UN calls for $4.2bn in 2024 humanitarian aid for war-ravaged Ukraine
UN agency seeks funding to deliver aid to 8.5 million people in war-ravaged spots and 2.3 million refugees. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has appealed for $4.2bn in humanitarian aid for Ukraine in 2024. The UN agency called on Monday for donors to provide the funds to support Ukrainian communities and refugees, as the war sparked by Russia’s invasion nears its second anniversary. “Hundreds of thousands of children live in communities on the front lines of the war, terrified, traumatised and deprived of their basic needs,” said UN aid chief Martin Griffiths. “That fact alone should compel us to do everything we can to bring more humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.” “Homes, schools and hospitals are repeatedly hit, as are water, gas and power systems,” he added. “The very fabric of society is under attack with devastating consequences.” As part of the appeal for funding, OCHA is asking for $3.1bn to help 8.5 million people in dire need of humanitarian aid this year. The UN agency is also seeking $1.1bn to support 2.3 million Ukrainian refugees and their host communities. OCHA received just 67 percent of the $3.9bn for which it appealed last year. It said it has reduced its appeal for Ukraine in 2024 in view of other humanitarian crises around the globe, including in Gaza and Sudan, that also require urgent funding. “The competition for funding is getting greater, there is no question about it,” Griffiths said. “As we go into 2024, the competition for funding is going to be more difficult than 2023.” Millions in need OCHA said more than 14.6 million people, or 40 percent of Ukraine’s population, will need humanitarian assistance this year due to Russia’s invasion and attacks. More than 3.3 million of these live in front-line communities in the east and the south of the country, including in territories occupied by Russia, which OCHA humanitarian convoys have been unable to access since the start of the conflict. “We continue to remain in negotiation with the Russian government about how to get access to those people who are perhaps in the most urgent of need, since it has now been two years since any real, effective, regular, reliable humanitarian aid has reached them,” Griffiths said. The UN said that Ukrainian refugees in neighbouring countries “also need increased and sustained support.” It said that only half of school-age refugee children are enrolled in schools, only 40-60 percent of adults are employed, and “many remain vulnerable with no means to support themselves”. Russia’s invasion, launched in February 2022, has forced some 6.3 million people to flee abroad. Four million people, including nearly one million children, remain displaced within the country, according to OCHA. “Host countries continue to extend protection and include them in society, but many vulnerable refugees still need help,” said Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. “They shouldn’t feel pressed to return because they cannot make ends meet in exile.” Adblock test (Why?)
‘A new spring’: Guatemala’s Arevalo becomes president after Congress delays
Guatemala City, Guatemala – Growing up, Joaquina Perez says her mother always told her that Juan Jose Arevalo was the country’s best president, as he ushered in progressive reforms into the Central American country between 1945 and 1950. Decades later, the 63-year-old was filled with excitement as she travelled 193km (120 miles) from her home in the city of Retalhuleu in the country’s southwest with others from the local pro-democracy movement to see the former president’s son, Bernardo Arevalo, take office as Guatemala’s new president. “We are happy because we have high hopes with [Bernardo] Arevalo,” Perez told Al Jazeera in Guatemala City’s Central Plaza. “We saw an opportunity for [change] with the Seed Movement and with Arevalo,” she said, referring to the president-elect’s popular anticorruption platform that has drawn wide support from across the impoverished Central American nation. “That is why we are here.” On Sunday, close to midnight, Arevalo was finally sworn in as Guatemala’s president after months of efforts by the country’s long-ruling elite and a conservative-leaning Congress to derail his rise to power, despite his landslide win in an August run-off against businesswoman and former first lady Sandra Torres. But the inauguration followed hours of delay as Congress negotiated the formation of a new Directive Council, the body that guides the legislature’s sessions and helps shape its agenda. An atmosphere of joy and celebration on the streets of Guatemala City briefly gave way to anger. Earlier in the day, live music played across Guatemala City’s historic centre, as thousands of people like Perez travelled from across the country, with some sleeping in the plaza the night before, to witness the swearing-in. As the hours ticked by, they gathered outside the congressional building to protest against delays after breaking down police barriers around Congress. The United States, the European Union and the Organization of American States, among others, issued messages reaffirming their belief in Arevalo’s election, and calling for him to be sworn in. “We need this to happen right now,” Ingrid Arana, a 53-year-old resident of Guatemala City, told Al Jazeera on the peripheries of the protests. “Time has passed and the decision has not been made. Those in Congress have not finished the session.” “Arevalo represents a new spring for the country,” she said. “A great opportunity for Guatemala, that will improve the conditions that have occurred [we live in] due to so much corruption.” By late evening, Congress agreed to recognise the Seed Movement party days after temporarily suspending it and insisting that its lawmakers join the legislature as independent members. Arevalo’s party also won the presidency of the Congress, giving it influence in shaping the body’s agenda. Yet, the last-minute hurdles to his inauguration only underscored the challenges he faces as he tries to reform a political system where many who wield power feel threatened by Arevalo. Guatemala’s Indigenous communities have been at the forefront of support for Arevalo [Jeff Abbott/ Al Jazeera] Outsider candidate The 65-year-old career academic and diplomat-turned-politician has long spoken out against corruption in the Central American country and campaigned on the promise of reviving trust in state institutions that have abandoned communities for decades. “Regaining confidence in the institutions of the state is the fundamental contribution to have a stable future in our country,” Arevalo told Al Jazeera in a July 2023 interview during a campaign stop. Arevalo was an outsider progressive candidate ahead of the June 25 general elections, polling in eighth place with less than 3 percent of the vote. But he came a surprise second, before winning the run-off against Torres. His Seed Movement party was born out of the massive protests in 2015 against the corruption in the administration of then-President Otto Perez Molina. “It is an immense joy,” Lenina Garcia, a former student leader and now learning director at the 25A Institute non-profit who was involved in the 2015 protests, told Al Jazeera, speaking of his win and ascendancy to the presidency on Sunday. “Since 2015 up until today, we can see how citizens have categorically rejected impunity and corruption,” she said. Arevalo supporters march in Guatemala City on January 14, 2024 [Jeff Abbott/Al Jazeera] Prolonged political crisis The attacks against Arevalo and his platform began shortly after his surprise success in the general elections and increased following his run-off win. In July 2023, prosecutors led by Attorney General Maria Consuelo Porras and Rafael Curruchiche, head of the Public Ministry’s Office of the Special Prosecutor against Impunity, sought to suspend the legal status of Arevalo’s party over allegations of irregularities in the collection of signatures by Seed Movement to register itself as a political party. Following the run-off victory, prosecutors raided the Seed Movement offices and the facilities of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, confiscating sensitive documents, including the official ballots, sparking concerns of election interference. Prosecutors filed requests in the Supreme Court to strip the immunity of Arevalo, his Vice President-elect Karin Herrera, and other members of the party over their alleged participation in stoking protests at the country’s only national public university, the University of San Carlos in 2022. The Supreme Court has yet to recognise the requests, but prosecutors have sought to move ahead with the case nevertheless. Porras and prosecutors have denied that they are not attempting to interfere in elections, but on December 8, Curruchiche requested in a news conference that the Supreme Electoral Tribunal annul the election results. The head of Guatemala’s electoral body responded to the request declaring the results were “official and unalterable”. Police and Arevalo supporters face off in Guatemala City, as the country’s Congress delayed new president’s swearing in on January 14, 2024 [Jeff Abbott/Al Jazeera] People protest Nearly every attempt to attack the democratic process was quickly responded to with protests, but beginning on October 2, Indigenous leaders started massive nationwide mobilisations led by Indigenous leaders to defend democracy. Protesters have gathered for more than 100 days outside the attorney general’s office, demanding her resignation and that she respect the results. “Our goal
Geopolitics, AI to slow global economy, grow inequality: Davos survey
Economists predict weakened global economic conditions while technology will help promote differences across regions. Geopolitical strife and tight financing conditions will slow global economic growth, while artificial intelligence (AI) will increase inequality, according to leading economists. The survey, released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Monday before its annual meeting in the Swiss resort of Davos, weighed the analysis of 60-plus chief economists from both the private and public sectors. More than half of the economists surveyed (56 percent) predict weakened global economic conditions but with differences across regions. The majority foresee moderate or stronger growth in China and the United States, weak or very weak growth in Europe, and at least moderate growth in South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific. “While technological advances may give new impetus to global productivity, policies that enhance good-quality growth are needed to revive global momentum and balance the impact across the income groups,” the survey stated. Additionally, 70 percent of those surveyed expect financial conditions to loosen as inflation ebbs and the current tightness in labour markets eases, despite the world’s top central banks saying that interest rates have peaked. AI is predicted to affect the world economy unequally. Overall, 94 percent of economists surveyed expect AI to radically boost productivity in high-income economies over the next five years, but just 53 percent predict a similar effect for low-income economies. Alongside geopolitical developments, the effect of AI is expected to stoke volatility in the global economy, 87 percent of economists predict. Six out of 10 (57 percent) also expect these conditions to increase inequality and widen the North-South divide in the next three years. Separately, the WEF released a study on the “quality” of economic growth across 107 economies, coming to the conclusion that most countries are growing in ways that are neither environmentally sustainable nor socially inclusive. “Reigniting global growth will be essential to addressing key challenges, yet growth alone is not enough,” said Saadia Zahidi, managing director of WEF. Technology will take up a large part of the agenda at Davos this year, with the theme of AI “as a driving force for the economy and society” to have about 30 separate sessions. (Al Jazeera) Adblock test (Why?)
US presidential race begins with the Iowa caucuses
NewsFeed The US presidential race for 2024 officially kicks off with the Iowa caucuses on Monday. Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett takes a look at what’s in store for the candidates in the months ahead. Published On 15 Jan 202415 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
US says it shot down Houthi missile in first attack since strikes on Yemen
US military says no injuries or damage caused by anti-ship cruise missile fired towards USS Laboon. The United States military has shot down a missile fired at one of its vessels by Iran-backed Houthis, officials have said, in the first known attack on US forces by the rebel group since Washington began its latest air strikes on Yemen. A US fighter aircraft shot down the anti-ship cruise missile after it was fired from a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen towards the USS Laboon in the Red Sea, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Sunday. “The missile was shot down in vicinity of the coast of Hodeida by US fighter aircraft,” CENTCOM said. “There were no injuries or damage reported.” The attack is the first to be acknowledged by the US since Washington and its allies on Friday began launching air and cruise missile strikes on Yemen in response to Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The Houthis, which have yet to acknowledge the latest incident, have carried out repeated attacks on cargo ships that the group says are linked to Israel, in a show of support for Palestinians under Israeli bombardment in Gaza. At least 26 vessels have been attacked by the Houthis since they seized the Israeli-linked Galaxy Leader vessel in November. The attacks have forced some of the world’s largest shipping operators to redirect their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa, severely disrupting global trade. Traffic through the Red Sea, which normally facilitates the movement of $3bn-$9bn worth of cargo each day, has dropped by more than 40 percent since the start of the attacks. Earlier on Sunday, Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam accused the US of violating national sovereignty by flying aircraft close to Yemeni airspace and coastal areas, although it is not clear if the two incidents were linked. Adblock test (Why?)
Taiwan’s Tsai and Lai welcome US support as Beijing fumes over election
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and President-elect William Lai Ching-te have hailed the support of the United States for the self-ruled island in meetings with an unofficial delegation from Washington amid anger in Beijing at overseas governments’ congratulations of Taiwan on its weekend election. The US delegation – including former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and former Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg – arrived in Taiwan on Sunday, a day after Lai, currently the vice president, won an unprecedented third term for the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to achieve its objectives, has long criticised Lai as a so-called “separatist”. It cast the election as a choice between “peace and war”. In the event, Lai won 40.1 percent of the vote compared with 33.5 percent for Hou Yu-ih of the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party, his nearest rival. During his meeting with the delegates on Monday at the DPP headquarters, Lai said freedom and democracy were “the most valuable assets for the Taiwanese people, and the sacred mountains to protect Taiwan”. Lai added that they were “core values” shared by both Taiwan and the United States, and “the foundation for the long-term stability in Taiwan-US partnership”. He told the delegation their visit was “meaningful” and a demonstration of the strength of the partnership between Taiwan and the US. “It is of great significance to Taiwan,” he said. Lai will formally take over as president on May 20. Lai and running mate Hsiao Bi-khim wave to the crowd after their election win [Daniel Ceng/EPA] The delegation earlier met President Tsai Ing-wen, who was ineligible to run for re-election having served two terms. “Taiwan’s democracy has set a shining example to the world,” Hadley said in comments released by Tsai’s office. “We are honoured to have the opportunity to meet with you today to reaffirm that the American commitment to Taiwan is rock solid, principled and bipartisan and that the United States stands with its friends,” he added. “Your visit is highly meaningful. It fully demonstrates US support for Taiwan’s democracy and highlights the close and staunch partnership between Taiwan and the US,” Tsai told the delegates. War of words The DPP says the 23.5 million people of Taiwan should decide the island’s future and has said it backs the status quo, in which Taiwan governs itself but refrains from declaring formal independence. Beijing insists that the island is part of its territory. After the election, it said that what it terms “peaceful reunification” was inevitable. It lashed out at countries that sent their congratulations to Taiwan over the smooth-running of the vote. In a statement, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for congratulating Lai on his victory and added: “The basic fact that … Taiwan is part of China will not change.” Taiwan said that statement was “completely inconsistent with international understanding and the current cross-strait situation. It goes against the expectation of global democratic communities and goes against the will of the people of Taiwan to uphold democratic values. Such cliches are not worth refuting.” The unofficial US delegation at Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs [Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP] Washington follows a policy of what it calls “strategic ambiguity” on the island. While it maintains formal diplomatic ties with Beijing, it is required by law to support Taiwan and is opposed to any attempt to change the status quo by force. The last time a US delegation visited immediately after an election was in 2016, after Tsai was first elected president. At that time, Beijing refused her offer of talks and cut off all high-level communications with the island. In the years since, it has sent fighter jets and navy ships into the skies and waters around the island and encouraged Taiwan’s few remaining formal allies to switch allegiance. After his victory, Lai said he hoped for a return to “healthy and orderly” exchanges with China, and reiterated his desire for talks on the basis of dignity and equality. While Lai won the election, the DPP lost its majority in the legislature, finishing with one seat less than the KMT. With neither holding a majority, the Taiwan People’s Party, a relative newcomer that won eight of the 113 seats, looks set to become increasingly influential in policy-making. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said on the heels of those results that “the Democratic Progressive Party cannot represent the mainstream public opinion on the island”, according to Xinhua news agency. In response, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry called on China “to respect the election results, face reality and give up its oppression against Taiwan”. In recent months, the US and China have been trying to rebuild ties strained not only by Taiwan but a host of other issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic, trade and the appearance last year of an alleged Chinese spy balloon over the US. The American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto US embassy, said the US government had asked Hadley and Steinberg “to travel in their private capacity to Taiwan”. Hadley said he was looking forward to meeting Lai and other political leaders. “We look forward to continuity in the relationship between Taiwan and the United States under the new administration, and for common efforts to preserve cross-strait peace and stability.” Taiwan’s government says Beijing has no right to speak for the island’s people or represent them on the world stage. Adblock test (Why?)
Ex-boss of China’s state-run bank Everbright arrested on corruption charges
Tang Shuangning is latest in long line of high-profile figures to be ensnared in Xi Jinping’s anticorruption drive. The former head of China’s state-owned banking giant Everbright Group has been arrested for alleged corruption, prosecutors have said. Tang Shuangning, 69, was arrested on suspicion of taking bribes and embezzlement following the conclusion of an investigation by the anticorruption authority, China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate said on Monday. Tang was earlier this month expelled from the ruling Communist Party for alleged violations of party discipline, including bringing unauthorised books into the country and accepting illicit gifts. The former bank chairman is the latest in a long line of high-profile figures within China’s financial sector to be ensnared in President Xi Jinping’s sweeping campaign against corruption. Last month, Sun Guofeng, the former head of the central bank’s monetary policy department, was sentenced to 16 years and six months in prison for taking bribes, leaking state secrets and insider trading. In October, Liu Liange, the former chairman of the Bank of China, was arrested on suspicion of bribery and providing illegal loans. Li Xiaopeng, who took over from Tang at Everbright, was arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes the same month. Xi, widely regarded as China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, has made a zero-tolerance attitude toward corruption a signature policy of his precedent-busting tenure in office. While Xi’s supporters have credited the Chinese leader with cleaning up the country’s politics and business, critics say the anticorruption drive is a thinly veiled ploy to purge rivals. Adblock test (Why?)
Five richest men doubled fortunes after 2020, Oxfam says as Davos opens
Charity says billionaires $3.3 trillion richer than in 2020 as annual gathering of business elites take place. The world’s richest five men have more than doubled their fortunes since 2020, the charity Oxfam has said, sounding the alarm about unchecked corporate power as business elites hold their high-profile annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland. The five men are worth a combined $869bn after growing their fortunes at a rate of $14m per hour during the past four years, Oxfam said in its report “Inequality Inc.”, released on Monday. Despite the growth in the fortunes of the five – LVMH chief Bernard Arnault, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, investor Warren Buffet, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Tesla CEO Elon Musk – 5 billion people have gotten poorer over the same period, Oxfam said. Billionaires are today $3.3 trillion richer than they were in 2020, while a billionaire leads 7 out of 10 of the world’s biggest companies, the London-based charity said. If current trends continue, the world will have its first trillionaire within a decade but poverty will not be eradicated for another 229 years, according to the anti-poverty group. Oxfam International interim Executive Director Amitabh Behar said that nobody should have a billion dollars. “We’re witnessing the beginnings of a decade of division, with billions of people shouldering the economic shockwaves of pandemic, inflation and war, while billionaires’ fortunes boom. This inequality is no accident; the billionaire class is ensuring corporations deliver more wealth to them at the expense of everyone else,” Behar said in a statement released with the report. “Runaway corporate and monopoly power is an inequality-generating machine: through squeezing workers, dodging tax, privatising the state, and spurring climate breakdown, corporations are funneling endless wealth to their ultra-rich owners. But they’re also funnelling power, undermining our democracies and our rights.” Oxfam traditionally releases its annual report on inequality just ahead of the opening of the annual World Economic Forum (WEF), launched by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab in the early 1970s to champion “stakeholder capitalism”. The charity said that corporations pay about one-third less in taxes than in past decades as a result of a lobbying “war on taxation”, starving governments of money that could be used to benefit the poorest in society. Oxfam said governments should cap CEOs’ pay, break up private monopolies and introduce a wealth tax to bring in $1.8 trillion dollars each year. “We have the evidence. We know the history. Public power can rein in runaway corporate power and inequality – shaping the market to be fairer and free from billionaire control. Governments must intervene to break up monopolies, empower workers, tax these massive corporate profits and, crucially, invest in a new era of public goods and services,” Behar said. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 691
Here is the situation as the war enters its 691st day. Here is the situation on Monday, January 15, 2024. Fighting The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said fierce fighting continued on the front line with 86 attacks reported on Sunday. The Washington, DC-based Institute for the Study of War think tank said, “Russian forces will likely try to sustain or intensify localised offensive operations throughout eastern Ukraine in an attempt to seize and retain the initiative regardless of weather conditions”. But it added that they were unlikely to make any significant breakthroughs. Oleg Gumenyuk, the former mayor of the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok who was jailed for 12 years after being found guilty of corruption, is fighting on the front line in Ukraine after signing up for the military, Russian media reported. Gumenyuk reported for duty on December 22. The governor of Russia’s Kursk region said one man was injured after an alleged Ukrainian drone attack on the village of Tetkino, which is located on the border with Ukraine’s Sumy region. Politics and diplomacy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will travel to Switzerland on Monday as Ukraine tries to shore up support from its allies. Zelenskyy will “meet the heads of both houses of parliament, party leaders and the President of Switzerland, and participate in the World Economic Forum” (WEF) in Davos, according to a statement from Zelenskyy’s office. Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said China needs to be involved in talks to end the war with Russia. Speaking after a high-level diplomatic meeting on Kyiv’s 10-point peace formula ahead of the WEF, Yermak said it was important that Beijing was at the table when Kyiv convenes further meetings on the plan. National security advisers from 83 countries attended the latest talks. France and Germany reaffirmed their support for Ukraine. “We are in full agreement… that we must support the Ukrainians for as long as necessary,” newly-appointed French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne told a press conference alongside his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock. Baerbock said they would remain “on the side of Ukraine as long as necessary, until Russia has withdrawn” from Ukrainian territory. North Korea’s Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui is in Moscow from January 15 to 17 at the invitation of Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The United States and others have accused Pyongyang of transferring weapons to Moscow for use in Ukraine. Pope Francis said war was “a crime against humanity” as he reiterated a call for peace in Ukraine and the Middle East. “Let us not forget this… People need peace, the world needs peace,” the pope said after his weekly Angelus prayer. Yampil the Asiatic black bear was rescued after the zoo in Lyman was bombed, killing most of the animals there [Five Sisters Zoo via AP Photo] Aleksiy Uminsky, a prominent liberal priest, faces expulsion from the Russian Orthodox Church for refusing to read out a prayer asking God to guide Russia to victory over Ukraine. A church court said Uminsky should be “expelled from holy orders” for violating his priestly oath. The decision was forwarded for approval to Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church who strongly backs President Vladimir Putin. Russian poet Lev Rubinstein, a key figure of the Soviet underground literary scene who signed an open letter condemning the invasion of Ukraine as a “criminal war” and accusing the Kremlin of “lies”, died days after being hit by a car in Moscow, his daughter said. Rubinstein was run over as he crossed the street on January 8. He was 76. Yampil, a 12-year-old Asiatic black bear rescued from a bombed-out zoo in the city of Lyman, has found a new home in a zoo outside the Scottish capital Edinburgh. Weapons The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration said it signed an agreement with the Nordic Ammunition Company to increase the production and delivery of 155mm artillery ammunition to support Ukraine. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 689
As the war enters its 689th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Saturday, January 13, 2024. Fighting Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched some 40 drones and missiles, including hypersonic missiles. Ukraine’s ground forces commander told the Reuters news agency that Kyiv needed more military aircraft, such as United States A-10 attack jets, to support the infantry, as well as planes that could fire long-range cruise missiles. A senior Ukrainian presidential aide has said he was confident that an amended bill seeking to tighten Ukraine’s mobilisation laws would be passed in the coming days or weeks. Politics and diplomacy British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak signed a new security agreement with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, and announced an increase in military funding for Kyiv. Sunak said the United Kingdom would increase its support in the next financial year to 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2bn), an increase of 200 million pounds ($255m) on the previous two years. Zelenskyy said he was more positive now than he was last month that his country would secure new financial aid from the US. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met senior Chinese official Liu Jianchao and discussed ties between North Korea and Russia as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to his office. France’s newly appointed foreign minister Stephane Sejourne will visit Ukraine on Saturday for his first official trip. The foreign ministers of Hungary and Ukraine will meet in western Ukraine at the end of January, according to a statement by the Hungarian government. Afghanistan and Mongolia raised their imports of Russian fuel by about 28 percent in 2023 to almost six million tonnes, partially offsetting a decline in Russian supplies to Europe, according to traders and industry data. The US imposed sanctions on three Russian entities and one individual allegedly involved in the transfer and testing of North Korea’s ballistic missiles for alleged use by Moscow on Ukraine. The Russian foreign ministry called a US plan to confiscate up to $300bn in frozen Russian assets to help rebuild Ukraine “21st century piracy” and said Moscow would retaliate harshly if it happened. Adblock test (Why?)