Li Qiang, one of Chinese President Xi Jinping's most trusted allies, was confirmed as premier on Saturday, as Xi asserts his influence on the country's top leadership.. Xi's motion nominating Li Qiang as premier was read out to the chamber on Saturday morning.
The leaders of the United States, Britain and Australia meet Monday in San Diego with an expected announcement on nuclear submarines, a landmark step in military cooperation as concerns grow over a fast-rising China.. Britain's The Times newspaper reported that Australia is expected to acquire submarines built by Britain, rather than the United States, under the AUKUS pact because it is easier to crew the smaller UK vessels.
Living under plastic tents in the Colombian jungle, a group of rebel fighters has high hopes for peace talks with the government of President Gustavo Petro, who as a former guerrilla himself, "inspires confidence," they say.. The ELN guerrilla group, for example, is still fighting today, though this week it agreed to start ceasefire talks with the government.
Colombia's government and the country's last recognized guerrilla group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), said Friday they had agreed to begin negotiating a ceasefire, as the two sides wrapped up a second round of peace talks in Mexico.. - 'Stay at table' - The ELN reacted angrily in January after the government claimed it had agreed a ceasefire with the Marxist guerrillas.
Mexican authorities have arrested five people over the deadly kidnapping of a group of Americans, after the suspects were left in the street with their hands tied by alleged cartel members, officials said Friday.. They are the same five men who were found Thursday with their hands bound on a street in the city of Matamoros, apparently dumped by fellow members of the Gulf Cartel, a source in the prosecutor's office told AFP. Mexican media published a statement purportedly from the Gulf Cartel that said the group "apologizes" for the incident.
For exhausted migrants, a small stretch of snow-covered road is the last step in a long journey to a new life in Canada.. In a hurry to get into their new country, Haitians, Venezuelans, Colombians and Turks hasten their pace as they step out of a car with their heads down to finally cross the last border of their journey: one separating Canada and the United States, between New York state and Montreal.
Georgia's young protesters, having forced parliament into a U-turn on controversial new legislation, are determined to maintain the pressure on the government, which they believe is steering the country away from Europe.. Under pressure from the protesters, the ruling Georgian Dream party formally voted down the bill Friday to the cheers and whistles of protesters outside parliament, holding signs that read: "We are Europe."
President Joe Biden and top EU official Ursula von der Leyen meet Friday to try to defuse a transatlantic trade dispute over subsidies for the green economy, as well as bolster cooperation on confronting Russia.. A senior US official told reporters that Biden and von der Leyen want to make sure that the two programs complement each other.
The US House of Representatives voted unanimously on Friday to declassify information on potential links between the Covid-19 pandemic and a Chinese laboratory suspected of leaking the deadly virus.. The Senate had already voted last week to require Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to declassify the material, meaning the bill now goes to the White House for President Joe Biden's signature.
Thousands of mourners, including Ukraine's armed forces chief, knelt on Kyiv's main square on Friday at the funeral of a war hero nicknamed "Da Vinci", who was killed by Russians in the battle for Bakhmut.. While the funeral showed Ukraine's efforts to honour its war dead, it also underscored the heavy impact of the Russian invasion and the long-running battle for the eastern town of Bakhmut.
