Davos, Switzerland (AFP) by Adam PLOWRIGHT German Chancellor Olaf Scholz faced rising pressure Tuesday from his European partners to authorise the export of Leopard tanks to Ukraine. The issue will be one of the most pressing in the in-tray of newly-named German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, a surprise choice for the vacant position who was unveiled on Tuesday. Leaders and ministers from Finland, Lithuania, Poland and Britain have added their voices to a growing clamour […]
Tag: summit
Kissinger says Russia war validates Ukraine’s NATO bid
Davos, Switzerland (AFP) – US elder statesman Henry Kissinger said Tuesday that Russia’s invasion shows there is no longer a point to keeping Ukraine out of NATO, the long-held aspiration of Kyiv that he had opposed. The 99-year-old former secretary of state and apostle of realpolitik has for months advocated a ceasefire in the Ukraine war that would in effect accept some military gains by Russia. But speaking virtually to the World Economic Forum in […]
Cost-of-living crisis biggest global risk: Davos study
London, United Kingdom (AFP) The cost-of-living crisis will be the biggest global risk over the next two years, a survey by the World Economic Forum warned Wednesday ahead of its Davos meeting next week. Global inflation remains at sky-high levels after energy and food costs rocketed last year following the invasion of agricultural powerhouse Ukraine by major oil and gas producer Russia. Supply constraints caused by the Covid pandemic have also contributed to decades-high consumer […]
Jordan to host MidEast summit in bid to defuse regional tensions
by Acil Tabbara Agence France-Presse AMMAN, Jordan (AFP) — Jordan hosts a Middle East summit Tuesday bringing together regional and international players hoping to help resolve regional crises, particularly in neighboring Iraq. The “Baghdad II” meeting, which will also include officials from France and the European Union, follows an August 2021 summit in Iraq’s capital organized at the initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron. Iraq only recently arrived at a fragile compromise government after a […]
US announces $2.5 billion in food assistance to Africa
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) –The United States on Thursday committed another $2.5 billion in food assistance to Africa, pledging to help the continent cope with rising prices blamed in part on Russia’s invasion of breadbasket Ukraine. President Joe Biden laid out the new commitment at the close of a three-day summit that brought nearly 50 African leaders to Washington. Biden told leaders that the United States was concerned about rising hunger triggered “in part due […]
Rolling red carpet to Africans, US warns of ‘destabilizing’ China, Russia
by Shaun Tandon Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States warned Tuesday that China and Russia were destabilizing Africa with their growing inroads as it rolled out the red carpet to the continent’s leaders and pledged billions of dollars in support. Forty-nine African leaders flew into the Washington cold for the first continent-wide summit with the United States in eight years as President Joe Biden seeks to use personal diplomacy to win […]
Biden, Macron pledge US-French alliance on Ukraine, democracy
Washington, United States ( AFP) by Francesco Fontemaggi and Sebastian Smith US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron emerged from White House talks Thursday pledging to close ranks in helping Ukraine and pressuring Russia’s Vladimir Putin to make peace. Following lengthy Oval Office talks they also signaled they’d calmed the waters on a burgeoning US-EU trade dispute. Addressing a joint press conference on the second day of Macron’s rare state visit to Washington, […]
Biden, Macron close ranks on Russia during state visit
by Francesco Fontemaggi and Sebastian Smith Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron emerged from White House talks Thursday pledging to close ranks in helping Ukraine and pressuring Russia’s Vladimir Putin to make peace. Following lengthy Oval Office talks they also signalled they’d calmed the waters on a burgeoning transatlantic trade dispute. Addressing a joint press conference on the second day of Macron’s rare state visit […]
Police, protesters clash as Bangkok hosts summit
Bangkok, Thailand | AFP | Thai police fired rubber bullets Friday in clashes with dozens of protesters trying to march to the venue of an Asia-Pacific summit in Bangkok. Around 50 people demonstrating against the event and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha threw rocks, bottles and broken glass during half an hour of scuffles with hundreds of riot police. The incident took place near the Thai capital’s Democracy Monument, around eight kilometres (five miles) from […]
Xi spat with Trudeau lays bare China’s frayed ties with Canada
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping scolded Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in an on-camera dressing down at the G20 summit, an unusual public spat that could further complicate the strained relations between the two countries. Footage recorded by reporters at the Bali conclave for world leaders on Wednesday showed Xi upbraiding Trudeau after details of a discussion between the two leaders were leaked to the media. Trudeau had on Tuesday raised […]
‘Unlikely’ Poland missile fired from Russia: President Biden
Nusa Dua, Indonesia | AFP | by Sara HUSSEIN / Sebastian Smith US President Joe Biden said Wednesday it was “unlikely” a missile strike on Poland was launched from Russia, speaking after emergency talks with allies in Bali about the deadly attack. Biden huddled with G7 and NATO partners on Wednesday, hours after the strike that killed two people in a Polish village near the border with Ukraine. “We agreed to support Poland’s investigation […]
Biden, Sunak call Russian bombing of Ukrainian civilians ‘barbaric’
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AFP) — US President Joe Biden and his British counterpart Rishi Sunak called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s targeting of Ukrainian civilians “barbaric” on Wednesday at a G20 summit in Bali. “At a moment when world leaders here in Bali are seeking to make progress on world peace, Putin is striking civilian targets — children, women. I mean, it’s almost — my words, not yours — barbaric,” Biden said at a meeting with […]





