Tag: World News

WASHINGTON—Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned of a looming Russian offensive against Ukraine and proposed a last-ditch diplomatic meeting with his Russian counterpart next week that he said could lead to a summit of key leaders. Mr. Blinken spoke at a United Nations Security Council meeting Thursday just hours after Russia told the U.S. in a formal document that it might resort to “military-technical measures” if it didn’t receive legally binding security assurances.

OTTAWA—Police began arrests of people protesting against Covid-19 mandates on Thursday evening, including two organizers, after promising imminent action to remove a weekslong encampment from the streets of Canada’s capital city. The arrests came after multiple warnings from police to those involved in the blockade—known as the Freedom Convoy and now in its third week—that they would face severe penalties if they didn’t leave the area voluntarily. Two of the protest group’s organizers, Chris Barber and Tamara Lich, were among those arrested on Thursday evening.

Violence escalated in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, with Russian-backed separatists and authorities in Kyiv trading accusations over cease-fire violations along the front line, as President Biden said Moscow was fabricating a pretext to invade its neighbor and warned the threat of a Russian incursion remained “very high.” Adding to the tension, the Kremlin threatened in a letter to the U.S. to resort to unspecified “military-technical measures” if it didn’t receive from the U.S. and its allies legally binding guarantees of its security, which include a pledge from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that it would never allow Ukraine to join, as well as curbs on troop deployments in Eastern Europe.

SÃO PAULO—Landslides killed more than 100 people and left dozens more missing this week in the historic mountain city of Petrópolis, Brazil, sending distraught relatives and emergency crews on a desperate search Thursday for survivors in deep mud that covered whole neighborhoods. The region’s heaviest rainfall in 90 years triggered mass mudslides in the picturesque city, crushing homes, toppling buses and sending massive rocks the size of cars hurtling down hillsides. Police had recovered 105 bodies and have reports that another 134 are missing in Petrópolis, located north of Rio de Janeiro.

ROME—The crown jewels usually bring to mind kingly treasures. Yet for the past 75 years, Italy’s own glittery trove was largely forgotten. In the aftermath of World War II, Italy’s last king and his family left Rome in a hurry after Italians voted to dump them for a republic in June 1946. A few days after the referendum, a representative of the ousted family stashed the crown jewels in a deposit box at the Bank of Italy, where they remain.

HONG KONG—Officials are considering citywide coronavirus testing in Hong Kong, adopting a strategy used in mainland China after Beijing demanded more be done to control an Omicron surge that has quickly overrun the city’s health system. Under the plan, all 7.4 million residents would be tested from early March with Chinese authorities sending health experts and medical workers to help carry out the mammoth task, people familiar with the matter said. Some tests would be sent across the border to Shenzhen for results to be processed quickly, one person said.

KURSK, Russia—In 2014, when fighting broke out in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, thousands of Russian-speaking residents fled just over the border to Kursk.Today, the region of Kursk is the site of part of the massive buildup of Russian troops that Western officials fear could be a precursor to an invasion of Ukraine. Some residents of Kursk, including those who volunteered to fight alongside pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas eight years ago, are ready to take up arms in case of war, eager to defend Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine against what the Kremlin says is the threat of persecution. Anastasiya Babir, a 37-year-old resident who was injured in fighting in the Donbas in 2014 and 2015, says she would support the...

Canadian police on Sunday arrested protesters in a renewed effort to clear access to a crucial bridge connecting Detroit with the Canadian border city of Windsor, Ontario. Over 100 police officers surrounded the remaining protesters on a main street that leads to access to the Ambassador Bridge, over which hundreds of millions of dollars of goods are transported by trucks into the U.S. and Canada each day.

The direct economic harm caused by the Omicron variant of Covid-19 in highly vaccinated countries appears so far to be relatively modest and short-lived, but its indirect hit could prove significant if China resorts to repeated lockdowns in its effort to suppress the virus within its borders. Omicron led to a fresh surge in infections wherever it gained a foothold, a rise in deaths, and disruptions for businesses as infected workers sought medical treatment or quarantined.

DUBAI—Saudi Arabia transferred shares worth about $80 billion in oil giant Aramco to its wealth fund as part of efforts to diversify the kingdom’s hydrocarbon-dependent economy.The transfer of a 4% stake in state-owned Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Aramco, will support the Public Investment Fund’s plan to grow its assets under management to over $1 trillion by 2025, from about $480 billion currently, the Saudi government said Sunday. The Saudi government, which will remain the largest shareholder in Aramco with a stake of more than 94%, has sought to monetize the country’s massive oil assets and use the proceeds to invest in industries outside of oil as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to restructure the economy by 2030. To help meet that goal, Prince Mohammed, the kingdom...