Vladimir Putin says Russia and China are fighting ‘common threats’ ahead of President Xi Jinping’s visit
Vladimir Putin has said Russia and China are fighting “common threats” as he welcomes President Xi Jinping for a three-day trip to Moscow.
Writing in an article in the People’s Daily Newspaper, the Russian president described Mr Xi‘s visit as a “landmark event” that “reaffirms the special nature of the Russia-China partnership”.
The outlet is the official newspaper of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
Mr Xi has returned the favour in the Kremlin’s Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily, claiming a 12-point peace plan drafted by Beijing last month to end the war in Ukraine reflects “the unity of the world community’s views”.
The Chinese leader’s visit on Monday is the first by a foreign leader since an arrest warrant was issued for his Russian counterpart by the International Criminal Court.
Justice ministers from more than 40 nations, including Britain’s Dominic Raab, will be in London later to support the investigation into alleged war crimes – including the abduction of children.
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Mr Putin – fresh off a highly criticised visit to Mariupol, the Ukrainian city decimated by Russian forces last year – wrote that he and Mr Xi “high expectations for the upcoming talks”.
He described his opposite number as a “good old friend” with whom he enjoys the “warmest relationship”, adding that Russia’s relations with China are “consistently growing stronger” and at “the highest level in their history”
“We have reached an unprecedented level of trust in our political dialogue, our strategic cooperation has become truly comprehensive in nature and is standing on the brink of a new era,” he wrote.
News of Mr Xi’s trip was confirmed on Friday by China’s foreign affairs ministry, with Russia saying that the Chinese president was invited by Mr Putin himself.
Mr Putin is scheduled to have a one-to-one meeting with Mr Xi on Monday, according to the Kremlin, before holding further negotiations on Tuesday and giving a statement to the media.
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Xi calls for ‘pragmatism’ on Ukraine
The Chinese president’s article was more focused on the war in Ukraine, during which Beijing has tried to strike a balance between calling for peace and avoiding criticism of Russia.
Mr Xi’s regime has denied US and NATO accusations that it is considering supplying arms to aid the illegal invasion, which Mr Putin continues to insist in his article was “fuelled by the West”.
He claimed he is “open to the political and diplomatic resolution of the Ukraine crisis” and welcomed Mr Xi’s recent ceasefire proposals, which the Chinese leader promoted in his article.
His country’s peace plan – which includes respecting “the sovereignty of all countries” and ending any sanctions – is “constructive” and promotes a “political settlement”, Mr Xi claimed.
“Complex problems do not have simple solutions,” he said, but added an end to the war would ensure “the stability of global production and supply chains”.
A resolution can be found “if everyone is guided by the concept of common, comprehensive, joint and sustainable security, and continue dialogue and consultations in an equal, prudent and pragmatic manner”, he wrote.
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Economic partnership is ‘priority’
Mr Putin and Mr Xi also stressed the importance of their countries’ economic partnership.
Russia has been broadly cut off from Western markets since the war began in February 2022, but Mr Putin wrote his country’s trade with China is “growing, further strengthening the sovereignty of our relations”.
Mr Xi said Beijing and Moscow wanted “an all-encompassing partnership” that would deliver in a world threatened by “acts of hegemony, despotism, and bullying”.
The two men’s mutual commitment came as Ukraine signed a new digital trade deal with the UK to help support its economy during the war and future rebuild.
It gives Ukrainian businesses access to UK financial services, and allows them to trade more efficiently and cheaply through electronic transactions, e-signatures, and e-contracts.
The deal signed virtually on Monday was agreed in principle in November.
New pictures show the moment of impact as an Israeli missile hit a Beirut apartment block and exploded.
The block was one of five buildings destroyed by airstrikes on Friday alone.
Israel launched airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut in a fourth consecutive day of intense attacks.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press photographer captured a sequence of images showing an Israeli bomb approaching and hitting a multi-storey apartment building in Beirut’s Tayouneh area.
Richard Weir, a senior crisis, conflict and arms researcher at Human Rights Watch, reviewed the close-up photos to determine what type of weapon was used.
“The bomb and components visible in the photographs, including the strake, wire harness cover, and tail fin section, are consistent with a Mk-84 series 2,000-pound class general purpose bomb equipped with Boeing’s joint directed attack munition tail kit,” he told AP.
Pics: AP
Smoke covers a building that collapses following the strike. Pic: AP
Deadly strikes as bombardment stepped up
Israel stepped up its bombardment this week – an escalation that has coincided with signs of movement in US-led diplomacy towards a ceasefire.
The Israeli military said its fighter jets attacked munitions warehouses, a headquarters and other Hezbollah infrastructure. It issued a warning on social media identifying buildings ahead of the strikes.
Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike killed five members of the same family in a home in Ain Qana in the southern province of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon’s state media said.
The report said a mother, father and their three children were killed but didn’t provide their ages.
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Three other Israeli strikes killed six people and wounded 32 in different parts of Tyre province on Friday, also in south Lebanon, the report said.
Video footage also showed a building being struck and turning into a cloud of rubble and debris that billowed into Horsh Beirut, the city’s main park.
Residents check the site of the airstrike in Tayouneh, Beirut. Pic: AP
More than 3,200 people have been killed in Lebanon during 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah – most of them since mid-September.
About 27% of those killed were women and children, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
Israel dramatically escalated its bombardment of Lebanon from September, vowing to cripple Hezbollah and end its barrages in Israel.
Friday’s strikes come as Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has asked Iran to help secure a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The prime minister appeared to urge Ali Larijani, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, to convince the militant group to agree to a deal that could require it to pull back from the Israel-Lebanon border.
Iran is a main backer of Hezbollah and for decades has been funding and arming the Lebanese militant group.
On Thursday, Eli Cohen, Israel’s energy minister and a member of its security cabinet, said that prospects for a ceasefire with Lebanon were the most promising since the conflict began.
The Washington Post reported Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was rushing to advance a Lebanon ceasefire to deliver an early foreign policy win to his ally, US President-elect Donald Trump.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
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Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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