Wednesday morning news: March 22, 2023

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Putin-Xi » In Moscow, Chinese leader Xi Jinping walked up the opulent red-carpeted staircase of the Grand Kremlin Palace on Tuesday in a pomp-laden ceremony.

XI: [speaking in Mandarin]

He later sat down with Vladimir Putin in front of a row of cameras signing joint declarations vowing to strengthen their economic and military ties.

That will include more cooperation in energy and high-tech industries.

PUTIN: [speaking in Russian]

And they’ll step up joint military exercises, though there was no mention of China supplying weapons to Russia.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called it a marriage of convenience.

KIRBY: In President Putin and Russia, President Xi sees a counterweight to American influence and NATO influence. In President Xi, President Putin sees a potential backer here.

And he said Putin’s government doesn’t have many friends these days.

Putin praised China’s proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine. But the White House says a pause in the fighting would only buy time for Russia to reload for future attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says his government has sent a peace proposal to Beijing, but so far, no response.

Japan PM to Ukraine » Meantime, in Kyiv Zelenskyy welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida who made an unannounced visit.

Kishida said he could see and feel the horror of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

KISHIDA: [speaking in Japanese]

His visit included a trip to the nearby town of Bucha where officials found mass graves of civilians killed by Russian troops.

Kishida pledged $500 million in support to Ukraine for energy and non-lethal equipment.

Japan will not send weapons due to its largely pacifist constitution.

US trying to speed delivery of tanks » The Pentagon, however, is sending more weapons to Ukraine, including Abrams tanks.

But instead of sending new units, the US military will send refurbished models to speed up delivery.

Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder:

RYDER: We’ve been committed to exploring options to deliver the armored capability as quickly as possible.

The American Abrams tanks will arrive at the battlefield in 8 to 10 months…which is much sooner than the 1 to 2 years officials said it would take to build and ship newer models.

France protests » More chaos in the streets of France last night. Some protests have continued to turn violent. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

SOUND: [Activity in France]

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Flames and smoke rose into the night sky over Paris with some protesters setting fire to garbage piled in the city streets after sanitation workers went on strike.

They’re protesting President Emmanuel Macron’s move to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. That’s a move he says is needed to keep the pension system from going broke.

Paris police prefect Laurent Nunez said the violence was caused by groups of up to 300 people quickly moving through the capital.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

East Palestine health » Residents of East Palestine, Ohio are reporting health problems after a train derailed there last month spilling toxic chemicals.

Dana Linger lives just outside of town. After the derailment, she described her symptoms to WORLD’s Carolina Lumetta.

DANA LINGER- Nasal, sinuses, I have a cough when we were down in the area where we could smell the chemicals, we were getting dizzy, tingling fingertips—those kind of symptoms.

So far, most of the nearly 500 people surveyed reported headaches, coughing, or irritated skin, among other symptoms.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: The tenuous legal grounds for indicting former President Trump.

Plus, 3D-printing prosthetic limbs. This is The World and Everything in It.

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