Monday, February 20, 2023

Six In The Morning Monday 20 February 2023

 

Biden visits Zelensky in Kyiv and says Putin 'dead wrong' on Ukraine war


By James Waterhouse, Alice Cuddy and Kathryn Armstrong
in Kyiv & London


The US will back Ukraine in its fight against Russia for "as long as it takes" President Joe Biden said as he made an unannounced and symbolic visit to the capital, Kyiv.

"We have every confidence you're going to continue to prevail," he said.

Mr Biden's first trip to Ukraine as president came days before the first anniversary of Russia's invasion.

He said President Putin had been "dead wrong" to think Russia could outlast Ukraine and its Western allies.

He met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the pair visited a memorial to soldiers who have died in the nine years since Russia annexed Crimea and its proxy forces captured parts of the eastern Donbas region.


Bangladesh shuts down main opposition newspaper

Campaigners fear media crackdown under PM Sheikh Hasina after suspension order upheld

Agence France-Presse in Dhaka


The only newspaper of Bangladesh’s main opposition party has stopped publishing after a government suspension order was upheld, stoking fears about media freedom in the south Asian nation.

Campaigners and foreign governments including the US have long expressed worries about efforts by the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to silence criticism and what they see as creeping authoritarianism.

The Dainik Dinkal, a broadsheet Bengali-language newspaper, has been a vital voice of the Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP) for more than three decades. It employs hundreds of journalists and press workers and covers news stories that the mainstream newspapers, most of which are controlled by pro-government businesspeople, rarely do.


More than 350,000 pregnant women who survived Turkey-Syria earthquake need urgent healthcare

Pregnant women who lost relatives, friends, and homes in quake take refuge in makeshift camps where it is difficult to access food and clean water

Maya Oppenheim

More than 350,000 pregnant women who survived the Turkey-Syria earthquake are in urgent need of healthcare, experts have warned.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the arm of the United Nations dedicated to sexual and reproductive health, said around 38,000 of these women are due to give birth in the next month.

Pregnant women, who have lost relatives, friends, and homes in the earthquake, are being forced to put their health at risk as they take refuge in makeshift camps where it is difficult to access food and clean water, the agency said.

It said women are struggling to access sexual and reproductive healthcare as thousands of buildings, including hospitals and services which they support, have been destroyed or badly damaged.


China says US claim it may arm Russia is 'false'


The US had said China was possibly considering supplying Russia with weapons amid the war in Ukraine. But Beijing insisted it was Washington that was "endlessly shipping weapons to the battlefield."


China on Monday condemned claims by the US that Beijing was considering providing weapons to Russia in its war against Ukraine. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview aired Sunday that American intelligence pointed to China possibly arming its ally Russia, saying that such involvement would be a "serious problem." 

China has refused to criticize Russia for the war and has also avoided calling it an invasion in deference to Moscow.

Rebels and troops clash in DR Congo despite summit call


Fighting flared on Monday between the DR Congo's army and M23 rebels in the country's troubled east, just days after African leaders called for a ceasefire and a pullback by armed groups.

"There have been clashes since 5:00 am with the M23" in the Kitshanga area, northwest of the main eastern city of Goma, a security source said.

"They are rebels, they don't care about summits," said local civil society leader Toby Kahangu, referring to the meeting last week in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa.


China provinces and Florida among the most climate-vulnerable regions in the world, analysis finds

Updated 9:22 AM EST, Mon February 20, 2023


China is home to 16 of the 20 regions of the world most vulnerable to climate change, according to data published on Monday, with some of the world’s most important manufacturing hubs at risk from rising water levels and extreme weather.

The state of Florida ranked as the most vulnerable region outside of China.

Climate risk specialists XDI assessed more than 2,600 regions worldwide, using climate models together with weather and environmental data to assess the economic damage that temperature rises could cause by 2050.

The study is based on a 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) increase in temperatures by the end of the century, under a scenario drawn up by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.






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