UKRAINE WAR
US warns China that if it arms Russia it will have problems with many countries
Ankara. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China on Monday that if it delivered lethal weapons to Russia, it would have “a real problem in its relations with many other countries, not just the United States”. “We are concerned that China is planning to support Russia’s war effort in Ukraine with lethal aid, something we are watching very, very closely,” the US Foreign Minister told a conference. press in Ankara. “I’m not going to lay out what the consequences would be,” added Blinken, who said he forwarded the content in Munich, on the sidelines of a security conference, to the director of the Communist Party’s Foreign Affairs Committee office. of China (CCP). ), Wang Yi.
UKRAINE WAR
China: “It’s Washington that sends weapons to the battlefield, not Beijing”
Beijing. China responded today that it is the United States that ‘keeps supplying weapons to the battlefield’ and ‘not China’, after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that he had evidence that the Asian country was planning to send weapons to Russia. “The United States is not qualified to give orders to China, and we will never accept that the United States dictates or imposes what should be the Sino-Russian relationship,” the spokesman said Thursday. Foreign Affairs Wang Wenbin at a press conference. Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, China has maintained an ambiguous stance in which it has called for respect for “territorial integrity of all countries”, including Ukraine, and attention to “legitimate concerns of all countries”, in reference to Russia.
UKRAINE WAR
Zelenski reiterates that the situation is difficult in the East but “they are fighting”
Kyiv. The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky, reiterated that the situation in the east of the country, especially in the Donetsk region, is difficult for his army, but he clarified: “We are fighting. We finish off the invader and inflict tangible losses on Russia”. In his daily message to the people broadcast last night and published this Monday on his official website, Zelensky explained that he had held a meeting with the military leadership and received reports both “from the commander-in-chief, as well as from the commanders from the different directions of the front and even from the front line itself.” “We are leveling the situation, doing everything we can to prepare our actions for the future, for the nearest future,” he said. he adds.
UKRAINE WAR
NATO countries sent 440 Soviet tanks to Ukraine, Russia says
Moscow. Since December 2021, NATO countries have supplied Ukraine with 440 Soviet tanks, in addition to other types of heavy weapons, the Russian Foreign Spy Service (SVR) reported today. “Since December 2021, NATO countries have sent to the Armed Forces of Ukraine 1,170 anti-aircraft systems, 440 tanks, 1,510 armored infantry vehicles and 650 artillery systems,” the SVR said in a statement released by the Russian agencies. Ukraine, which has used T-72 tanks for decades, has received hundreds of modernized Soviet tanks from Poland and the Czech Republic, and is waiting to receive the first Abrams, Challenger 2 and Leopard 2 tanks from the West.
KOREAN CONFLICT
Seoul approves new sanctions against Pyongyang after missile launch
seoul. South Korea today imposed new unilateral sanctions on the North following missiles launched by the regime in the past three days. The restrictions, “activated in response to the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile on February 18 and the launch of short-range ballistic missiles on February 20”, target four people and five institutions linked to North Korea’s nuclear and missile program or who helped the regime evade existing sanctions, South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
IRAN NUCLEAR
Iran denies enriching 84% uranium
Tehran. Iran denied on Monday that it is enriching uranium to 84% purity, a level close to that needed to produce nuclear weapons, as reported by US media. Financial news agency Bloomberg reported yesterday that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has found traces of 84% enriched uranium and is investigating whether it was intentionally produced. Iran has categorically denied that it enriches uranium to levels so close to the 90% needed to power an atomic bomb.
PAPUA AUSTRALIA
Australian academic and three students abducted in Papua New Guinea
Sydney, Australia). An Australian academic and three students have been abducted by an armed group in a remote region of Papua New Guinea that has been the scene of frequent violent incidents, official sources confirmed on Monday. About 20 gunmen abducted the anthropologist and three students from the University of Papua New Guinea while conducting research in the country’s central Highlands region, along with four local guides , released soon after, Australian broadcaster ABC reported. . . The kidnappers demand that the governments of Australia and Papua New Guinea pay 3.5 million kina (about 970,000 US dollars or 910,000 euros) in the next 24 hours to free the four captives, publishes the agency of Australian press AAP.
AFRICA SUMMIT
Africa will seek more effective tools to sanction putschists
Addis Ababa. The African Union (AU) ended its 36th ordinary summit of heads of state and government in Addis Ababa on Sunday by reflecting on the tools to deter putschists on the continent and by asking for more financial support from the international community in the face of to jihadist violence. “Unconstitutional changes of government are unacceptable,” AU Commission (secretariat) chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat said during his speech in the Ethiopian capital, capping a summit that brought together representatives of more than fifty African countries and UN Secretary General António Guterres.
RAINS IN BRAZIL
At least 36 people die from rains in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo. At least 36 people died, 228 had to leave their homes and 338 were affected by heavy rains that hit the northern coast of the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, the regional government reported on Sunday. “The storm has caused flooding and landslides” and “some access roads” to the north coast of the state are “blocked due to landslides”, reported the state government most populated by Brazil on his social networks. The governor of Sao Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, declared a “state of public calamity” in the cities of Sao Sebastiao, Ubatuba, Caraguatatuba, Ilhabelha and Bertioga “which have been affected by the heavy rains that have reached the region”.
CARNIVAL OF BRAZIL
Criticism of censorship and racism on the first day of the Rio Carnival parades
Rio de Janeiro. Critics of censorship, racism and discrimination in Brazil were heard this Sunday during the first day of the parades of the samba “escolas” of the Rio de Janeiro Carnival Special Group. The “escola” Salgueiro dedicated its parade along the 700 meters of the sambadrome to the defense of freedom of expression and the right of the poor population to take advantage of the carnival to denounce their sufferings, while Mangueira, the last to appear , stood out in its parade the resistance, still today, of the various African groups subjected to slavery in Brazil.
EFE
int/jac