Putin welcomes China’s Xi to Kremlin amid Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin has welcomed Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the Kremlin, sending a message to Western leaders allied with Ukraine that their efforts to isolate him have fallen short. Putin said he welcomed China’s plan for “settlement of the acute crisis in Ukraine.” Xi’s visit to Moscow shows off Beijing’s new diplomatic swagger and gives a welcome political lift for Putin. The two major powers have described Xi’s trip as part of efforts to further deepen their “no-limits friendship.” China looks to Russia as a source of oil and gas and as a partner in opposing what both see as American domination of global affairs.

Top Israeli minister: ‘No such thing’ as Palestinian people

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A firebrand Israeli minister says there’s “no such thing” as a Palestinian people. The remarks came as Israel’s new coalition government, its most hard-line ever, plowed ahead on Monday with a part of its plan to overhaul the judiciary. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition said it was pushing a key part of the overhaul — which would give the coalition control over who becomes a justice or a judge — before the parliament takes a monthlong holiday break next week. Also on Sunday, an Israeli and Palestinian delegation at a meeting in Egypt, mediated by Egyptian, Jordanian and U.S. officials, pledged to take steps to lower tensions roiling the region ahead of the sensitive holiday season.

World on ‘thin ice’ as UN climate report gives stark warning

BERLIN (AP) — Humanity still has a chance, close to the last one, to prevent the worst of climate change’s future harms, a top United Nations panel of scientists said Monday. But doing so requires quickly slashing carbon pollution and fossil fuel use, 60% by 2035, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said. The United Nations chief said it more bluntly, calling for an end to new fossil fuel exploration and rich countries quitting coal, oil and gas use by 2040. This is likely the last warning the IPCC will be able to make about the 1.5 mark because their next set of reports will likely come after Earth has either breached the mark or locked into exceeding it soon, several scientists, including report authors, said.

Deal for UBS to buy Credit Suisse sends shares tumbling

LONDON (AP) — Shares of Credit Suisse are down 60% in trading on the Swiss stock exchange. The drop comes after the announcement that banking giant UBS will buy its troubled rival for almost $3.25 billion. The deal was orchestrated by regulators to stave off further market-shaking turmoil in the global banking system. UBS shares also are down nearly 5% on Monday. Swiss authorities urged UBS to take over its smaller rival after a central bank plan for Credit Suisse to borrow up to $54 billion failed to reassure investors and the bank’s customers. Shares of Credit Suisse and other banks plunged last week after the failure of two banks in the U.S.

French government fights to survive 2 no-confidence motions

PARIS (AP) — France’s government is at a critical, maybe fatal, moment as it faces no-confidence motions filed by lawmakers furious that President Emmanuel Macron used special constitutional powers to force through an unpopular bill raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 without a parliamentary vote. National Assembly lawmakers are set to vote Monday afternoon on two no-confidence motions, one from the far-right National Rally and the other from a small centrist group that has gathered support across the left. The no-confidence motions each need the backing of 287 lawmakers in the National Assembly, the lower chamber, to pass. No such motion to bring down the government has succeeded since 1962.

nduct for the WTA.