Moscow (AFP) May 13, 2024 An economist and technocrat with no military background, Russia's new defence minister Andrei Belousov has been tasked with deploying his number-crunching skills and bureaucratic oversight to secure Russian victory against Ukraine. Belousov has been one of President Vladimir Putin's most trusted and influential advisers...

Beijing (AFP) May 14, 2024 Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China this week on the invitation of leader Xi Jinping, Beijing's foreign ministry said Tuesday. Putin will be in Beijing from Thursday to Friday, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, in the Russian leader's second trip to China in just over six months. Days...

Washington DC (UPI) May 13, 2024 Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing Rafah as Israel repeated plans to invade the southern Gaza city, according to the United Nations, which reduced the number of women and children killed during Israel's ongoing war in Gaza by nearly half. The United Nations said 360,000 people have fled Rafah under...

Paris (AFP) May 13, 2024 President Vladimir Putin's nomination of top economic official Andrei Belousov as defence minister is a sign of the importance the Russian leader places on the war economy in gaining the upper hand in what he expects will be a long conflict against Ukraine, analysts say. It is unclear if outgoing defence minister...

Beijing (AFP) May 13, 2024 Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for better relations with South Korea as he met with his counterpart from Seoul during rare talks in Beijing, state-run Xinhua reported Tuesday. The visit by Cho Tae-yul to the Chinese capital on Monday and Tuesday is the first visit by a South Korean foreign minister to Beijing...

Hong Kong (AFP) May 14, 2024 Hong Kong's leader on Tuesday defended its foreign trade offices and said he had little recollection of a man accused by Britain of spying for the Chinese city, after a photograph emerged seeming to show the two together. British authorities charged three men on Monday with foreign interference and assisting Hong...