Europe

BRUSSELS, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Belgium has taken over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) for a challenging six-month term in 2024. The road ahead is no easy feat, with the European Parliament entering an election period in June, intensifying the urgency for the presidency to conclude numerous legislative dossiers.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo revealed in December that around 150 legislative dossiers are on the table, a point reiterated at the official presentation of the program for the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian air force shot down a Russian Beriev A-50 early warning and control plane and an IL-22 command center aircraft in a significant blow for the Kremlin’s forces, Ukraine’s military chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi claimed Monday.

The planes are key tools in helping orchestrate Russian battlefield movements. Shooting them down is a landmark feat for Ukraine in the almost two-year war, as fighting along the front line is largely bogged down in trench and artillery warfare.

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — The world could have its first trillionaire within a decade, anti-poverty organization Oxfam International said Monday in its annual assessment of global inequalities timed to the gathering of political and business elites at the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

Oxfam, which for years has been trying to highlight the growing disparities between the super-rich and the bulk of the global population during the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, reckons the gap has been “supercharged” since the coronavirus pandemic.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark’s new King Frederik X visited the Danish parliament Monday, on his first formal day on the job, a day after his mother, Queen Margrethe, abdicated after 52 years on the throne.

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — Iceland’s president said the country is battling “tremendous forces of nature,” after molten lava from a volcano in the island’s southwest consumed several houses in the evacuated town of Grindavik.

President Gudni Th. Johannesson said in a televised address late Sunday that “a daunting period of upheaval has begun on the Reykjanes peninsula,” where a long-dormant volcanic system has awakened.

MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/: The development of Russia’s Far East has advanced, the most difficult initial stage has been passed, now it is necessary to increase the pace, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"At the first stage it was quite difficult to implement a lot of things that had been frozen for decades. In my opinion, the work has continued, we have advanced, the most difficult stage is over, now we just need to increase the pace," he said, answering reporters’ questions.

LONDON, January 14. /TASS/: London is ready to support the United States in repeated airstrikes on the positions of Yemen's Ansar Allah (Houthi) rebels, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said.

"We have sent an unambiguous message: what the Houthis are doing is wrong, and we are determined to put a stop to it. We will work with allies. We wil always defend the freedom of navigation. And, crucially, we will be prepared to back words with actions," Cameron wrote in an article published in The Sunday Telegraph.

GENEVA, January 14. /TASS/: Russia should be included into the process of peace settlement in Ukraine, Swiss Federal Councillor for Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis said.

"We should find a way to bring Russia into peace discussions. There will be no peace if Russia cannot have its say," he told a news conference at the World Economic forum in Davos.

MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/: If the West wants talks on Ukraine it should stop supplying Kiev with weapons, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, commenting on Swiss Federal Councillor for Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis’ statement that Russia should be included into peace discussions.

Addressing a news conference in Davos earlier in the day, Cassis said that efforts are being made to bring Russia into peace discussions on Ukraine mediated by other countries and stressed that a peace conference could not be held without Russia’s participation.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 14 (Reuters) - China needs to be involved in talks to end the war with Russia, Ukraine's top representative said after a high-level diplomatic meeting ahead of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

Ukraine's presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on Sunday it was important that Russian ally China was at the table when Kyiv convenes further meetings on its peace formula.