Russia prevents transfers for humanitarian reasons, and Moscow has signaled this deportations will continue. Putin’s trip to Crimea mainly concerned a visit to a children’s center.
China’s role
Beijing is Moscow’s most important ally and was a key economic partner throughout the war. Today’s meeting will give Putin an opportunity to argue that international support for Ukraine is limited to the West, a familiar refrain.
China makes a general assessment of Xi Jinping’s three-day visit an opportunity to pressure Putin into peace talks, suggesting that a phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, could follow. But neither Ukraine nor Russia seems ready to negotiateand the visit is widely seen as the most visible sign yet Xi’s support for Putin.
Western officials have warned that China is considering whether to provide arms to Russia, which Beijing denies. And Xi is getting more determined challenge the idea of a US-led global order by drawing other countries into a closer orbit with China.
The meaning of Mariupol
For Ukraine, it is a symbol of the country’s agony and resistance. The city was destroyed by Russian forces. The UN said at least 1,300 people died in the battle there, but that actual tolls there were probably thousands more. The last defenders of Ukraine held out 80-day steel mill siege.
For Russia, Mariupol is the center of the Kremlin’s movement. It’s in the Donbas region, and Putin used the bogus argument that Ukraine was committing “genocide” there to help justify the invasion. The visit was the closest Putin has come to the front lines since the invasion.
Trump says his arrest is imminent
Former President Donald Trump he claimed he would be arrested tomorrow and called on his supporters to take his side. But while the Manhattan District Attorney he signaled that he is preparing to be charged with a crime and a grand jury is he is expected to be charged Donald Trump, the timing is unclear.
Trump would be the first former president to be charged with a crime. On Saturday morning, Trump called on people to “PROTEST, TAKE THE NATION BACK!” on his Truth Social network.
A Trump spokesman quickly hedged, saying the former president had no direct knowledge of the timing. My colleagues report that prosecutors have not told Trump’s lawyers when charges will be sought.
The charges would probably come from a hush-hush payment of $130,000 to Stormy Danielsa porn star, on the eve of the 2016 election. It wouldn’t be a simple case: prosecutors are expected to use a legal theory that hasn’t been tried in New York courts.
race 2024: Trump leads his Republican opponents in most polls.
UBS buys Credit Suisse
In a hastily agreed deal to bolster the global banking sector, UBS has agreed to buy Credit Suisse. Switzerland has orchestrated the deal, the most severe yet from the recent financial turmoil.
UBSis is expected to buy its beleaguered rival for a fraction of the $9.5 billion it was valued at on Friday. In support of UBS, the Swiss National Bank agreed to a loan of up to $108.8 billion.
Swiss government officials and regulators said the deal was the most effective way to reassure investors after Credit Suisse’s shares fell this month in the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank implosion.
Context: Credit Suisse was hit by panic, but its troubles were largely self-inflicted. Recent scandals and financial missteps have cost it billions of dollars and damaged its reputation.
LATEST NEWS
China
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Opponents of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau say so leaked intelligence reports showed he had ignored warnings about Chinese meddling in past elections.
Asia and the Pacific
Camp Naru is a paradise for Korean Americans. It is designed to help young people in the diaspora – adopted and otherwise – reconnect with their heritage and one with the other.
ART AND IDEAS
The invasion of Iraq 20 years later
On March 20, 2003, the United States invaded Iraq as part of its “war on terror” following the al-Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001. It began with an airstrike to overthrow Saddam Hussein and became an occupation, then a counter-insurgency war, and then a sectarian civil war.
Iraq is now freer, but not more hopeful. Sectarian fighting continues. The oil-rich nation is crippled by corruption. There are few jobs in the private sector and many government jobs require bribes. Almost everyone lost someone during the war.
Iran, his old enemy, benefit. It built a loyal militia inside Iraq, won deep political influence and reaped economic benefits. Iran’s rise has revealed unintended consequences of American strategy, analysts and former officials say.
Justification: Historians and officials they are still debating justification for the American invasion.
More: See photos from the war.
