Europe

16 June 2022; MEMO: The Ukrainian government has submitted an official request to the Israeli government to secure a $500 million loan to help its severely damaged economy due to Russia's war, Israel's Ynet News website reported.

The request came in an official letter sent by the Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's office in Jerusalem on behalf of Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

MOSCOW, June 15./TASS/: The Russian and Chinese presidents reaffirmed on Wednesday the high level of relations between Moscow and Beijing and plans to continue to develop cooperation, the Kremlin press service reported following a phone call of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

"The leaders stated that Russian-Chinese relations have reached an unprecedentedly high level and are constantly cultivated," the press service said.

MOSCOW, June 15. /TASS/: IKEA will sell its four factories in Russia and put its retail business on hold, which will result in a reduction of the workforce, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

ST. PETERSBURG, June 15. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Wednesday said Ukraine halted peace talks with Russia on orders from its US handlers while Russia was prepared to carry on.

"These talks were frozen, halted, broken off," she said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. "Let them (Ukraine - TASS) say for themselves what they did with these talks. We know that very well because we have information that was the order given by their American handlers."

GENEVA, June 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A global deal to cut fishing subsidies could be struck at a major ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization this week even though India in particular pushed for a major exemption, officials said.

The 27-year-old trade body has not reached a major deal among its 164 members in nine years and some observers see the fish talks as the best, and possibly last, chance to do so.

GENEVA, June 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organization says it is working with experts to come up with a new name for monkeypox.

It comes after more than 30 scientists wrote last week about the “urgent need for a non-discriminatory and non-stigmatising” name for the virus and the disease it causes.

Continued reference to the virus as African is both inaccurate and discriminatory, they said.

Some 1,600 cases of the disease have been recorded globally in recent weeks.

PRAGUE, June 15 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the European Union on Wednesday to let his country start on the road to membership of the bloc, warning that Russia's territorial ambitions stretched from Warsaw to Sofia.

In a speech to both chambers of the Czech parliament via a video link, Zelenskiy also called for more EU sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. 

BRUSSELS, June 15 (Reuters) - Russia's invasion of Ukraine was at a "pivotal" moment and the United States and its allies could not lose focus on the three-month long conflict, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday during a meeting of dozens of defense ministers in Brussels.

LONDON, June 15 (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday that the West had "shot itself in the head" by trying to limit energy imports from the oil and gas fields of Siberia due to the Ukraine conflict, in sharp contrast to China which has increased deliveries of energy.

The war in Ukraine - and the West's attempt to isolate Russia as punishment for the invasion - have sent the price of grain, cooking oil, fertiliser and energy soaring while Europe has vowed to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas.

BUCHAREST, June 15 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian president will have to negotiate with Russia, and the Europeans will also be present at the negotiating table, bringing security guarantees, visiting French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday at a NATO base in southeastern Romania.

"We want to build peace, which means that at some point the fire must stop and the talks must resume," Macron told a joint press conference with his Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis after their talks at the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base.