Joe Biden

NATO leaders designated China as presenting "systemic challenges" in a summit communique on June 14, taking a forceful stance towards Beijing at Joe Biden's first summit with an alliance that Donald Trump openly disparaged and ridiculed.

The Chinese scientist at the center of theories that the coronavirus pandemic originated with a leak from her specialized lab in the city of Wuhan has denied her institution was to blame for the health disaster.

"How on earth can I offer up evidence for something where there is no evidence?" Dr. Shi Zhengli told the New York Times in rare comments to the media.

Turkey and the U.S. have agreed to use direct channels of dialogue effectively and regularly, befitting the two allies and strategic partners, the Turkish president said on June 14. 

NATO heads of states and governments attending Monday's alliance summit in Brussels vowed to support the territorial integrity and stability of Bosnia while reaffirming "unity, solidarity, and cohesion, and pledging to open a new chapter in transatlantic relations" and address "Russia's aggressive actions that constitute a threat to Euro-Atlantic security" and "China's growing influence".

Wednesday's Geneva summit between US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will take place in a plush 18th-century lakeside villa steeped in the Swiss city's history.

The Villa La Grange, set in Geneva's biggest park which slopes down to the shore, is well used to hosting showpiece events -- but the Biden-Putin talks will rank as the most high-powered of them all.

Russia, climate change, Afghanistan and new technologies will also be on the agenda of the one-day summit. The gathering will be somewhat narrower in scope than in previous years, due to restrictions related to COVID-19.

"I certainly think that President Putin did unscrupulous things, and I'm pretty sure he approved of the poisonings in Salisbury," Johnson said.
"You saw what happened to his leading opponent, Alexei Navalny, who is facing effective torture in prison under fictitious charges," Johnson said, as Blic reports.

China on June 14 accused the G7 of "political manipulation" after it criticized Beijing over its human rights record in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

A motley alliance of Israeli parties on June 13 ended Benjamin Netanyahu's 12 straight years as prime minister, as parliament voted in a new government led by his former ally, right-wing Jewish nationalist Naftali Bennett.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on June 13 met with the leaders of NATO member countries in Brussels as part of his bilateral talks ahead of Monday's alliance summit.

Erdoğan held separate talks with Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, and Latvian President Egils Levits.