CHINA'S XI TELLS ZELENSKY TALKS AND NEGOTIATION ARE ‘ONLY WAY OUT’

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the phone and advised that talks and negotiation were the "only way out" of the war.

"Xi Jinping had a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky," state broadcaster CCTV said and added, “Xi told Zelensky that "talks and negotiation" were the "only way out" of the war."

China also said it would be sending a special representative to visit Ukraine and conduct talks with all parties to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

“There is no winner in a nuclear war," the report said. “All parties concerned should remain calm and restrained in dealing with the nuclear issue and truly look at the future and destiny of themselves and humanity as a whole and work together to manage the crisis."

Meanwhile, Zelensky said he had a "long and meaningful" phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday -- the first between the two leaders since the start of Russia's invasion.

"I had a long and meaningful phone call with President Xi Jinping," Zelensky said on Twitter in a tweet that was confirmed to AFP by a presidency official.

NUCLEAR ATTACK BY NORTH KOREA WILL RESULT IN END OF REGIME: BIDEN

U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met at the White House on Wednesday and announced the launch of a bilateral nuclear consultative body designed to bolster deterrence against an attack by North Korea.

"A nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies or partners is unacceptable and will result in the end of whatever regime, were it to take such an action," Biden said at a joint news conference following the leaders' summit.

The U.S. alliance with South Korea "is ironclad, and that includes our commitment to extended deterrence," he said.

The new framework, named the Nuclear Consultative Group, is designed for the U.S. to share a certain level of insight into its nuclear operations planning with South Korea. It will involve regular bilateral exchanges regarding U.S. plans for responding to a crisis, according to explanations by the U.S. side.

Yoon said the consultations will help relieve concerns among the South Korean public regarding North Korea's nuclear threat.

The two sides agreed to respond to any nuclear attack by Pyongyang "swiftly, overwhelmingly, and decisively using the full force of the alliance including the United States' nuclear weapons," Yoon said.

He explained that the countries will be sharing information and acting jointly under the new framework, resulting in a "new level of extended deterrence" that is stronger than the existing nuclear umbrella.

SUDAN’S OUSTED AUTOCRAT OUT OF JAIL AMID CHAOS; US SAYS 2ND AMERICAN DEAD

Khartoum : Sudan’s army and a paramilitary force battled on the outskirts of the capital on Wednesday, undermining a truce in an 11-day conflict that civilian groups fear could revive the influence of ousted autocrat Omar al-Bashir and his loyalists. Fuelling those concerns, the army confirmed the transfer of 79-year-old Bashir from Khartoum’s Kober prison to a military hospital, along with at least five of his former officials, before hostilities started on April 15.

Air strikes and artillery have killed at least 459 people, wounded over 4,000, destroyed hospitals and limited food distribution in the vast nation where a third of the 46 million people were already reliant on humanitarian aid. Foreigners fleeing Khartoum have described bodies littering streets, buildings on fire, residential areas turned into battlefields and youths roaming with large knives.

A second American has died in Sudan, the White House said on Wednesday, adding that it was helping asmall number of US citizens seeking to leave the country.

Over the weekend, thousands of inmates were freed outright from prison, including a former minister in Bashir’s government who, like him, is wanted on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

At least one other of the group transferred to hospital is wanted by the ICC. Bashir’s three-decade reign came to an end with a popular uprising four years ago. He has been in prison, with spells in hospital, on Sudanese charges related to the 1989 coup that brought him to power.

GERMANY: RUSSIAN JETS INTERCEPTED OVER BALTIC

Germany and Britain intercepted three Russian military reconnaissance aircraft over the Baltic Sea, the German air force said on Wednesday. “German and British Eurofighters were alerted to identify three military aircraft. The two SU-27 Flankers and a IL-20 from Russia were flying again without transponder signals in international airspace over the Baltic Sea,” said the air force on Twitter. The Norwegian air force said on Tuesday it had identified a group of Russian aircraft over the Barents Sea to the north of the country.

NAVALNY SAYS HE MAY FACE LIFE SENTENCE

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said on Wednesday he was facing new extremism and terrorism charges that could land him in prison for life as authorities set the stage for a new trial. He said during the hearing that the extremism charges could land him in prison for 30 years adding that an investigator told him he would face a separate military court trial also that could carry a life sentence. Navalny, who exposed official corruption and organised anti-Kremlin protests, was arrested in 2021 upon returning to Moscow.

CALIFORNIA’S CASTE DISCRIMINATION BILL CLEARS FIRST LEGISLATIVE HURDLE

A bill that would outlaw cast discrimination in California has cleared its first big legislative hurdle. On Tuesday, the state’s Senate Judiciary Committee voted in favour of the legislation, sending it on to the next committee for consideration. If passed, the bill could make California the first state in the US to make caste bias illegal by adding it as a protected category in the state’s anti-discrimination laws.

State Senator Aisha Wahab, the first Muslim and Afghan American elected to the state legislature, introduced the bill last month. Tuesday’s hearing showed just how contentious the issue has been in the South Asian community, with hundreds of supporters and opponents gathering outside the state capitol with signs. “We’ve hit a nerve and exposed a form of discrimination many never even knew existed,” said Wahab who told committee members that she has got death threats after proposing this legislation.

Between Tuesday’s live testimony and phone calls, about 220 people said they support the bill and about 420 said they oppose it. Many proponents said they have experienced caste discrimination or wish to get this law on the books to prevent such bias. Opponents called the pr legislation “unconstitutional” and said it would unfairly target Hindus and people of Indian descent. Several who spoke during the hearing identified as lower-caste, but said they are opposed to the legislation because it is divisive. Wahab said the bill “does not target any specific community or religion”.

POPE FRANCIS GIVES WOMEN HISTORIC RIGHT TO VOTE AT MEETING

The Pope will for the first time allow women to vote at an influential global meeting of bishops in October - a move that has been welcomed as a historic first.

The new rules announced on Wednesday will give five religious sisters voting rights at the synod, which is a papal advisory body.

In the past, women were only allowed to attend the gathering as observers.

Men will still cast the majority of the votes at the influential gathering.

Nevertheless, the reforms are seen as a significant shift for the Roman Catholic Church, which has been male-dominated for centuries.

The US-based Women's Ordination Conference, which advocates for women priests, has called the reform "a significant crack in the stained glass ceiling".

"For years Vatican representatives and bishops resisted, moving the goalpost with every synod as to why women were not allowed to vote," the group wrote on Twitter. "The unspoken reason was always sexism."

"In the near future, we hope that the synod continues to develop into a fully representative body of the people of God."

In a further break with tradition, Pope Francis announced that voting rights would also be extended to 70 hand-picked non-clerical members of the religious community, moving the synod away from being a meeting solely of the Church hierarchy.

NEW DRUG FOR ALZHEIMER’S SHOWS PROMISE: REPORT

London : UK scientists have conducted the first-ever trial of a new drug for Alzheimer’s disease that is able to safely and successfully lower levels of the harmful tau protein known to cause the disease.

The trial, led by a team at the University College London, represents the first time that a “gene silencing” approach has been taken in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The approach uses a drug called BIIB080 (IONIS-MAPTRx) to “silence” the gene coding for the tau protein — known as the microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT) gene. This prevents the gene from being translated into the protein in a doseable and reversible way. It will also lower the production of that protein and alter the course of disease.

“We‘ll need further research to understand the extent to which the drug can slow progression of. . . the disease,” said consultant neurologist Dr Catherine Mummery at UCL. “But the results are a significant step forward,” she said.

The phase 1 trial looked at the safety of BIIB080, what it does in the body, and how well it targets the MAPT gene. In all, 46 patients, with an average age of 66, were enrolled in the trial — which took place from 2017 to 2020. The trial looked at three doses of the drug.

The research team also looked at two forms of the tau protein in the central nervous system (CNS) — a reliable indicator of disease — over the duration of the study. The results, published in Nature Medicine, found a greater than 50% reduction in levels of total tau and phosphor tau concentration in the CNS after 24 weeks in the two treatment groups that received the highest dose of the drug.