China--Ukraine relations: Presidents XI and Zelenskyy hold productive telephone conversation as China promises to send a special envoy to Ukraine

More than 14 months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Chinese President Xi Jinping held his first phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday.

China emphasized that its core position is promoting peace talks while promising to send a special envoy to Ukraine and hold talks with all parties in the ongoing conflict.

Zelenskyy characterized the talks with Xi as "long and meaningful."

"I believe that this call, as well as the appointment of Ukraine's ambassador to China, will give a powerful impetus to the development of our bilateral relations," Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.

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Turkey: Should Turks living abroad be allowed to vote ?

"I need to know who is ruling my country, if I am given this right, I need to have a say. It is my country at the end of the day,” she tells Euronews"

“We keep the ties alive with our home country. We always travel and stay there for months sometimes. When there, we use the same daily services such as hospitals and post offices with the people residing in Turkey. So why shouldn’t we?”

“People criticise me for living in London and being involved in Turkish politics,” she continues.

“I tell them, when I left Turkey, the atmosphere was different. We just had a massive earthquake at the time in 1999. I didn’t have many opportunities for work. The general situation wasn’t so great. But although I believe things have improved, it is not easy for someone to relocate at a certain age when you need your children and grandchildren around you”.

Read more at: https://www.euronews.com

Turkey: can Erdogan pull it off one more time ?

A talented orator and wily politician credited with lifting millions of Turks into the middle class, Recep Tayyip Erdogan transformed the country as only Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic, accomplished before him. The 69-year-old Turkish president is now running for a third term. But the upcoming presidential election in May is no cakewalk for the seasoned politician with polls suggesting he could be defeated by opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu. 

A profound economic crisis coupled with skyrocketing inflation, deep political tensions and mounting anger over his handling of the February 6 earthquakes, which killed more than 50,000 people, could cost Erdogan his place in the Ak Saray presidential palace. Turkish political scientist and publisher Ahmet Insel spoke to FRANCE 24 about Erdogan’s political legacy and the stakes in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections. 

Read the complete report in https://www.france24.com/en/vod/latest-news

Ukraine war and EU weapons donation: Euro 1 billion approved program must come from Europeaan corporations.

How European should European weapons be?

That is the question currently occupying the minds of diplomats in Brussels, who continue haggling about the technical details of a €1-billion initiative to jointly buy ammunition for Ukraine.

Despite a political agreement reached one month ago, the novel proposal finds itself stuck in negotiations, a delay that stands in stark contrast with the brutal developments on the battlefield.

Read more at: https://www.euronews.com

Brasil - Russia relations: President Lula recomments negotiations with Ukraine instead of disasterous war

Lula is fresh off a trip to China and the United Arab Emirates, during which he raised eyebrows in the West by accusing the United States of "encouraging the war" in Ukraine.

He also said the United States and Europe "need to start talking about peace," and that Kyiv shares the blame for the conflict, which began in February 2022 when Russian forces poured into Ukraine in an attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government and annex swaths of the pro-Western country.

His remarks echoed a line frequently used by Moscow and Beijing, which blame the West for the war.

Sergei Lavrov, Russia's top diplomat, thanked Lula on Monday for his offer to mediate peace talks on the 14-month war.

Read more at: https://www.france24.com

USA: Pentagon security breach discovered - Russian scammers suspected

I t's been less than a week since a leak of highly classified military documents on the Ukraine war surfaced, sending the Pentagon into full-speed damage control to assure allies and assess the scope of the information revealed.

The information on scores of slides has publicized potential vulnerabilities in Ukraine's air defence capabilities and exposed private assessments by allies on an array of intelligence matters, raising questions about whether the leak will erode allies' trust in sharing information with the U.S. or impact Ukraine's plans to intensify the fight against Russia this spring.

Read more at: https://www.cbc.com

Religion : "to be or not to be"

The 5 gifts of life 1) God the creator 2) love 3) family, 4) Peace 5) Health and the 5 DESTRUCTIVE forces which try to oppose  these gifts 1) Organized Religion 2) Nationalism 3) Greed 4) Politics 5) Militarism.

https;//www.eu-digest.com

Russia; Wall Street journalist is arrested by Russia accused of spying

The United States on Monday determined that Russia has "wrongfully detained" American Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, effectively saying that espionage charges are bogus and that the case is political

"Journalism is not a crime," U.S. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a statement.

Read more at; https://www.dw.com

EU: Younger population in EU under financial pressure

Young people in Europe are at greater risk of falling into poverty than the overall population, according to Eurostat. 

Their latest figures show that 20% of young people aged 15-29 were at risk of poverty in 2021, while the at-risk-of-poverty rate for the total population of the EU stood at 17%. 

The at-risk-of-poverty metric compares those on low incomes to other residents of the same country

Read more at; https//www.euronews.com

EU: high corporate profits during bad economic times are bad for consumers

When major oil companies announced record earnings in February, even US President Joe Biden was appalled. The White House said it was "outrageous" that ExxonMobil had raked in a profit of $56 billion (€51 billion) in 2022 as consumers were grappling with inflation rates not seen in decades.

Top policymakers in Europe have also weighed in on the issue, imposing windfall taxes on energy firms. Even though price pressures have eased lately from their record levels, the eurozone is still reeling from elevated inflation levels. Consumer prices in the common currency area rose 6.9% in March from a year earlier, keeping inflation at more than three times the European Central Bank's target of 2%.

Read more at: https://www.dw.com

International Law: Must the US respect international laws ?

Attorneys often experience a passionate client coming into their office and insisting that they have a case based on something they read about happening in another country. In other instances, people will invoke rights they believe they have under treaties or international agreements like the Geneva Convention. Thus, many wonder whether American courts must follow international laws?

Sadly, the question is a mix of politics and law, so a definitive answer is difficult to manage. Generally speaking, if the United States is the party to a legal action, it is supposed to be bound to the obligations to which it has agreed in treaties with other nations. For example, if the United States has an extradition agreement with another nation, it should be obligated to follow that treaty. That would mean having to turn over an individual accused of a crime that would also be a crime in the United States. For the most part, the US will abide by such agreements. But, there have been instances where the government has refused to turn someon in for political reasons.

Read more at: https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/does-america-have-to-follow-international-laws-35594