Russia and China have proposed that North Korea declare a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests while the United States and South Korea refrain from large-scale military exercises.
The Latest on the Moscow talks between the presidents of China and Russia (all times local) :
4: 35 p.m.
Russia and China have proposed that North Korea declare a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests while the United States and South Korea refrain from large-scale military exercises.
The call was issued in a joint statement by the Russian and Chinese Foreign Ministries on Tuesday following talks between President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The statement came after North Korea tested a missile that flew higher and longer than previous ones, sparking concerns around the world.
Moscow and Beijing suggested that if Pyongyang halts nuclear and missile tests while the U. S. and Seoul freeze military maneuvers, the parties could sit down for talks that should lead to obligations not to use force and to refrain from aggression.
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12: 45 p.m.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin for talks on boosting ties between the two allies.
Xi’s visit comes amid a flare-up of tensions in U. S.-China ties and an anxiety caused by North Korea’s missile launch. The missile flew higher and farther than those previously tested.
Welcoming Xi Tuesday, Putin said they would focus on economic and international issues.
Before arriving in Moscow Monday, Xi warned President Donald Trump that « some negative factors » are hurting U. S.-China relations, as tensions soared over a U. S. destroyer sailing within the territorial seas limit of a Chinese-claimed island in the South China Sea.
Trump, Putin and Xi will attend the Group of 20 summit in Germany later this week. Putin and Trump are to hold their first meeting there.
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MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia and China have agreed a joint position
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia and China have agreed a joint position on North Korea designed to defuse tensions around its missile program and both want Washington to halt deployment of a missile shield in South Korea, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
Moscow and Beijing had agreed on the need for a simultaneous freezing of North Korea’s missile and nuclear program and large-scale military exercises by the United States and South Korea, the ministry said in a statement.
The statement was released after President Vladimir Putin held talks with visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Kremlin.
North Korea said on Tuesday it had successfully test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time, which flew a trajectory that experts said could allow a weapon to hit the U. S. state of Alaska.
The same statement said Moscow and Beijing wanted the United States to immediately halt its deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system to South Korea, a move Washington says is necessitated by the North Korean missile threat.
(Reporting by Denis Dyomkin/Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

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The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) breached a wall surrounding the Old City of Raqqa on Monday, the US Central Command said in a statement describing developments in the de facto capital.
In a CENTCOM statement, the US added: « Coalition forces supported the SDF advance into the most heavily fortified portion of Raqqa by opening two small gaps in the Rafiqah Wall that surrounds the Old City. »
The battle for Raqqa is not dissimilar to that of Mosul, where US-backed Iraqi forces are fighting to expel the last of ISIS fighters from Iraq’s second-largest city. But the fight to retake Raqqa has gone quicker, with attacking forces gradually forcing a diminishing number of ISIS fighters into a smaller area of narrow streets around the ancient mosque of Rafiqa, which has already been extensively damaged.
The Rafiqah Wall — which is 3 kilometers from the city center — is approximately 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) long, 3.8 meters (12.4 feet) high and 1 meter thick, Syrian state media reported in 2009.
ISIS fighters had planted mines and improvised explosive devices at several breaks in the wall, a US Central Command (CENTCOM) statement said.
« The portions targeted were 25-meter sections and will help preserve the remainder of the overall 2,500-meter wall,  » CENTCOM said.
CENTCOM and the SDF did not specify which area of the wall was breached.
The SDF launched an offensive to seize Raqqa on June 6. For more than three years, ISIS has used Raqqa as a staging ground for its deadly attacks on the Middle East and further overseas.
The group is running out of places to go. If ISIS is evicted from Raqqa it will lose the last vestige of any « governance » of its so-called caliphate. But it’s not just losing control of territory, it will also lose the facility to move freely between Syria and Iraq — especially since Iraqi militia seized the key town of Baaj last month.
The coalition hopes that the loss of Raqqa and Mosul will dull ISIS’ appeal to potential recruits.
« It’s hard to convince new recruits that ISIS is a winning cause when they just lost their twin ‘capitals’ in both Iraq and Syria,  » General Steve Townsend, the coalition’s commanding general, said.

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