KAZAN, Russia: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived in Russia on Wednesday to attend the BRICS summit, his first visit to the country for more than two years that has drawn scorn from Ukraine.
The gathering is the largest diplomatic forum in Russia since launching its full-scale military offensive on Ukraine in 2022 and President Vladimir Putin wants to use it to demonstrate that attempts to isolate him on the world stage have failed.
Around 20 world leaders, including China, India, Turkiye and Iran, are in the central city of Kazan, where they will address topics such as developing a BRICS-led international payment system and the conflict in the Middle East.
Moscow sees the platform as an alternative to Western-led international organizations like the G7 — a position supported by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In bilateral talks on Tuesday, including with Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Putin hailed Moscow’s close ties and “strategic partnerships” with its partners.
Xi, meanwhile, praised China’s “profound” ties with Russia in what he called a “chaotic” world.
Russia and China’s relations have “injected strong impetus into the development, revitalization and modernization of the two countries,” Xi said.
Putin said he saw relations between Beijing and China as a foundation of global “stability.”
“Russian-Chinese cooperation in world affairs acts as one of the stabilising factors in the global arena. We intend to further increase coordination in all multilateral platforms to ensure global security and a just world order,” he told Xi.
The leaders will hold a summit session on Wednesday where they are expected to tout the organization’s role in bolstering what Moscow and Beijing regularly refer to as a “multipolar world order.”
Underpinning his vision of the BRICS challenge to the West, Putin will hold separate talks with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday.
He will also meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkiye, a NATO member, is also casting itself as a possible mediator between Russia and Ukraine and strives for warm relations with Moscow.
Guterres will hold talks with Putin on Thursday, where the pair will discuss the Ukraine conflict, the Kremlin said.
Kyiv has railed against UN chief Guterres’ trip.
“The UN Secretary General declined Ukraine’s invitation to the first Global Peace Summit in Switzerland. He did, however, accept the invitation to Kazan from war criminal Putin,” its foreign ministry said in a post on X.
Guterres’ spokesperson said the trip was part of the UN chief’s regular attendance at “organizations with large numbers of important member states,” and said it offered a chance to “reaffirm his well known positions” on the Ukraine conflict “and the conditions for just peace.”
Modi, who is also casting himself as a possible peacemaker, called for a quick end to the conflict during talks with Putin on Tuesday.
“We have been in constant touch over the conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” Modi told Putin after the two shook hands and embraced.
“We believe that disputes should only be resolved peacefully. We totally support efforts to quickly restore peace and stability,” the Indian leader added.
India has walked a delicate tightrope since the Ukraine conflict began, pledging humanitarian support for Kyiv while avoiding explicit condemnation of Moscow’s actions.
Moscow has been steadily advancing on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine this year as it strengthens ties with the likes of China, Iran and North Korea.
UN chief in Russia for Putin’s BRICS summit
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UN chief in Russia for Putin’s BRICS summit
- Moscow sees the BRICS platform as an alternative to Western-led international organizations like the G7
- UN chief Antonio Guterres’s visit to Russia has drawn scorn from Ukraine
Beijing slams ‘irresponsible remarks’ after Zelensky says Chinese recruits fighting for Russia
- Foreign ministry spokesman: Beijing ‘has always required that its nationals stay away from areas of armed conflict’
Asked about the comments, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Beijing “has always required that its nationals stay away from areas of armed conflict,” adding: “We would advise the relevant parties to recognize China’s role correctly and clear-headedly, and to refrain from expressing irresponsible remarks.”
Pope Francis meets privately with King Charles and Queen Camilla during his Vatican convalescence
- Meeting with the pontiff during the royal couple’s four-day state visit to Italy
- It was the first known meeting since the pope’s return to the Vatican after weeks on the hospital
ROME: Pope Francis met privately with King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Wednesday at the Vatican during the royal couple’s four-day state visit to Italy and on the occasion of their 20th wedding anniversary, the Vatican announced.
It was the first known meeting since the pope’s return to the Vatican after five weeks in the hospital for life-threatening double pneumonia. Francis had planned to have an audience with Charles, but the official state visit to the Vatican was postponed due to the pope’s health.
The pope issued a new invitation for a private audience, but it was subject to his health and only confirmed Wednesday morning. The mid-afternoon visit lasted about 20 minutes and included a private exchange of gifts. Discussions continue about a future visit by the monarch to the Vatican.
The Vatican statement said the pope wished Charles and Camilla a happy anniversary, and the king and queen in return wished the pope a speedy recovery. Buckingham Palace said “their majesties were delighted the pope was well enough to host them, and to have had the opportunity to share their best wishes in person.”
The royal couple previously saw Francis during an April 2017 visit to the Vatican. King Charles, then Prince of Wales, also met Pope Francis during the 2019 canonization of St. John Henry Newman.
The pope has been convalescing at the Vatican since March 23 and made an appearance to the faithful in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday. He was pushed in a wheelchair, wearing nasal tubes for supplemental oxygen, and wished the crowd a good Sunday from the front of the altar before being greeted by participants in the Mass, some of whom leaned to kiss his hands.
Charles addresses Parliament
Earlier on Wednesday, Charles stressed the need for close ties between Italy and the UK in a historic speech in the Italian parliament, calling for unity in defense of common values at a time of war in Europe.
Charles, the first British monarch and fourth foreign leader to address a joint session of the Italian parliament, highlighted the long history between the UK and Italy and their shared culture, going back to the ancient Romans.
“Our younger generations can see in the news every day on their smartphones and tablets that peace is never to be taken for granted,” Charles said.
The British king was on the third day of his visit to Italy, seen as part of an ongoing effort by London to strengthen ties with its European allies amid global turbulence and rising instability.
“Our countries have both stood by Ukraine in her hour of need and welcomed many thousands of Ukrainians requiring shelter,” he said in his speech, warning that images of wars were now reverberating again across the continent.
Charles added that Italian and British armed forces “stand side by side” as part of the NATO alliance, noting the two countries’ joint plans to develop with Japan a new fighter jet.
“It will generate thousands of jobs in our countries and speaks volumes about the trust we place in each other,” he said.
During the Italian trip, King Charles and Queen Camilla also marked their 20th wedding anniversary, which was to include a state dinner later Wednesday hosted by President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale palace.
The queen marked her anniversary by wearing her wedding dress, which had been modified by its designer Anne Valentine, with additional embroidery by King’s Foundation artisan Beth Somerville. The garment was originally worn for the civil ceremony, when Camilla paired the outfit with a hat made of natural straw, overlaid with ivory French lace designed by Philip Treacy.
On her wedding day, Camilla later wore a separate chiffon dress embroidered pale blue and gold coat for the wedding blessing at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.
Earlier on Wednesday, Charles met Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni at Rome’s Villa Doria Pamphili, enjoying a walk in the 17th Century palace’s gardens.
In a few weeks, he will mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe together with Mattarella.
Climate change warnings
Charles also spoke passionately in his address about threats facing the planet, recalling another speech he gave in Italy 16 years ago and how the “warnings” he made at the time about the urgency of the climate challenge were “depressingly being borne out by events.”
He noted extreme storms “normally seen once in a generation” are now an issue every year, and “countless precious plant and animal species face extinction in our lifetimes”.
Sections of the speech were delivered in Italian, with the King prompting the applause of Italian lawmakers when he noted: “And by the way, I hope I’m not ruining Dante’s language so much that I’m no never invited to Italy again.”
Charles was on his first trip abroad this year after being taken to hospital over side effects related to his ongoing cancer treatment.
A dozen Ukrainians wounded in overnight Russian attack: Kyiv
- The air force said that Russia had attacked with 145 drones
- The emergency services said 10 people were wounded with three taken to hospital
KYIV, UKRAINE: Ukraine on Thursday said that a dozen people were wounded in overnight Russian attacks on the capital Kyiv and the southern Black Sea region of Mykolaiv.
AFP journalists in the capital heard air raid sirens and explosions ring out over the city during the attack.
The air force said that Russia had attacked with 145 drones, including the Iranian-designed Shahed, and that 85 were downed by air defense units.
The emergency services said 10 people were wounded with three taken to hospital in Mykolaiv and that a five-story building caught fire during the attack.
They posted images of rescue workers evacuating the wounded from the scene and digging through the debris.
In Kyiv, two people were wounded and a warehouse caught fire. Local authorities said 16 of 30 drones were downed over the city.
Moscow and Kyiv have stepped up their aerial attacks despite recent attempts by the United States to bring both sides to talks to secure a halt to more than three years of fighting.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, meanwhile said it had downed 42 Ukrainian drones over western and southern regions of the country.
ASEAN economic ministers: No ‘retaliatory measures’ against US
- ASEAN ministers ready ‘to engage in a frank and constructive dialogue with the US to address trade-related concerns’
- Manufacturing powerhouse Vietnam was hit with a 46 percent tariff on exports to the United States
KUALA LUMPUR: Economic ministers of the ASEAN regional bloc committed on Thursday “to not impose any retaliatory measures” against the United States over sweeping tariffs and said they were ready to engage in talks.
“ASEAN, being the fifth largest economy in the world, is deeply concerned over the recent introduction of unilateral tariffs by the US, including the tariffs announced on 2 April 2025 and subsequently the most recent suspension on 9 April 2025,” the Association of Southeast Asian ministers said in a statement issued after a video conference meeting.
Despite their concern, the ministers said they were ready “to engage in a frank and constructive dialogue with the US to address trade-related concerns.”
“Open communication and collaboration will be crucial to ensuring a balanced and sustainable relationship. In that spirit, ASEAN commits to not impose any retaliatory measures in response to the US tariffs,” they said.
The special meeting was chaired by Malaysia’s Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Zafrul Aziz. Malaysia holds the rotating chair of the 10-member regional bloc.
Its members, which count on the United States as their main export market, were among those hit with the toughest levies by US President Donald Trump.
Manufacturing powerhouse Vietnam was hit with a 46 percent tariff on exports to the United States while neighboring Cambodia – a major producer of low-cost clothing for big Western brands – was slapped with a 49 percent duty.
The other ASEAN members hit with hefty tariffs are Laos (48 percent), Myanmar (44 percent), Thailand (36 percent) and Indonesia (32 percent).
Malaysia, Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy, was hit with a lower tariff of 24 percent.
Brunei also faces a 24 percent tariff, while the Philippines was hit with 17 percent and Singapore 10 percent.
New Zealand lawmakers reject bill to redefine country’s founding Waitangi Treaty
- The Treaty guides the relationship between the government and Māori, with its meaning established through decades of legislation and court rulings
- The bill sought to end the 185-year conversation about the Treaty’s meaning by enacting in law particular definitions for each clause and specifying that any rights should apply to all New Zealanders
WELLINGTON: New Zealand lawmakers dealt an overwhelming defeat Thursday to a controversial proposed law seeking to redefine the country’s founding treaty between Māori tribes and the British Crown.
The Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi bill was rejected by Parliament in a 112 to 11 vote in Wellington, halting its progress to a third and final vote. Cheers and applause erupted before lawmakers and the public sang a waiata — a traditional Māori song — after the result was announced.
The sweeping reinterpretation of the 1840 treaty signed by British representatives and 500 Māori chiefs during New Zealand’s colonization was never expected to become law. But the measures provoked a fraught debate about Indigenous rights and last November prompted the biggest race relations protest in the country’s history.
But its defeat did not spell the end for scrutiny of Māori rights in New Zealand law.
What is the Treaty of Waitangi?
The Treaty guides the relationship between the government and Māori, with its meaning established through decades of legislation and court rulings. It promised tribes broad rights to retain their lands and protect their interests in return for ceding governance to the British.
But two versions of the document were signed – one in English and one in Māori — and while both promised Māori the rights and privileges of British citizens, the documents differed on what authority the chiefs were ceding. Crown breaches of both created steep disenfranchisement for Māori, who still face stark inequities.
Since an Indigenous protest movement surged in the 1970s, Treaty considerations have been a growing part of New Zealand law. Redress efforts have bolstered a dwindling Māori language and culture — now experiencing a resurgence — and resulted in billion-dollar settlements for stolen Māori land.
What did the Treaty Principles Bill say?
The bill sought to end the 185-year conversation about the Treaty’s meaning by enacting in law particular definitions for each clause and specifying that any rights should apply to all New Zealanders. Its author — libertarian lawmaker David Seymour, who is Māori – has decried what he said were special rights and privileges on the basis of race.
In his speech to lawmakers Thursday, Seymour said New Zealanders should all have “the same rights and duties.”
He urged lawmakers outside his party to break ranks and endorse the bill. None did.
What did opponents say?
Parliamentary opposition leader Chris Hipkins lambasted the bill as “a stain on this country” and accused its supporters of spreading “the myth of Māori special privilege.” He cited the disadvantage of Māori on almost every metric — including higher rates of poverty and ill-health and lower life expectancy.
The Treaty of Waitangi “is not about racial privilege or racial superiority,” said opposition lawmaker Willie Jackson. “It is and always has been about legal rights Māori have in their contract with the Crown.”
Parliament received 300,000 written submissions from members of the public — more than a proposed law had ever received before — 90 percent of them opposed to the measures.
“This bill has been absolutely annihilated,” said Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, an opposition lawmaker from Te Pāti Māori, the Māori political party.
Maipi-Clarke faces disciplinary proceedings at Parliament for her protest of the bill’s first vote last November, when she tore up a copy of the measures while performing a haka — a Māori chant of challenge — as she and colleagues walked toward Seymour. The lawmakers refused to attend a hearing on their conduct this month, because they said Parliament does not respect tikanga — Māori cultural protocols.
Why did the measures get so far?
Despite its unpopularity, the proposed law passed its first vote due to a quirk of New Zealand’s political system that allows tiny parties to negotiate outsized influence for their agendas.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon agreed his lawmakers would endorse the bill at its first reading to fulfil a political deal with Seymour that handed Luxon power. Without enough seats to govern after the 2023 election, Luxon negotiated support from two minor parties, including Seymour’s, in return for political concessions.
They included Luxon’s early support for the Treaty Principles bill, although the New Zealand leader always said he would later oppose it. Luxon’s opponents on Thursday derided his political dealings.
What happens next?
The Treaty Principles Bill was not the only measure Luxon agreed to that will scrutinize the Treaty’s influence on New Zealand law and policy. Another of Seymour’s initiatives, already enacted, directed public agencies to stop targeting policies to specifically redress Māori inequities.
Luxon also agreed to consider and either replace or repeal mentions of the Treaty of Waitangi throughout most New Zealand laws.
