The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Monday that Italian PM Georgia Meloni will visit India from 2-3 March, the first Italian premier to visit the country since 2018. Meloni will be the chief guest and keynote speaker at the 8th Raisina Dialogue.
British PM Rishi Sunak on Monday struck a deal with the EU on post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland. Sunak said that the deal “removes any sense of borders” between the two sides, as it would help resolve the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol, which set trading rules for the British region. However, following the UK’s exit from the EU, the bloc said the protocol no longer works.
An article published on the TIME website on Monday reveals details indicating that the CIA, under former US President John F. Kennedy’s administration, helped South Africa’s then-apartheid regime to capture Nelson Mandela in 1962. Richard Stengel, who wrote this article, had collaborated with Mandela to write his autobiography “Long Walk to Freedom,” and received this information during an interview taped with the anti-apartheid leader in 1993.
The UN on Monday urged international donors to raise $4.3 billion in humanitarian aid for 17.3 million people in war-torn Yemen. The aid is necessary despite a six-month truce between the Houthi rebels and the Saudi-led coalition last year. Secretary-General António Guterres said the international community has the power to end the crisis quickly by immediately disbursing the requested funds. “If support dries up now, aid agencies will be forced to scale back or suspend programming, at terrible human cost,” Guterres warned.
Bringing an end to one of the world’s longest COVID-19 mask mandates, Hong Kong will rescind its mask requirement from Wednesday, Chief Executive John Lee said on Tuesday. The move aims to help resume tourism and restore everyday life after more than three years of the mandate. Lee said that it is “the best timing” for such a decision, as it sends “a clear message” that Hong Kong “is resuming normalcy.”
New Zealand Foreign Minister (FM) Nanaia Mahuta and Japan’s FM Yashimasa Hayashi agreed to strengthen collaboration on priority issues for Pacific Island nations, such as climate change, maritime security, and infrastructure. They also pledged to speed up the conclusion of an intelligence-sharing agreement to ensure that the Pacific Island region, where China’s influence is rapidly expanding, remains stable and free from foreign interference.
In his opening remarks at the spring session of the Hungarian Parliament on Monday, PM Viktor Orbán raised concerns about “entire Europe sliding into a war step by step,” as EU members are sending tanks to Ukraine and considering providing fighter jets as well. “If things continue this way, there will be [EU countries] who may want to send troops to Ukraine,” he remarked, adding, “We need a ceasefire, we need peace talks.”
During a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen reaffirmed Washington’s continued support for Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” in meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, PM Denys Shmyhal, and her Ukrainian counterpart Serhiy Marchenko. Yellen discussed additional sanctions against Russia with Shmyhal, including confiscation of Russian properties to fund Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction. However, Yellen revealed that some major legal obstacles to seizing about $300 billion worth of frozen Russian central bank assets still remain.
Two Iranian warships, IRIS Makran and IRIS Dena, were allowed to dock in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday despite the US pressuring Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government not to do so. Earlier in January, Brazil had bowed to US pressure and denied Iran’s request for docking its warships in Rio ahead of Lula’s visit to Washington to meet President Joe Biden.