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China’s Top Diplomat to Visit Russia for Ukraine Talks 

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a press conference with France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Beijing on March 27, 2025. (AFP)
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a press conference with France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Beijing on March 27, 2025. (AFP)
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China’s Top Diplomat to Visit Russia for Ukraine Talks 

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a press conference with France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Beijing on March 27, 2025. (AFP)
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a press conference with France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot in Beijing on March 27, 2025. (AFP)

Top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi will visit Russia next week for talks on issues including the resolution of the war in Ukraine, both countries said on Friday.

Beijing and Moscow have ramped up economic cooperation and diplomatic contacts in recent years and their strategic partnership has only grown closer since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

China presents itself as a neutral party in that war and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western nations.

But it is a close political and economic ally of Russia and NATO members have branded Beijing a "decisive enabler" of the war -- which it has never condemned.

"At the invitation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov... Foreign Minister Wang Yi will pay an official visit to Russia from March 31 to April 2," a foreign ministry spokesperson said.

The visit will see him meet with Russian leaders and hold talks with Lavrov, Beijing said.

"China is willing to take this visit as an opportunity to work with Russia to promote the implementation of the important consensus reached by the two heads of state," foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a briefing.

He will also hold "in-depth communication on the development of China-Russia relations in the next stage and international and regional issues of common concern to both sides", he said.

Moscow's foreign ministry said the visit will see them discuss "bilateral relations, high-level contacts -- including the highest level -- as well as the most pressing issues on the international agenda, including prospects for resolving the crisis around Ukraine".

Last month Beijing hosted top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu, just days after President Xi Jinping spoke with his counterpart Vladimir Putin and hailed Moscow's "positive efforts to defuse" the Ukraine crisis.

China has said it welcomes all steps towards a ceasefire in the conflict.

But Beijing has faced consistent calls to do more to press Moscow to enter into negotiations and end its war in Ukraine.

In the Chinese capital on Thursday, France's top diplomat told Wang Yi that China "has a role to play in convincing Russia to come to the negotiating table with serious and good-faith proposals".

Moscow has said the leaders of Russia and China will visit each other to mark events commemorating the end of World War II.

Xi's visit will coincide with events marking victory in what Russia calls the "Great Patriotic War" on May 9.

Putin, in turn, will visit China at the end of August and beginning of September, Moscow said.

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World

Flash Flooding Eases in Australia's Largest City Sydney

Some of the more than ten cars washed into the surf by the flood at the Cumberland River Caravan park after flash flooding near the Wye River, Australia, 16 January 2026. EPA/MICHAEL CURRIE AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT
Some of the more than ten cars washed into the surf by the flood at the Cumberland River Caravan park after flash flooding near the Wye River, Australia, 16 January 2026. EPA/MICHAEL CURRIE AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT
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Flash Flooding Eases in Australia's Largest City Sydney

Some of the more than ten cars washed into the surf by the flood at the Cumberland River Caravan park after flash flooding near the Wye River, Australia, 16 January 2026. EPA/MICHAEL CURRIE AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT
Some of the more than ten cars washed into the surf by the flood at the Cumberland River Caravan park after flash flooding near the Wye River, Australia, 16 January 2026. EPA/MICHAEL CURRIE AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT

Australian authorities on Sunday downgraded a flood alert for a suburb of the country's largest city Sydney, after residents were evacuated due to rising waters sparked by torrential rains, said Reuters. 

Flooding was "receding and ‌no further ‌significant rise ‌in flood ⁠levels is expected," ‌State Emergency Services said on Sunday afternoon, referring to the suburb of Narrabeen, a beachside area with a population of around 8,000. 

Residents and holidaymakers in the low-lying area ⁠of New South Wales capital Sydney had ‌been told late on ‍Saturday to evacuate to ‍higher ground due to dangerous ‍flash flooding, according to state authorities. 

Climate change is causing heavy short-term rainfall events to become more intense in Australia, the country's science agency said last year. 

Emergency crews responded to more ⁠than 1,700 incidents in New South Wales since the heavy rain hit on Saturday, the state authorities said. 

A woman died on Saturday amid the wild weather after being hit by a falling tree branch near Wollongong, about 66 km (41 miles) south of Sydney, the Australian ‌Broadcasting Corporation reported. 

 

 

 

 

World

'Bring it On': UK's Labor Readies for EU Reset Fight

British PM Keir Starmer (L) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held a UK-EU summit in London in 2025. Carl Court / POOL/AFP
British PM Keir Starmer (L) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held a UK-EU summit in London in 2025. Carl Court / POOL/AFP
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'Bring it On': UK's Labor Readies for EU Reset Fight

British PM Keir Starmer (L) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held a UK-EU summit in London in 2025. Carl Court / POOL/AFP
British PM Keir Starmer (L) and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held a UK-EU summit in London in 2025. Carl Court / POOL/AFP

Britain's so-called Brexit wars dominated parliament for years. Now the Labor government is bracing for new battles as it eyes legislation to move closer to the European Union.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer immediately set about repairing and rebuilding relations with the 27-member bloc after winning the July 2024 election that ousted the Conservatives after 14 years in power.

He hopes a deeper relationship with European neighbors can help fire up Britain's insipid economy and inject life into a premiership that has so far been deeply unpopular with the public.

His Labor government is preparing to introduce a bill that would provide a legal framework for his much-touted "reset" of relations with the EU.

Despite Labor's crushing majority in parliament, the move is expected to be fiercely opposed by the right-wing opposition parties -- the Conservatives, who took Britain out of the EU, and hard-right Reform UK, which leads opinion polls.

"Bring it on," a UK government official told AFP, referring to likely "Brexit betrayal" claims from the Tories and Reform's leader, arch-Eurosceptic Nigel Farage.

The move also risks splitting open divisions within Labor, including over whether the party should breach a manifesto promise not to rejoin the EU customs union.

Last year, Starmer struck an economic agreement with EU leaders that aims to boost trade by easing red tape on food and plant exports.

They also agreed to work on a new electricity deal that would integrate the UK into the EU's internal electricity market, with the intention of lowering energy costs.

- 'Brexit damage' -

The agreements form part of Britain aligning itself with EU rules in certain areas.

The bill has not been published yet but the government official, who asked not to be named, said it would provide a "mechanism" for an alignment.

"The bill will provide the powers to adopt the rules and set out the role parliament will play in that," the official said.

The government hopes to introduce the legislation in the spring or summer, meaning it could coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum, which was held in June 2016.

Three years of bitter parliamentary wrangling about what Britain's relationship with the EU should look like post-departure followed the vote, ultimately leading to the resignation of Theresa May as prime minister.

The deadlock was broken when her successor, Boris Johnson, won a landslide general election victory in December 2019 to force through the exit.

Opinion polls regularly now show that most Britons regret the razor-thin vote to leave the EU and view the Brexit project as a failure, something Starmer hopes can work in his favor.

"Labor members are almost wholly united in wanting to see some of the damage done by the Tory-Farage Brexit exposed and fixed," said one supportive Labor MP.

"Closer alignment helps our economic message, has the backing of members and most MPs, and will provide a boost to British business," the lawmaker, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

But not all Labor MPs are in agreement.

Thirteen of them recently voted in favor of a bill by the pro-EU centrist Liberal Democrat party that called for the UK to begin negotiations to rejoin a customs union with the EU.

- 'Do more' -

Health Secretary Wes Streeting, widely seen as the favorite to succeed Starmer as Labor's next leader, has indicated his support for such an agreement.

Starmer has come out against a customs union, however, insisting that he favors closer realignment with the EU's single market.

"I want us to do more," one Labor MP who feels Starmer is not being bold enough told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Other Labor lawmakers would rather he left the issue alone.

"We said we wouldn't re-open the Brexit debate and now we are doing exactly that," MP Jonathan Hinder told AFP.

"We can create a fairer, socialist Britain while outside the EU and that is what we should be focused on doing."

A UK government spokesperson said in a statement that the reset was "improving our diplomatic, economic and security cooperation and will be worth £9.0 billion ($12 billion) to the UK economy by 2040".

"We will legislate to deliver on this and further details of the bill will be announced in due course."

The deputy director for the Center for European Reform think tank, Ian Bond, said that whether the bill is "a game changer will depend on exactly how much latitude the British government gives itself".

"If it holds its nerve, it really doesn't need to pay any attention to these noises," he said.

But he added he felt ministers were "all terrified that if they do anything too bold, Reform will criticize them for it".

World

Protester Arrested after Climbing Roof of Iran's Embassy in London

Iranians who live in Greece gather to rally outside the Iranian embassy in Athens, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in support of Iran's anti-government protests. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Iranians who live in Greece gather to rally outside the Iranian embassy in Athens, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in support of Iran's anti-government protests. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
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Protester Arrested after Climbing Roof of Iran's Embassy in London

Iranians who live in Greece gather to rally outside the Iranian embassy in Athens, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in support of Iran's anti-government protests. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Iranians who live in Greece gather to rally outside the Iranian embassy in Athens, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026, in support of Iran's anti-government protests. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A protester who climbed onto the roof of Iran's embassy in London and removed a flag was arrested with several others, police said late on Friday, adding multiple officers were injured in the demonstrations, said AFP.

"During the ongoing protest at the Iranian Embassy this evening, a protester illegally accessed private property and climbed across multiple balconies onto the roof of the Embassy and removed a flag," the Metropolitan Police said in a post on X.

"Several officers have suffered injuries," the UK capital's police added, saying in the "ongoing disorder" objects had been thrown at officers and "a number of people have been arrested on suspicion of violent disorder".

London police said last week they were deploying additional officers to "prevent any disorder" and protect the Iranian embassy.

On Saturday last week, a protester briefly replaced the embassy's flag with a former flag flown before Iran's revolution in 1979.

Iran has seen its largest demonstrations in years in the past few weeks, challenging the country's theocratic system in protests that have killed thousands but subsided in recent days, according to monitors.

Demonstrations sparked by economic grievances began with a shutdown in the Tehran bazaar on December 28 but turned into a mass movement demanding the removal of the clerical system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution.