March 22, 2023

*) Putin-Xi reach deal on Russian Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline to China Russia and China have reached an agreement on the Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline, which will connect Siberia to northwest China, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. "All agreements have been reached," Putin said, adding that economic cooperation between Moscow and Beijing was a "priority" for Russia. The planned pipeline would deliver 50 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year from Russia to China via Mongolia. *) Israel annuls law that banned four occupied West Bank settlements Israeli parliament has repealed legislation that ordered the evacuation of four illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. This move is one of the first by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right coalition. The original law, passed in 2005, mandated the evacuation of four illegal Jewish settlements in the northern occupied West Bank along with Israel's disengagement from Gaza. The repeal would allow Jewish residents to return to these settlements on condition of approval by the Israeli military. *) Death toll climbs after strong earthquake jolts Pakistan, Afghanistan Death toll has climbed to 11 after a magnitude 6.5 earthquake rattled much of Pakistan and Afghanistan, sending panicked residents fleeing from homes and offices and frightening people even in remote villages. More than 100 people were brought to hospitals in the Swat valley region of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in a state of shock. The US Geological Survey said the centre of the magnitude 6.5 quake was located 40 kilometres south-southeast of Jurm in Afghanistan's mountainous Hindukush region, bordering Pakistan and Tajikistan. *) UN warns 'vampiric' water use leading to imminent global crisis Humanity's "lifeblood" - water - is increasingly at risk around the world due to "vampiric overconsumption and overdevelopment," the UN has warned in a report. The world is "blindly travelling a dangerou