is to serve the military population of Kentucky and Tennessee.

Reachreporter Craig Shoup by email at cshoup@gannett.com and on Twitter @Craig_Shoup.To support his work, sign up for a digital subscription to TheLeafChronicle.com.

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Outdated Fort Campbell Vietnam-era barracks to be renovated as part of $73 funding package - The Leaf-Chronicle