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☆ China's EXIM bank gives Sri Lanka debt extension
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Yew Lun Tian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, Jan 26 (Reuters) - China's Export-Import Bank of China (EXIM) has provided Sri Lanka with a debt extension, China's foreign ministry said on Thursday, confirming a Reuters report earlier this week. EXIM offered Sri Lanka a two-year moratorium on its debt and said it would support the country's efforts to secure a $2.9 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters. Regional rivals China and India are the biggest bilateral lenders to Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people that is facing its worst economic crisis in seven decades. At the end of 2020, China EXIM loaned Sri Lanka $2.83 billion which is 3.5% of the island's debt, according to an IMF report released in March last year. EXIM is a policy bank tasked by Beijing with lending to governments and key industries globally.

☆ France to withdraw troops from Burkina Faso within a month
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( John Irish | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Vincent Bado/File PhotoPARIS, Jan 25 (Reuters) - France will withdraw its troops from Burkina Faso in the next month after the military junta asked it to leave, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday, in a move that will further reduce its presence in a region facing a growing Islamist insurgency. Protests by opponents of the French military presence have surged in Burkina, partly linked to perceptions that France has not done enough to tackle the Islamist militancy that has spread in recent years from neighbouring Mali. France retains some 200-400 special forces in Burkina. Burkina's national television reported on Saturday that the government had suspended a 2018 military accord with Paris on Jan. 18, giving France one month to pull its troops out. Paris also has a large military presence in Chad.

☆ Russia fumes at West's decision to send tanks to Ukraine, says red lines have been crossed
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Germany announced earlier Wednesday that it was ready to send 14 Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, and to allow other countries to send their own German-made tanks to Kyiv. The U.S. is also expected to announce its own intention to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine imminently. "The United States has unequivocally stated its desire to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. Following Germany's decision on tanks, all eyes are on the U.S. to see whether it will announce it's ready to send a number of its own Abrams tanks to Ukraine. Three senior U.S. officials told NBC News Tuesday that the Biden administration is preparing to send a couple dozen Abrams tanks to Ukraine although they stressed the decision was not final.

☆ Germany to send Leopard tanks to Kyiv, allow others to do so - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Germany delivers its first Leopard tanks to Slovakia as part of a deal after Slovakia donated fighting vehicles to Ukraine, in Bratislava, Slovakia, December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Radovan StoklasaBERLIN, Jan 24 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has decided to send Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine and allow other countries such as Poland to do so while the United States may supply Abrams tanks, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. A government spokesperson, the foreign ministry and the defence ministry declined to comment. Other allies, in Scandinavia for example, intend to go along with Germany in supplying their Leopard tanks to Kyiv, the magazine reported. U.S. officials told Reuters that Washington may soon drop its opposition to sending Abrams tanks to Ukraine, in a move intended to encourage Germany to follow.

☆ U.N. aid chief raises women's rights concerns with Taliban in Afghan capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KABUL, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The United Nations' aid chief visited Kabul on Monday and raised concerns over women's education and work with the Taliban administration's acting minister of foreign affairs, an Afghan ministry statement said. U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths raised the issue of women's education and work and how this affected the U.N.'s operations, according to a ministry of foreign affairs statement. He said Griffiths would "underscore the message that humanitarian aid cannot be delivered without women." No foreign government has formally recognised the Taliban administration since it seized power, with some diplomats saying it must change course on women's rights. Enforcement of sanctions and a cut in development aid have contributed to the country falling into an economic crisis which has left more than half the population dependent on humanitarian aid, aimed at meeting urgent needs.

☆ Dutch defence ministry advised against ASML exports to China in 2020 -FD
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Eva Plevier/File PhotoAMSTERDAM, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The Netherlands' defence ministry advised the government in 2020 not to allow semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV (ASML.AS) to export any of its most modern machines to China, Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad reported on Friday. The advice has been heeded, as ASML has not shipped EUV technology to Chinese customers. The publication comes as the Dutch government is weighing additional restrictions on ASML's exports of older equipment to China. Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Jan. 17 he expected a "good outcome" to discussions with the United States on the matter after meeting with President Joe Biden in Washington. "In addition our most important strategic security partner, the United States, has made an urgent appeal to the Netherlands not to export the EUV technology to China."

☆ South Korea, Iran summon each other's envoys as spat over Yoon remarks deepens
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Hyonhee Shin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SEOUL, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Iran and South Korea summoned each other's envoys in a deepening spat over comments by South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol that described the Islamic republic as the enemy of the United Arab Emirates. Yoon, speaking to South Korean troops stationed in Abu Dhabi earlier this week, said South Korea and the UAE are under "very similar" circumstances, each facing North Korea and Iran as "the enemy, biggest threat." Relations between Seoul and Tehran had already been testy over frozen Iranian funds in South Korea and suspected arms dealings between Iran and North Korea. Iran has repeatedly demanded the release of some $7 billion of its funds frozen in South Korean banks under U.S. sanctions. South Korea was once one of Iran's biggest crude buyers in Asia, but ceased imports after Washington imposed sanctions on Tehran in 2018.

☆ Russian ex-President Medvedev says Japanese PM should disembowel himself
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Leah MillisJan 14 (Reuters) - Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday of shameful subservience to the United States and suggested he should ritually disembowel himself. Medvedev is a prominent ally of President Vladimir Putin who serves as deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council and of a body overseeing the defence industry. Rather than demanding U.S. repentance for this, Kishida had shown he was "just a service attendant for the Americans". Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Medvedev has warned repeatedly that Western meddling in the crisis could lead to nuclear war, and has referred to Ukrainians as "cockroaches" in language Kyiv says is openly genocidal. Putin has said that the risk of a nuclear war is rising but insisted Russia has not "gone mad" and that it sees its own nuclear arsenal as a purely defensive deterrent.

The holiday, known before the pandemic as the world's largest annual migration of people, comes amid an escalating diplomatic spat over COVID curbs that saw Beijing introduce transit curbs for South Korean and Japanese nationals on Wednesday. The virus is spreading unchecked in China after Beijing abruptly began dismantling its previously tight curbs in early December following historic protests. Among them, South Korea and Japan have also limited flights and require tests on arrival, with passengers showing up as positive being sent to quarantine. COUNTING DEATHSSome of the governments that announced curbs on travellers from China cited concerns over Beijing's data transparency. Annual spending by Chinese tourists abroad reached $250 billion before the pandemic, with South Korea and Japan among the top shopping destinations.

☆ South Korea calls China's visa suspension 'deeply regrettable'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SEOUL, Jan 11 (Reuters) - China's recent decision to suspend the issue of short-term visas in South Korea was "deeply regrettable", the South's Foreign Minister Park Jin said on Wednesday. Tuesday's suspension by the Chinese embassy in South Korea was China's first retaliatory move against countries imposing COVID-19 curbs on its travellers. "It's deeply regrettable China took such a countermeasure by entirely suspending issuance of short-term visas," Park told a news briefing, adding that South Korea still issues visas to Chinese visitors for urgent business or humanitarian purposes. Some Chinese tourists have complained over such curbs, which are the strictest among the new rules countries have adopted, but South Korea said they were not discriminatory. "I don't think it's desirable for these measures to have any negative impact on the South Korea-China relations," Park added.

REUTERS/Tingshu WangBEIJING, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Chinese state media defended on Wednesday the retaliatory measures against South Korea and Japan over their COVID-19 travel curbs as "reasonable", while Chinese tourists decried Seoul's "insulting" treatment on social media. South Korea, Japan, the United States and more than a dozen other countries imposed at the start of the year requirements for pre-departure negative test results from visitors from China. 'INSULTING'Chinese social media anger mainly targeted South Korea, whose border measures are the strictest among the countries that announced new rules. Global Times reserved a separate article for South Korea, saying the measures made Chinese people suspicious that Seoul was putting up a "political show." Annual spending by Chinese tourists abroad reached $250 billion before the pandemic, with South Korea and Japan among the top shopping destinations.

☆ Poland says Germany refused talks on World War Two reparations
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WARSAW, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Germany has rebuffed the latest push by Poland's nationalist government for vast reparations over World War Two, saying in response to a diplomatic note that the issue was closed, the foreign ministry in Warsaw said on Tuesday. Poland estimates its World War Two losses caused by Germany at 6.2 trillion zlotys ($1.4 trillion) and has demanded reparations, but Berlin has repeatedly said all financial claims related to the war have been settled. "Germany does not pursue a friendly policy towards Poland, they want to build their sphere of influence here and treat Poland as a vassal state." In 1953, Poland's then-communist rulers relinquished all claims to war reparations under pressure from the Soviet Union, which wanted to free East Germany, also a Soviet satellite, from any liabilities. In a joint press conference with Polish foreign minister Zbigniew Rau last October, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said the pain caused by Germany during World War Two was "passed on through generations" in Poland but that the issue of reparations was closed.

☆ Here's a list of places imposing rules on travelers from China as Covid surges
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Authorities around the world are imposing or considering curbs on travelers from China as Covid-19 cases in the country surge following its relaxation of "zero-Covid" rules. Places imposing curbsUnited StatesThe United States will impose mandatory Covid-19 tests on travelers from China beginning on Jan. 5. IndiaThe country has mandated a Covid-19 negative test report for travelers arriving from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Thailand, the health minister said. Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesJapan will require a negative Covid-19 test upon arrival for travelers from mainland China. South KoreaSouth Korea will require travelers from China to provide negative Covid test results before departure, South Korea's News1 news agency reported on Friday.

☆ Morocco to ban arrivals from China over COVID surge
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

RABAT, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Morocco will impose a ban on people arriving from China, whatever their nationality, from Jan. 3 to avert any new wave of coronavirus infections, the foreign ministry said on Saturday. Several countries have imposed restrictions on travellers from China due to a surge in COVID-19 cases. Thousands of tourists visit Morocco from China every year, usually travelling on flights that come via the Gulf. In an abrupt change of policy, China this month began dismantling the world's strictest COVID regime of lockdowns and extensive testing, putting its battered economy on course for a complete re-opening next year. But the lifting of restrictions has led to COVID spreading largely unchecked and likely infecting millions of people a day there, according to some international health experts.

☆ Belarus official: 'Unlikely' downed Ukrainian missile entered by accident
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 30 (Reuters) - The secretary of Belarus' Security Council said in an interview on Friday that it was "unlikely" that a Ukrainian air defence missile downed on Thursday had entered Belarusian airspace by accident. "An example of this is the recent incident with the destruction of the Ukrainian S-300 missile. Belarus' defence ministry said on Thursday its air defence forces had shot down a Ukrainian S-300 surface-to-air missile near the village of Harbacha in the Brest region, some 15 km (9 miles) from the Belarus-Ukraine border. A regional military official in Belarus had played down the cross-border incident shortly after it occurred, saying: "Unfortunately, these things happen." Ukraine's defence ministry said it would investigate the incident, suggesting it was a Russian provocation and reserving the right to protect its own skies.

☆ China appoints Xi's trusted aide Qin Gang as new foreign minister
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, Dec 30 (Reuters) - China has appointed Qin Gang, a trusted aide of President Xi Jinping, as its new foreign minister, state radio reported on Friday. Qin, 56, and currently China's ambassador to the United States, replaces Wang Yi, who has been foreign minister for the past decade. Wang, 69, was promoted to the politburo of the Chinese Communist Party in October and is expected to play a bigger role in foreign policy. A rising star in the foreign ministry, Qin rose through various positions including as the ministry's spokesman and postings at the Chinese embassy in Britain. Following his appointment, Qin will return to Beijing from Washington after 17 months as China's 11th ambassador to the United States.

☆ Belarus protests to Ukraine after downing stray air defence missile
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Dec 29 (Reuters) - Belarus protested to Ukraine's ambassador on Thursday after saying it had downed a Ukrainian S-300 air defence missile in a field, during one of Russia's heaviest aerial onslaughts against Ukraine since the start of the war. A Ukrainian military spokesman in effect acknowledged that the missile was a Ukrainian stray, saying the incident was "nothing strange, a result of air defence" and something that "has happened more than once". The S-300 is a Soviet-era air defence system used by both Russia and Ukraine. "Fragments were found in an agricultural field ... the wreckage belongs to an S-300 anti-aircraft guided missile fired from the territory of Ukraine," the defence ministry said. BelTA published photos and video of what it said were parts of an S-300 missile lying in an empty field.

☆ Ukraine aims for a peace summit by the end of February, foreign minister says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s foreign minister on Monday said that his government is aiming to have a peace summit by the end of February, preferably at the United Nations with Secretary-General António Guterres as a possible mediator, around the anniversary of Russia’s war. But Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press that Russia could only be invited to such a summit if the country faced a war crimes tribunal first. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba during an interview in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday. “Every war ends as a result of the actions taken on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.”Kuleba said the Ukrainian government would like to have a peace summit by the end of February. So we would welcome his active participation.”The foreign minister again downplayed comments by Russian authorities that they are ready for talks.

☆ U.S. and China trade barbs over South China Sea
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MANILA, Dec 20 (Reuters) - China's embassy in Manila accused the United States on Tuesday of driving a wedge between the Philippines and Beijing, deploring Washington's "unfounded accusations" that it said sought to stir up trouble in the South China Sea. The South China Sea has become one of many flashpoints in the testy relationship between China and the United States, with Washington rejecting what it calls unlawful territorial claims by Beijing in the resource-rich waters. Price said China's actions "reflect continuing disregard for other South China Sea claimants and states lawfully operating in the region". He reiterated that the United States stands by the Philippines in upholding rules-based international order. China claims vast swathes of the South China Sea that overlap with the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines.

☆ Israel deports Palestinian activist to France
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Israel said it deported a Palestinian lawyer and activist to France early Sunday, claiming he has ties to a banned militant group, despite objections from the French government. Israel says Hammouri is an activist in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group that it has labeled a terrorist organization. He has worked as a lawyer for Adameer, a rights group that assists Palestinian prisoners that Israel has banned for alleged ties to the PFLP. Israel said there’s no connection between the terror designation of Adameer and five other Palestinian rights groups and any alleged use of NSO spyware. Residency rights can be stripped if a Palestinian is found to live outside the city for an extended period or in certain security cases.

☆ South Korea protests Japan's island claim in national security strategy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SEOUL, Dec 16 (Reuters) - South Korea issued a strong protest against Japan's territorial claim over disputed islands made in a national security strategy released on Friday while cautiously responding to Tokyo's plans for an unprecedented military buildup. South Korea's foreign ministry on Friday demanded an immediate removal of the territorial claims from Japan's national strategy documents, saying in a statement that the move did nothing to help "building a future-oriented relationship" between the two countries. The foreign ministry later said it summoned a senior diplomat from Japan's embassy in Seoul to lodge the protest. The defence ministry separately said it summoned a Japanese defence official to protest the claim. The islands known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan are controlled by Seoul with a small contingent of coast guards.

☆ Burkina Faso summons Ghanaian ambassador over Wagner allegations
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

OUAGADOUGOU, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Burkina Faso summoned the Ghanaian ambassador on Friday morning for "explanations" after Ghana's president alleged that Burkina Faso had hired the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Burkina Faso's foreign ministry said. Burkina Faso has now entered into an arrangement to go along with Mali in employing the Wagner forces there," Akufo-Addo said, adding that it was a distressing development for Ghana. Akufo-Addo also alleged that Burkina Faso had offered Wagner a mine as payment. In a statement issued after the meeting with the ambassador, Burkina Faso's foreign ministry said it had "expressed disapproval" about the statements made by the Ghanaian president. Burkina Faso also recalled its ambassador from Ghana for a meeting, the spokesperson said.

☆ Honduras to sign agreement for U.N. anti-corruption mission
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Gustavo Palencia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TEGUCIGALPA, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Honduras will sign an agreement Thursday to install a United Nations-backed anti-corruption mission in the country, a foreign ministry official said Wednesday, making good on a key campaign pledge of President Xiomara Castro to root out graft. The foreign ministry tweeted that the agreement will be signed Thursday, but later took down the post. Hernandez was extradited to the United States earlier this year on drug-trafficking charges. A similar mission supported by the Organization of the American States (OAS) operated in Honduras until January 2020, but disbanded after then-President Hernandez let its mandate expire. The OAS mission, called the Mission to Support the Fight Against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH), was created in 2016 and led corruption investigations into officials, legislators and Hernandez himself.

☆ IAEA chief says to make all-out effort to stop North Korea's nuclear programme
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] Rafael Grossi (L), director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), speaks during a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin (not pictured) at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, South Korea December 15, 2022. Jung Yeon-je/Pool via REUTERSSEOUL, Dec 15 (Reuters) - International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said on Thursday the IAEA would make an all-out effort to stop North Korea's nuclear programme and preserve international non-proliferation, according to South Korea's presidential office. Grossi said that he shares the international community's concern about the North Korea nuclear issue, South Korea's presidential office said. North Korea is believed to have completed preparations for the first nuclear test since 2017, according to officials from South Korea and the United States. The IAEA has not had access to North Korea since the secretive communist state expelled its inspectors in 2009.

☆ Pakistan to approach UN after blaming India for bombing
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Asif Shahzad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Mohsin RazaISLAMABAD, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Pakistan will take a dossier to the United Nations alleging its neighbour India has backed incidents of terrorism, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday, a day after Islamabad said India was behind a high-profile bombing. "We will call it information based evidence," Rabbani Khar said about the dossier. Khar said the facilitators and mastermind of the bombing that killed four people in eastern city of Lahore were based in India. "We would want India to hand them over, and as responsible nations do... and if India is a responsible nation, they will cooperate," she said. Arch-rivals Pakistan and India have fought three wars since 1947, when British colonial ended and the two independent nations were created in a blood-drenched process known as partition.

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