KYIV: Ukraine’s foreign minister arrived in China on Tuesday for talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi on ways to achieve a “fair peace” in the war with Russia and also to discuss bilateral relations, he said.
Dmytro Kuleba’s visit is the first by a high-ranking Ukrainian official since Russia’s full-scale February 2022 invasion, which China, the world’s second largest economy, has not publicly condemned.
Kuleba said he would hold “extensive, detailed, substantive negotiations” with his Chinese counterpart, but did not say when the talks would happen. He said earlier his trip would continue until Thursday.
“We must avoid competition between peace plans. It is very important that Kyiv and Beijing conduct a direct dialogue,” he wrote in a statement on Instagram, announcing his arrival in China.
Various peace initiatives have emerged in recent months ahead of a US election in November that could see the return to the White House of former president Donald Trump who has threatened to cut vital aid flows to Ukraine. The United States under President Joe Biden has been Ukraine’s biggest backer.
Kyiv is pushing to hold a second international summit later this year to advance its vision for peace after an initial gathering in Switzerland in June drew dozens of delegations from around the world but not from Russia or China.
Ukraine has said it would like its second summit to be hosted by a “Global South” country and that Russia could attend. Kyiv has also said it would like to see China play a more active role in ending the war.
China and Brazil published a joint six-point peace proposal in May, saying they supported the holding of an international peace conference that both sides in the war would recognize.
Kuleba said his trip to China, the first by a Ukrainian foreign minister since 2012, aimed to develop contacts between Chinese and Ukrainian leaders.
China declared a “no limits” partnership with Russia in 2022 days before the invasion and has helped Russia keep its economy afloat. China says its ties with Russia are built on the basis of non-alliance and do not target any third party.
Ukraine’s foreign minister arrives in China to discuss ‘fair peace’
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Ukraine’s foreign minister arrives in China to discuss ‘fair peace’
- Kuleba said he would hold “extensive, detailed, substantive negotiations” with his Chinese counterpart
- “We must avoid competition between peace plans. It is very important that Kyiv and Beijing conduct a direct dialogue,” he wrote in a statement on Instagram
Judge says US can deport pro-Palestinian student protester
Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans said the government had met its burden to prove it had grounds to deport him, Fox News reported.
“An immigration judge ruled immediately after a hearing today that Mahmoud Khalil is removable under US immigration law,” the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement.
Khalil, a prominent face of the protest movement that erupted in response to Israel’s war in Gaza who is married to a US citizen, was arrested and taken to Louisiana earlier this month, sparking protests. Several other foreign student protesters have been similarly targeted.
Comans had ordered the government to spell out its case against Khalil, who the government is seeking to deport on the grounds that his protest activities are a threat to national security.
In a letter to the court, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted that Khalil’s activism could hurt Washington’s foreign policy.
But he declined to argue formally that the Algeria-born Palestinian student was Hamas-aligned, as officials have told journalists.
The undated letter instead referred to Khalil’s “participation and roles” in allegedly “anti-Semitic protests and disruptive activities which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.”
It made no reference to any alleged crime.
Ahead of the hearing, one of Khalil’s lawyers Marc Van Der Hout said Thursday that he would “be contesting the evidence.”
Chinese president calls on Western countries to support multilateralism
- Xi made no direct mention of Trump or the tariffs totaling 145 percent the US is imposing on Chinese goods, but he referred to “multiple risks and challenges” facing the world that can only be dealt with through “unity and cooperation”
BEIJING: China calls on Western countries to work to support multilateralism and open cooperation, President Xi Jinping told Spain’s visiting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday.
“The two sides should promote the building of a fair and reasonable global governance system, maintain world peace and security, and promote common development and prosperity,” Xi told Sanchez at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing, according to a readout of the meeting by the Xinhua News Agency.
The visit comes at a complex moment for Europe and China. The tariffs announced last week — and then paused — by US President Donald Trump could mean that the European Union pursues more trade with China, the world’s third-largest consumer market after the US and the EU.
Xi made no direct mention of Trump or the tariffs totaling 145 percent the US is imposing on Chinese goods, but he referred to “multiple risks and challenges” facing the world that can only be dealt with through “unity and cooperation.”
Sanchez is making his third trip to the country in two years as his government seeks to boost investment from the Asian giant.
He was also expected to meet with business leaders from several Chinese companies, many of which produce electric batteries or renewable energy technologies.
After meeting Xi, Sanchez said Spain favored “more balanced relations between the EU and China, of finding negotiated solutions to our differences, which we have, and of greater cooperation in common interest.”
He added: “Trade wars are not good, nobody wins. And this is clear; the world needs China and the US to talk.”
Spain’s government spokesperson Pilar Alegría said earlier this week that Sanchez’s trip “has special importance” and is an opportunity to “diversify markets” as Spain faces US tariffs.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called out Spain for its move toward China, saying on Tuesday that Spain — or any country that tries to get closer to China — would be “cutting their own throat” because Chinese manufacturers will be looking to dump goods that they cannot sell in the US.
“Expanding the trade relations that we have with other countries, including a partner as important as China, does not go against anyone,” Spain’s Agriculture Minister Luis Planas, who is accompanying Sanchez, said in Vietnam on Wednesday.
“Everyone has to defend their interests,” Planas said.
Spain — the euro zone’s fourth-largest economy and a leader in growth — has been less adversarial toward China in recent years than other EU countries.
After initially supporting EU tariffs placed last year on Chinese-made electric vehicles over concerns that they enjoy unfair advantages, Spain abstained from a vote on the proposal.
Planas insisted that Spain’s approach to China “contributes to the collective effort made by certain countries in the European Union to get out of this situation.”
While China’s investments in Spain have grown, the Iberian nation trades less with China than Germany or Italy.
“Spain’s position has changed to be more pro-China ... than the average European country,” said Alicia García-Herrero, an economist for Asia Pacific at the French investment bank Natixis and an expert on Europe’s relations with China.
The Southern European country, which generated 56 percent of its electricity last year from renewable sources, needs Chinese critical raw materials, solar panels, and green technologies — similar to other European countries transitioning from fossil fuels.
In December, Chinese electric battery company CATL announced a €4.1 billion($4.5 billion) joint venture with automaker Stellantis to build a battery factory in northern Spain. That followed deals signed last year between Spain and Chinese companies Envision and Hygreen Energy to build green hydrogen infrastructure in the country.
García-Herrero, the economist at French bank Natixis, stressed the political value of the trip for Sánchez at a time when his leftist minority coalition lacks the support needed to get much passed at home and while Europe may be looking to thaw its strained relations with China.
For Spain, the key thing is “to get a leadership position in Europe at a time when the transatlantic alliance is not only at risk but in shambles,” she said.
UN aid chief says to cut 20% of staff due to funding shortfall
- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month announced a new initiative to improve efficiency and cut costs as the world body turns 80 this year amid a cash crisis
NEW YORK: The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs will cut 20 percent of its staff as it faces a shortfall of $58 million, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher has told staff after OCHA’s largest donor — the US — cut funding.
OCHA “currently has a workforce of around 2,600 staff in over 60 countries. The funding shortfall means we are looking to regroup to an organization of around 2,100 staff in fewer locations,” Fletcher wrote in a note.
OCHA works to mobilize aid, share information, support aid efforts, and advocate for those in need during a crisis. It relies heavily on voluntary contributions.
FASTFACT
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs mobilizes aid, shares information, supports aid efforts, and advocates for those in need during a crisis.
“The US alone has been the largest humanitarian donor for decades, and the biggest contributor to OCHA’s program budget,” Fletcher said, noting that its annual contribution of $63 million would have accounted for 20 percent of OCHA’s extrabudgetary resources in 2025.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month announced a new initiative to improve efficiency and cut costs as the world body turns 80 this year amid a cash crisis.
Fletcher said OCHA would “focus more of our resources in the countries where we work” but would work in fewer places.
OCHA “will scale back our presence and operations in Cameroon, Colombia, Eritrea, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Gaziantep (in Turkiye) and Zimbabwe,” Fletcher said.
“As we all know, these exercises are driven by funding cuts announced by member states and not by a reduction of needs,” he said.
“Humanitarian needs are on the rise and have perhaps never been higher, driven by conflicts, climate crises, disease, and the lack of respect of international humanitarian law.”
‘Rejected migrants’ moved to detention centers in Albania
- Italy’s government of Premier Giorgia Meloni approved a decree last month that expanded the use of the Albanian fast-track asylum processing centers to include the detention of rejected asylum-seekers with deportation orders
SHENGJIN: Italian authorities on Friday transferred 40 migrants with no permission to remain in the country to Italian-run migration detention centers in Albania.
It was the first time a EU country sent rejected migrants to a nation outside the EU that is neither their own nor a country they had transited on their journey, migration experts said.
A military ship with the migrants departed the Italian port of Brindisi and arrived hours later in the Albanian port of Shengjin, about 65 km northeast of the capital, Tirana.
FASTFACT
A military ship with the migrants departed the Italian port of Brindisi and arrived hours later in the Albanian port of Shengjin, about 65 km northeast of the capital, Tirana.
The migrants were seen being transferred in buses and minivans under heavy security to an Italian-run center in Shengjin, where they will be processed before being transferred to a second center in Gjader, also run by Italian authorities.
The Italian government has not released their nationalities or further details.
Both facilities in Shengjin and Gjader were initially built to process asylum requests of people intercepted in the Mediterranean Sea by Italy.
But since their inauguration in October, Italian courts have stopped authorities from using them, and small groups of migrants sent there have returned to Italy.
Italy’s government of Premier Giorgia Meloni approved a decree last month that expanded the use of the Albanian fast-track asylum processing centers to include the detention of rejected asylum-seekers with deportation orders.
It is not clear how long the migrants may be held in Albania. They can be detained in Italy for up to 18 months pending deportation.
Meloni’s novel approach to expel the migrants echoes US President Donald Trump’s recent deportations of migrants of various nationalities to Panama.
It’s also in line with a recent EU Commission proposal that, if passed, would allow EU members to set up so-called “return hubs” abroad.
Some experts and rights groups question the transfers Migration experts say it was unclear how legal Italy’s actions were.
Meghan Benton of the Migration Policy Institute said the move likely will be challenged in court.
Speaking from Toulouse, France, Benton said other EU countries are interested in doing the same, including the Netherlands with Uganda.
Francesco Ferri, a migration expert with ActionAid, who was among a group of nongovernmental organizations and Italian lawmakers visiting Albania to follow the migrant transfer, said Italian authorities have failed to clarify what happens to the migrants once they’re in Albania. He said there is no legislation in Italian law, EU law, or the Albania-Italy agreement that would allow rejected asylum-seekers to be deported directly from Albania, making the purpose of the transfer unclear.
“For us, it is unacceptable,” Ferri said.
The Albanian centers opened in October, but they remained substantially inactive due to legal hurdles and broad opposition from human rights associations, which believe they violate international laws and put migrants’ rights at risk.
The November 2023 agreement between Italy and Albania— worth nearly 800 million euros over five years — allows up to 3,000 migrants the Italian coast guard intercepted in international waters each month to be sheltered in Albania and vetted for possible asylum in Italy or repatriation.
Italy has agreed to welcome those migrants who are granted asylum, while those whose applications are rejected face deportation directly from Albania.
The first three groups of 73 migrants transferred there in October, November, and January spent only a few hours in Albania.
They were returned to Italy after Italian magistrates refused to validate their detention in a non-EU country.
So far this year, 11,438 migrants landed on Italian shores, less than the 16,090 who arrived in the same period last year.
According to the Italian Interior Ministry, most arrived from Bangladesh, followed by Syria, Tunisia, and Egypt. Irregular border crossings were 31 percent lower across the EU, according to figures released by the EU’s Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex.
Spike in wounded as fighting intensifies in parts of Somalia
- Military operations continue in Bari in Puntland, while confrontations often occur in Sool and Sanaag regions in the north, the organization said
MOGADISHU: Hospitals in parts of Somalia are struggling with rising numbers of wounded after a sharp increase in fighting since the beginning of the year, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Friday.
Recent attacks, including a roadside blast narrowly missing the president’s convoy last month, are heightening fears of a resurgence by terrorists, despite gains by the Somali government and international partners.
After 15 years of fighting federal troops, Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab had been forced onto the defensive in 2022 and 2023 by Somali forces backed by Africa Union-led peacekeepers.
“Several regions of Somalia have seen a sharp escalation of hostilities, and hospitals near active front lines are struggling to meet a surge in needs,” the ICRC said in a statement.
“We have seen a significant increase of weapon-wounded patients treated in the medical facilities we support since the beginning of the year.” In Mogadishu, Madina Hospital supported by the ICRC, has admitted 203 wounded — a 26-percent increase from the previous three months.
The ICRC said the Middle and Lower Shabelle regions in the south had seen a significant increase in fighting since March, with displacements and civilian casualties.
Military operations continue in Bari in Puntland, while confrontations often occur in Sool and Sanaag regions in the north, the organization said.
The surge in fighting across Somalia has also forced more than 100,000 to flee their homes, the ICRC said.
Earlier this month, Al-Shabab militants fired multiple rockets near Mogadishu’s airport, disrupting international flights.
The group has seized key locations in Middle and Lower Shabelle, coastal regions on either side of the capital.
A bomb blast narrowly missed the convoy of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on March 18, showing the group once again poses a significant threat to the capital.
