Ukraine

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 9 NEAR IZYUM, Ukraine - It turns out, some Ukrainian soldiers discovered, that Javelin cases make great beds. The U.S.-made antitank missiles are packed in large, black rectangular capsules - perfect for elevating a slim cot off the dirty, cold floors of front-line positions. "Make sure you mention they're empty," said a soldier, showing off the makeshift beds. "The last thing we need is Americans thinking they're sending us Javelins just so we can sleep on them." It's the opposite, actually: The 93rd Mechanized Brigade had fired so many Javelins at Russian tanks that they needed something to do with the pile of empty cases. The fighting in this stage of war between Russia and Ukraine has shifted toward an exchange of long-range artillery and missile strikes. But despite Javelins being a shorter-range weapon - its maximum range is about 2.5 miles … [Read more...] about It’s an artillery war, but Ukraine still kills tanks with Javelins

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Russia on August 5 for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin focusing on a grain deal brokered by Turkey and the U.N., prospects for talks on ending hostilities in Ukraine , the situation in Syria and growing economic ties between Moscow and Ankara. Speaking at the start of the meeting at Mr. Putin’s Black Sea residence in Sochi, Mr. Erdogan said their negotiations would help “put forward the role that Turkey and Russia play in the region.” He cast the talks as pivotal, saying they were being watched closely by the rest of the world. “Today, of, course, the world’s eye is on Sochi,” Mr. Erdogan said. “They are following it, wondering what is being discussed and done in Sochi.” Last month, Turkey and the United Nations helped broker agreements between Russia and Ukraine to clear the way for Ukraine to export 22 million tons of agricultural products stuck in its Black Sea ports since Moscow sent troops into the country more … [Read more...] about Ukraine, Syria expected to top Erdogan-Putin talks in Russia

SAULIEU, France (AP) — French lawmakers on Wednesday approved a 20 billion-euro ($20.3-billion) package of measures to help struggling households cope with rising energy and food prices. The 395-to-112 vote came after a heated debate at the National Assembly, where French President Emmanuel Macron no longer has a majority. The Senate also approved the text on Wednesday evening. The bill was a key promise from Macron, who was reelected for a second term in April. It was also a crucial test of the government’s ability to govern — and opposition forces’ ability to weigh in on the lawmaking process. Macron’s centrist alliance won the most seats at the National Assembly in June but lost its absolute majority as a leftist coalition and the far right both made big gains, becoming strong opposition forces. Annual inflation has reached a record 8.6% for the 19 countries using the shared euro currency, swollen by a huge increase in food and energy costs fueled partly by the war in … [Read more...] about French lawmakers OK $20.3 billion to help with rising prices

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 9 LONDON (AP) — The Bank of England announced its biggest interest rate increase in 27 years on Thursday as it forecast that the war in Ukraine would fuel further inflation and tip the U.K. economy into a prolonged recession. Soaring natural gas prices are likely to drive consumer price inflation to 13.3% in October, from 9.4% in June, the bank said. That will push Britain into recession later this year, with economic output declining each quarter from the fourth quarter of 2022 through the fourth quarter of 2023, bank forecasts show. Those pressures persuaded the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee to boost its key interest rate by 0.5 percentage points, the biggest of six consecutive increases since December. The rate now stands at 1.75%, the highest since the depths of the global financial crisis in late 2008. Gov. Andrew Bailey defended the … [Read more...] about Bank of England predicts recession at the end of the year

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 11 KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Relatives of prisoners of war captured by the Russians following the fall of Mariupol gathered in central Kyiv Thursday demanding information about their husbands, fathers and sons following a strike on a prison housing POWs in a separatist region of eastern Ukraine last week that reportedly killed and wounded dozens. One of those gathered was Eugenia Vasylieva who last saw her husband Valeriy Vasyliev in Mariupol on the night of Feb. 24, the day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That night he went to defend his city. Her 7-year-old daughter Zlata Vasylieva, holding a placard calling for her father's return, said: “I want my dad to be alive and that he never die." Russia has claimed that Ukraine’s military used U.S.-supplied rocket launchers to strike the prison in Olenivka, a settlement controlled by the … [Read more...] about Relatives of POWs call on Red Cross to help find loved ones

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 15 WASHINGTON (AP) — Samantha Power won fame as a human rights advocate and was picked by President Joe Biden to lead the agency that distributes billions of dollars in U.S. aid abroad, including providing more food assistance than anyone else in the world. But since Russia invaded Ukraine, that job includes a new task with a Cold War feel — countering Russia's messaging abroad. As administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Power is dealing now with a global food crisis, brought on by local conflicts, the pandemic's economic upheaval, and drought and the other extremes typical of climate change. As the Biden administration spells out often, the problems have all been compounded by Russia invading Ukraine, deepening food shortages and raising prices everywhere. That set up an hearts-and-minds … [Read more...] about The AP Interview: Samantha Power vs. food crisis, Russia

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia last month on the possibility that he could get some additional oil production out of OPEC+ in coming weeks, but the cartel and other nations announced a scant increase Wednesday. The White House responded by stressing that what matters is the steady decline in oil and gasoline prices from summer highs, not the actions taken by OPEC+ to pump an additional 100,000 barrels of oil in September. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted that the decline began June 14, the day the administration disclosed plans for Biden's trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia. “The fact of the matter is that oil and gas prices are coming down,” Jean-Pierre told reporters at her briefing. “The moment he announced his trip we saw gas prices and oil prices coming down.” While there may be a correlation, it is unclear whether … [Read more...] about White House: Falling gas prices mean more than OPEC numbers

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 15 BEIJING (AP) — China is staging live-fire military drills in six self-declared zones surrounding Taiwan in response to a visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island Beijing claims as its own territory. China has warned aircraft and ships to avoid the areas during the exercises, which run through Sunday. The drills appear to be a rehearsal for a potential blockade and invasion of the island that would almost certainly draw in Taiwan’s chief supporter, the United States, along with American allies including Japan and Australia. China’s 2 million-strong military is the world’s largest and its navy has more ships than the U.S. Taiwan’s armed forces can’t compare in numbers, but it has vowed to resist coercive measures to impose Chinese Communist Party rule over the self-governing island democracy. “It … [Read more...] about EXPLAINER: Why is China staging drills around Taiwan?

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 12 PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined the foreign ministers of Russia and China at a meeting Friday with top diplomats from Southeast Asia that comes at a time of increased tensions between Washington, Moscow and Beijing. The East Asia Summit of the ongoing Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings in Cambodia's capital was the first time the three men were scheduled to take part in the same forum. It came a day after WNBA star Brittney Griner was convicted of drug possession and sentenced to nine years in prison by Russia in a politically charged case amid ongoing friction over the Russian invasion of Ukraine. China, meantime, is furious at the U.S. following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit this week to Taiwan — a self-governing island Beijing claims as its own — and is in the … [Read more...] about US, Russia, China take part in talks with SE Asian nations