Month: February 2023

Russian President Vladimir Putin could meet with the Chinese Communist Party’s top diplomat in Moscow, the Kremlin said Monday.  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “we don’t rule out” Putin’s meeting with Wang Yi, the Chinese Communist Party’s most senior foreign policy official, who is visiting the Russian capital.  Peskov hailed Russia-China ties as “multidimensional and allied in nature.”  Wang’s visit to Moscow comes as President Joe Biden made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Monday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and show U.S. support for Kyiv on the eve of the Russian military operation’s one-year anniversary.  Wang’s …

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Another earthquake struck the border region of Turkey and Syria on Monday, killing at least three people and coming two weeks after the area was devastated by a massive quake that left nearly 45,000 people dead. Monday’s earthquake had a magnitude of 6.4 and centered in the town of Defne, in Turkey’s Hatay province, an area that was severely damaged by the February 6 quake. The new quake was felt in multiple countries, including Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, and was followed by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake. Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said three people were killed and more than …

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The U.N. General Assembly will vote this week on a resolution underscoring the urgency to find a lasting peace in Ukraine, one year after Moscow invaded its neighbor. The text, drafted by Ukraine in consultation with allies and discussed with interested countries, will be put to a vote at the end of a special emergency session of the assembly that will start Wednesday afternoon and run into Thursday. It underscores the urgency to find “a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in line with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations” and calls on United Nations members and international …

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The British government summoned Iran’s most senior diplomat in London on Monday to protest what it said were serious threats against journalists living in Britain, as ministers launched a new security review into Iranian activities.  On Saturday, a London-based television station critical of the Iranian government said it was moving its live broadcasting studios to the United States because of threats it faced in Britain.  “I am appalled by the Iranian regime’s continuing threats to the lives of U.K.-based journalists and have today summoned its representative to make clear this will not be tolerated,” Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in …

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Weeks of dry winter weather have raised concerns that Italy could face another drought after last summer’s emergency, with the Alps having received less than half of their normal snowfall, according to scientists and environmental groups. Italian rivers and lakes are suffering from severe lack of water, the Legambiente environmental group said on Monday, with attention focused on the north of the country. The Po, Italy’s longest river which runs from the Alps in the northwest to the Adriatic has 61% less water than normal at this time of year, it added in a statement. Last July Italy declared a …

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The BBC said Monday it has uncovered evidence of sexual exploitation on Kenyan tea plantations that supply some of Britain’s most popular brands. In a video posted on the BBC World website, a supervisor on a Kenyan tea farm is seen with an undercover reporter and he asks her to touch him and undress. He did not know he was being taped and a BBC crew was nearby for the reporter’s protection. More than 70 women told the BBC that that they had been sexually exploited by their supervisors on farms owned by Unilever, Lipton and James Finlay & Co. …

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