PUTIN-XI TALKS: RUSSIAN LEADER REVEALS CHINA'S 'CONCERN' OVER UKRAINE

Vladimir Putin has acknowledged China's "concern" over Ukraine, in his first face-to-face talks with President Xi Jinping since the Russian invasion.

But speaking in Uzbekistan, Mr Putin also thanked China for its "balanced position" - and said US "attempts to create a unipolar world" would fail.

Mr Xi said China was willing to work with Russia as "major countries".

China hasn't endorsed Russia's invasion but has grown trade and other ties with Moscow since it was launched.

The two leaders' meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Samarkand comes at a crucial point in the Ukraine war, as Russian troops lose ground in parts of the country.

"We highly value the balanced position of our Chinese friends when it comes to the Ukraine crisis," Mr Putin told Mr Xi, on only his second foray abroad since February's invasion.

Revealing that China had "questions and concern" about the situation in Ukraine, he said he understood.

"During today's meeting, we will of course explain our position," Mr Putin said.

In contrast to Mr Putin's statement, the Chinese government readout after the meeting notably did not mention the Ukraine war.

But it said Russia and China would extend "strong mutual support" on core interests. Together, the two would play "a leading role in injecting stability into a world of change and disorder", and Beijing called their partnership "as stable as mountains".

EVEN FRIENDLY COUNTRIES THINK WE ARE BEGGARS: PAKISTAN PM SHEHBAZ SHARIF

Prime Minister of the flood-hit Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday addressed the country’s devastating economic state and said that the ‘friendly countries had started looking at Pakistan as a nation that is always asking for money,’ while speaking at a lawyers’ convention.

“Today, when we go to any friendly country or make a phone call, they think that we have come to beg for money,” the prime minister was quoted as saying by Pakistani media outlet The Dawn. “Where does Pakistan stand today after 75 years? Even smaller economies had surpassed Pakistan and we have been wandering for the past 75 years carrying a begging bowl,” he added.

PUTIN SURVIVED ASSASSINATION BID AS LIMOUSINE ATTACKED: REPORT

Russian President Putin’s limousine was attacked in an “assassination attempt”, a report has alleged.

Putin’s limousine was allegedly hit by “a loud bang from the left front wheel followed by heavy smoke”, but he was unharmed as the vehicle drove to safety, Mirror.co.uk reported citing a report by General SVR, a Russian Telegram channel. The channel said the president was returning to his official residence in adecoy or “backup” motorcade. It comprised five armoured cars, with Putin in the third, it said, without mentioning the date of the incident. General SVR said more information on the ‘attack’ was “classified”, reported Mirror.co.uk. “The head of the president’s bodyguard (service) and several other people have been suspended and are in custody,” the channel claimed. “A narrow circle of people knew about the president’s movement and all of them were from the presidential security service. After the incident, three of them disappeared. These were people in the first car of the motorcade. Their fate is unknown,” General SVR said.

ZELENSKY INVOLVED IN CAR ACCIDENT, NOT SERIOUSLY HURT BUT PROBE ON

President Zelensky was involved in a car accident in Kyiv on Wednesday evening but was not seriously hurt, his spokesman said. Zelensky made no mention of the incident in his nightly address, which was released after his return to the capital. The president had earlier travelled to Izium in the northeast of the country to honour Ukraine soldiers who recaptured the city from Russia just days ago.“The president was examined by a doctor,” said the spokesman, Serhiy Nikiforov, on Facebook. “No serious damage was detected.” The driver of the car that struck Zelensky’s motorcade was treated by doctors accompanying the president, Nikiforov said, adding that the circumstances of the accident were under investigation. He gave no further details of the location of the crash.

PUTIN: PIPELINE GAS SUPPLIES TO PAK LIKELY, PART OF INFRA IN PLACE

Moscow : President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that pipeline gas supplies to Pakistan were possible and part of the infrastructure was already in place, Russian state-owned new agency RIA reported. Putin and Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif met on Thursday on the sidelines of a summit in Uzbekistan. “The PM reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to work closely with Russia to further expand and strengthen cooperation between the two countries across all areas of mutual benefit,” a statement from Sharif’s office said. The two sides agreed to convene the next meeting of the Inter-Governmental Commission (IGC) in Islamabad at an early date, it said. The two countries agreed in 2015 to build a 1,100 km-long pipeline to deliver imported LNG from Karachi on the Arabian Sea coast to power plants in Punjab. The project, due to be launched in 2020, was delayed after Russian had to replace the initial participant, which was hit by Western sanctions.

EU LAWMAKERS DECLARE HUNGARY IS NO LONGER ADEMOCRACY

Brussels : European Union lawmakers on Thursday declared that Hungary has become “a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy” under the leadership of its nationalist government led by PM Viktor Orban, and its undermining of the bloc’s democratic values had taken Hungary out of the community of democracies. In a resolution that passed 433-to-123 with 28 abstentions, the lawmakers raised concerns about Hungary’s constitutional and electoral systems, judicial independence, possible corruption, public procurement irregularities, LGBTQ+ rights, as well as media, academic and religious freedoms. The lawmakers said Hungary — which its populist PM characterises as an “illiberal democracy” — has left behind many of the democratic values of the bloc. The vote is the latest in aseries of showdowns between the EU’s institutions and Orban’s government. The bloc’s executive arm, European Commission, is expected to announce Sunday it is prepared to suspend payments of some EU money to Hungary over its alleged violations. The vote is highly symbolic in that it sets Hungary apart from other EU countries. But it doesn’t impose any penalty on Orban’s regime, nor does it bind other EU countries into taking any action.

ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN BORDER CLASHES TOLL RISES TO OVER 170

Azerbaijan said on Thursday that 71 of its troops had died in border clashes with Armenia over the last two days in the worst fighting since 2020.

Yerevan said a ceasefire was holding on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, with no fresh violence reported overnight.

The earlier death toll given by Azerbaijan was 50.

Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry published a list of 71 servicemen killed in clashes between the historic rivals since Tuesday while Yerevan said 105 of its troops were killed.

The clashes ended “thanks to the international involvement” overnight on Thursday, Armenia’s security council said, after earlier failed attempts from Russia to broker a truce.

The European Union welcomed the ceasefire, which it said was “being respected so far.”

“The EU remains strongly involved in the normalisation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Peter Stano, the bloc’s spokesman for foreign affairs and security policy, said in a statement.

MIGRANTS DROPPED OFF NEAR HARRIS’ RESIDENCE

Two buses of migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border were dropped off near Vice-President Kamala Harris’ home in residential Washington on Thursday morning in the bitter political battle over the Biden administration’s immigration policies.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been busing migrants out of Texas to cities with Democratic Mayors as part of a political strategy this year because he claims there are too many arrivals over the border to his state. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey also has adopted this policy, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also got in on the act recently. It was first dreamed up by former President Donald Trump.

Mr. Abbott tweeted that he’d sent the buses that arrived on Thursday: “We’re sending migrants to her backyard to call on the Biden Administration to do its job & secure the border.”

About two dozen men and women stood outside the U.S. Naval Observatory at dawn, clutching plastic bags carrying their belongings, before moving to a nearby church. Ms. Harris’ office had no immediate comment.

WITH A RUSSIAN NUDGE, TURKIYE AND SYRIA STEP UP CONTACTS

Ankara/Beirut : Turkiye’s intelligence chief has held multiple meetings with his Syrian counterpart in Damascus over the last few weeks, a sign of Russian efforts to encourage a thaw between states on opposite sides of Syria’s war, four sources said.

A regional source aligned with Damascus told Reuters that Hakan Fidan, head of Turkiye’s National Intelligence Organisation (MIT), and Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk met as recently as this week in the Syrian capital.

The contacts reflect a Russian policy shift as Moscow steels itself for a protracted conflict in Ukraine and seeks to secure its position in Syria, where its forces have supported President Bashar al-Assad since 2015, according to two Turkish officials and the regional source.

Any normalisation between Ankara and Damascus would reshape the decade-long Syrian war. Turkish backing has been vital to sustaining Syrian rebels in their last major foothold in Syria’s northwest.

U.S. RAIL STRIKE AVERTED WITH ‘TENTATIVE’ DEAL

Major U.S. railroads and unions secured a tentative deal after intense talks brokered by the Biden administration to avert a rail shutdown that could have hit food and fuel supplies across the country. President Joe Biden announced the deal on Thursday, calling it “a win for tens of thousands of rail workers.”

A rail shutdown could freeze almost 30% of U.S. cargo shipments by weight, stoke inflation, cost the U.S. economy as much as $2 billion per day.