Reuters World News Summary

Yellen met with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and other key government officials just days into the war's second year, repeating U.S. assurances delivered by President Joe Biden a week ago in Kyiv. Russia will not resume START nuclear talks until Washington listens to Moscow Russia will not resume participation in the START nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States until Washington listens to Moscow's position, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in remarks published on Tuesday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Italy urges 'stop' to migrant boats as shipwreck death toll hits 63

Rescuers recovered four more bodies on Monday, a day after a wooden sailboat carrying migrants to Europe smashed onto rocks in stormy weather off southern Italy, bringing the death toll to 63, including at least 14 children. Rescuers said most of the migrants came from Afghanistan, as well as from Iran, Somalia, Syria and elsewhere. Pakistan's foreign ministry said 20 Pakistani citizens were on the boat, with four missing and 16 survivors of the nighttime shipwreck.

Rishi Sunak strikes post-Brexit Northern Ireland deal with EU

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak struck a deal with the European Union on post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland on Monday, saying it would pave the way for a new chapter in London's relationship with the bloc. Standing alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at a news conference in Windsor, Sunak said the two sides had agreed to remove "any sense of a border" between Britain and its province - a situation that had angered politicians on both sides.

Struggling with US asylum app, migrant families split at border

Dozens of migrant families are splitting up at Mexico's northern border as they struggle to secure U.S. asylum appointments on a government app beset by high demand and persistent glitches, migrants and advocates say. The anxiety of separation is piling more pressure on families who have often taken perilous journeys through several countries to reach the U.S.-Mexico frontier, and now no longer know when they will reunite.

Yellen in surprise visit to Kyiv to reaffirm US economic aid to Ukraine

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen paid a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday to reaffirm U.S. support for Ukraine in its struggle against Russia's invasion and promote U.S. economic aid that is bolstering Ukraine's war effort. Yellen met with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and other key government officials just days into the war's second year, repeating U.S. assurances delivered by President Joe Biden a week ago in Kyiv.

Russia will not resume START nuclear talks until Washington listens to Moscow

Russia will not resume participation in the START nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States until Washington listens to Moscow's position, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in remarks published on Tuesday. President Vladimir Putin last week delivered a warning to the West over the war in Ukraine and announced Russia's decision to suspend participation in the latest START treaty, after accusing the West of being directly involved in attempts to strike its strategic air bases.

Islamist militants have Pakistan's police in their crosshairs

Atop a police outpost in northwest Pakistan, Faizanullah Khan stands behind a stack of sandbags and peers through the sight of an anti-aircraft gun, scanning the terrain along the unofficial boundary with the country's restive former tribal areas. On this cold and rainy February morning, he was looking not for aircraft but for Islamist fighters behind attacks against his force, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial police.

North Korea's Kim orders 'fundamental transformation' of agriculture amid food shortages

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for a "fundamental transformation" in agricultural production, state media reported on Tuesday, amid fears that the country's food shortage is worsening. Kim said hitting grain production targets this year was a top priority and emphasized the importance of stable agriculture production during the second day of the seventh enlarged plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea on Monday, according to state news agency KCNA.

Ukraine war, US-China tensions to dominate G20 foreign ministers meet

Foreign ministers from around the world meet in New Delhi this week in the shadow of Russia's war in Ukraine and spiralling U.S.-China tensions, with host India hoping that issues like climate change and Third World debt are not overlooked. The March 1-2 meeting of the G20 foreign ministers will be held days after a meeting of finance chiefs of the bloc in Bengaluru, where they wrangled over condemning Russia for the war, failed to reach a consensus on a joint statement and settled instead for a summary document.

Analysis-Netanyahu's balancing act got harder after post-summit violence

A U.S.-brokered summit had barely ended with pledges to calm violence and slow Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank when Palestinian homes were set ablaze by Jewish settlers in retaliation for a deadly Palestinian gun ambush. Hopes for a calming effect of the meeting hosted by Jordan in the Red Sea port of Aqaba and attended by high-level Israeli and Palestinian security officials, faded further when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disavowed any notion of a halt to settlement-building.

Russia tries to close ring around Bakhmut as thawing ground turns to mud

Russian forces were trying to close their circle around the small mining city of Bakhmut on Monday, while rain and an early spring thaw turned eastern Ukraine's battlefields to mud which could hamper both sides as they try to take the initiative. The spring thaw, known as the rasputitsa, has a long history of ruining plans by armies to attack across the soil of Ukraine and western Russia, turning roads into rivers and fields into impenetrable bogs.

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