Straight from the Wire
The Russian and Chinese leaders will discuss Ukraine, energy and military cooperation, Kremlin aide outlines
The two-day visit by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Moscow next week will be business-like and “unburdened by any additional ceremonial things,” an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin has revealed.
Yury Ushakov told journalists that a one-on-one meeting between Putin and Xi will take place at the Kremlin on Monday afternoon.
Ecuador’s opposition has launched a second request to have Guillermo Lasso charged over alleged embezzlement
A group of Ecuadorian opposition lawmakers has filed a formal impeachment request against President Guillermo Lasso, alleging extortion and embezzlement from public companies. A previous effort to impeach the conservative politician in June last year fell short of the required vote,
Earlier attempts to detain Imran Khan led to violent clashes between police and his supporters
Pakistan’s High Court has suspended the arrest warrant for former Prime Minister Imran Khan, local news outlet Dawn reported on Friday. This follows a tense confrontation between police and the politician’s supporters during a failed attempt to enforce the warrant.
A government-linked entity recommended an “Orwellian” crackdown on “vaccine disinformation,” the journalist reported
A government-linked academic group pushed Twitter to censor factually correct stories about Covid-19 if they risked “fueling hesitancy” about vaccines, according to the latest batch of internal documents released by the platform’s new owner, Elon Musk.
Published by journalist Matt Taibbi on Friday,
The Turkish president said that parliament will approve Finland’s membership bid, while Sweden remains in limbo
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that his country’s parliament will ratify Finland’s application to join the NATO bloc. Before Finland and Sweden could join the alliance, Türkiye demanded that the Nordic nations crack down on alleged Kurdish terrorists.
The Czech Republic banned shows of support for Moscow’s military offensive last year
Czech authorities have convicted nine people for making public statements in support of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, Prosecutor General Igor Striz told local media outlets on Wednesday. Some 90 additional cases are still being investigated.
One of the nine was sentenced to a nine-month prison sentence for making “hateful statements” about Ukrainians on social media,
Aleksandar Vucic told reporters that he, and not some minister, will announce any policy changes
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic brushed off the demands of one of his cabinet ministers to join the EU sanctions against Russia, telling reporters on Thursday that the long-standing policy might change only if there is no other way.
The French president forced his controversial pension reform bill through without a full vote in parliament
French President Emmanuel Macron bypassed parliament and enacted a controversial pension reform package on Thursday, triggering riots and arson on the streets of Paris. The move, which raises France’s retirement age to 64, had already caused months of strikes and protests.
A Minnesota facility disclosed tritium water spill after applying for license extension
Authorities in the northern US state of Minnesota revealed on Thursday that a nuclear power plant near Minneapolis had suffered a radioactive water spill amounting to over 1.5 million liters. Xcel Energy, which owns the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant, is working to clean up the spill and insists there is no danger to the general public.
Beijing is right to condemn the pact as spurring an arms race and undermining Asia-Pacific stability
Earlier this week, a trilateral summit was held with the leaders of Australia, the United Kingdom and the US in San Diego to flesh out the details of an AUKUS deal providing Canberra with nuclear-powered submarines, with the intention of containing China in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
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