News in Brief (2023-10-16)
Monday, 16 October 2023
Putin to visit China to deepen 'no
limits' partnership with Xi
MOSCOW/BEIJING, Oct 15: Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Xi Jinping in China this week in a bid to deepen a partnership forged between the United States' two biggest strategic competitors. Putin will attend the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Oct. 17-18, his first trip outside the former Soviet Union since the Hague-based International Criminal Court issued a warrant for him in March over the deportation of children from Ukraine. China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 when Putin visited Beijing just days before he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine, triggering the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two. — Reuters
Afghanistan hit by third earthquake in a week
KABUL, Oct 15: A new earthquake has hit western Afghanistan - several days after two large tremors in the region killed more than 1,000 people. The US Geological Survey (USGS) says the magnitude 6.3 quake struck near the city of Herat. It was at a depth of 6.3km (four miles). At least one person has died, according to local health authorities. Another 100 are being treated for injuries in the regional hospital, the World Health Organisation said. More than 90 per cent of those who died in the earlier quakes were women and children, the UN's children agency Unicef said. — AP
Myanmar military marks rebel ceasefire despite rebel clashes
NAYPYIDAW (Myanmar), Oct 15: Myanmar's junta blocked roads and deployed heavy security in the military-built capital Naypyidaw on Sunday to mark the anniversary of a 2015 rebel ceasefire that its critics say is now defunct. Over a dozen rebel groups have fought Myanmar's military for decades over autonomy and control of lucrative resources, but ten had signed a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). Critics of the NCA say it is in tatters since the junta's 2021 coup, which unleashed a bloody crackdown on dissent and sparked renewed fighting with some of its signatories. — AFP
Aliyev raises Azerbaijan's flag in former
breakaway region of Karabakh
MOSCOW, Oct 15: Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Sunday raised the national flag in the capital of the former breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh after a lightning military operation last month brought the territory back under Azerbaijan's control. — Reuters