March 13, 2023

*) Casualties mount as Ukraine, Russia battle for Bakhmut rages Russian forces suffered more than 1,100 dead in less than a week of battles near the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the focal point of fighting in eastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. Zelenskyy said Russian forces had also sustained 1,500 "sanitary losses" - soldiers wounded badly enough to keep them out of further action. Russia has not responded to the Ukrainian claim. However, the Russian Defence Ministry had said earlier that up to 210 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the broader Donetsk part of the frontline. *) Deal with Iran does not mean 'all issues resolved': Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia has said that agreement to reestablish diplomatic relations with Iran "does not mean that all issues have been resolved". The agreement is an indication of the common desire to resolve issues through dialogue and diplomacy, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said. The minister noted that Saudi Arabia is preparing to restart relations with Iran in two months and that mutual visits can be made in the future. *) China's Xi highlights national security in congress closing speech In his first address since being handed a historic third term, China's President Xi Jinping emphasised the need to strengthen national security. Xi thanked the thousands of delegates at Beijing's Great Hall of the People for giving him a third term, vowing to "take the needs of the country as my mission, and the interests of the people as my yardstick". Xi became China's most powerful leader in generations last week when he was reappointed for another five years at the helm of the world's most populous nation, in a break with long-standing political precedent. *) US scrambles to prevent SVB collapse fallout, protects customer deposits Fourteen migrants from sub-Saharan Africa drowned off the coast of Sfax, Tunisia, after their boat sank, according to the country’s coastguard. 54 people were rescued. Tunisia has long been a springb