Briefly

UNITED STATES

Biden pins hopes on bill's political impact

US President Joe Biden hits the road on Wednesday to show off the huge new infrastructure bill passed last week, hoping to reap its political benefits even as he watches his approval ratings slump, according to Agence France-Presse. The president chose Baltimore, a port city less than an hour's drive from Washington, to explain to the nation why and how the country will spend $1.2 trillion on its sagging infrastructure. In an interview with local television in Cincinnati on Monday evening, Biden insisted it would only be a "matter of weeks" before the effects of the investment plan would be seen.

ETHIOPIA

16 UN staff detained amid push to end war

Sixteen Ethiopian staff members working for the United Nations were in detention on Tuesday, said UN and humanitarian sources, as foreign envoys scrambled to end the country's yearlong war. The detentions in the capital Addis Ababa followed the declaration of a six-month nationwide state of emergency last week after Tigrayan and Oromo rebels claimed major advances on the ground, raising fears of a march into the capital. Some UN staff members were taken from their homes, shortly after a senior UN envoy visited Tigray to plead for more civilian aid. The 16 UN staffers, all Ethiopian nationals, remained in detention while another six were freed, said a UN official.

SYRIA

UAE reaches out in rare ministerial visit

The United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed al-Nahyan met Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, the first such visit by a top UAE official since Syria's war began 10 years ago. They discussed bilateral relations between the two countries and ways to develop cooperation in different sectors that are of common interest, reported Syrian state news agency SANA. The meeting is the latest sign of warming ties between Syria and the UAE after the oil-rich Gulf state broke ties with Damascus in 2012. Syria is grappling with a spiraling economic crisis.

Agencies Via Xinhua