World

Associated Press
Russian ship fires warning shots at UK warship in Black Sea
A Russian warship fired warning shots Wednesday to force a British destroyer from Russia’s waters near Crimea in the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The ministry said the Russian warship fired warning shots after the British missile destroyer Defender had ignored a notice against intrusion in Russia’s territorial waters.
Associated Press
Israel approves demolition of Palestinian home after attack
Israel's Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the decision to destroy the family home of a detained Palestinian accused of a deadly shooting. It rejected a petition by his estranged wife, who lives in the house with their children and says she knew nothing about the attack. The case drew attention to Israel's policy of demolishing the family homes of attackers after they have been killed or arrested.
BBC
Ethiopia's Tigray crisis: Heavy casualties reported after airstrike
Eyewitnesses told the BBC that the Ethiopian air force struck a market near the region's capital.
Associated Press
IMF announces debt relief package for Sudan
The International Monetary Fund has announced a debt relief package for Sudan, a step in helping the country as it tries to rejoin the global economy after years of isolation. In a statement distributed late Tuesday, the fund’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva said that it had obtained enough pledges from more than 100 member countries to finance the debt relief package of some US$1.4 billion. This will help to erase debts Sudan owed to the IMF, but also other lending institutions.
Associated Press
The Latest: Italy welcomes tourists from US, Canada, Japan
Italy’s leader is pitching for tourists to start coming from the United States, Canada and Japan to give a vitally needed boost to Italian hotel and restaurant businesses. In a speech to lawmakers on Wednesday, Premier Mario Draghi noted that Italy has recently allowed people from those three countries to now come for tourism, previously not allowed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Tourists must be vaccinated, have certification that they have recovered from the illness or have a negative COVID-19 test taken within 48 hours of entering Italy.
Bloomberg
Private Equity Faces Off Hedge Fund Shorts in Bid for U.K. Plc
(Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds saw a consumer company set to struggle as the U.K. emerges from the pandemic and grapples with the aftermath of Brexit. A private equity giant saw a buying opportunity.Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc was among the country’s most-shorted stocks before a buyout offer from Clayton Dubilier & Rice sent the shares up by the most in three decades. It’s served as a warning for those making bearish bets as cash-rich private equity companies have been spotting bargains across Brit
Associated Press
Blinken brings Biden Europe charm offensive to Germany
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Germany as the Biden administration presses ahead with a diplomatic charm offensive designed to woo back wary Western European allies after four years of turbulent relations under former President Donald Trump. Blinken arrived in Berlin on Wednesday to start his second visit to Europe in seven days, having just accompanied President Joe Biden to leaders’ meetings in Britain and Belgium. In talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, Blinken plans to emphasize the “America is back” message that Biden delivered personally last week.
BBC
The Nigerian priest saving Igbo deities from the bonfires
Reverend Paul Obayi preserves artefacts burnt by preachers who see them as symbols of idolatry.
Reuters
Russian security chief says Moscow will cooperate with U.S. against hackers
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia will work with the United States to locate cyber criminals, the head of the FSB security service said on Wednesday, a week after the countries' leaders agreed to step up cooperation in certain areas. FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov said the security agency would follow agreements reached by presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden in discussions about cybersecurity issues at a summit last week in Switzerland, their first face-to-face meeting since Biden took office in January. "We will work together (on locating hackers) and hope for reciprocity," the RIA news agency quoted Bortnikov as saying at a security conference in Moscow.
Associated Press
Can pandemic recovery plan end Italy's years of stagnation?
The COVID-19 pandemic hit Italy especially hard, killing more than 127,000 people and sending the European Union's third-largest economy into a devastating tailspin. Leading the charge is Premier Mario Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank, who was tapped as head of a national unity government specifically for his economic expertise and institutional knowledge both in Italy and the EU. The challenge is formidable: Italy has failed to show robust growth in the more than two decades since it joined the euro currency union in 1999.
Associated Press
5 years after Brexit vote, divided UK still feels shockwaves
Five years ago Wednesday, Britons voted in a referendum that was meant to bring certainty to the U.K.’s unsettled relationship with its European neighbors. “Britain is still significantly divided over the merits of Brexit,” said polling expert John Curtice of the University of Strathclyde. “Over four in five people still say that they would vote exactly in the same way as they did five years ago,” Curtice said.
Fox News
Merkel receives Moderna dose after AstraZeneca shot
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, was given the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for her second dose after receiving Oxford-AstraZeneca’s shot in April, according to reports.
Associated Press
Germany hosts conference to push for progress in Libya
Germany and the United Nations are bringing together representatives of Libya with powers that have interests in the country at a conference Wednesday which aims for progress toward securing elections in the North African nation and the removal of foreign fighters. The meeting at the foreign ministry in Berlin, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken among those expected to attend, follows up on a January 2020 conference where leaders agreed to respect an arms embargo and to push the country's warring parties to reach a full cease-fire. Germany has tried to act as an intermediary.
Associated Press
Iran likely had failed rocket launch, preparing for another
Iran likely conducted a failed launch of a satellite-carrying rocket in recent days and now appears to be preparing to try again, the country's latest effort to advance its space program amid tensions with the West over its tattered nuclear deal. Satellite images, a U.S. official and a rocket expert all confirmed the failed launch, earlier this month, at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran's Semnan province. The attempt comes as Iran's space program has suffered a series of high-profile losses, while its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard runs its own parallel program that launched a satellite into orbit last year.
Bloomberg
U.S. Blocks Iran Websites as Oil’s Rise Continues: Iran Snapshot
(Bloomberg) -- Here is a snapshot of what’s happening in Iran, the status of nuclear talks and energy markets.Latest DevelopmentsThe U.S. has blocked three dozen Iranian websites, according to the Justice Department, in a move that may inflame tensions between the countries and hinder progress in nuclear negotiations. The U.S. said the move was a response to Tehran’s “brazen attempts” to spread disinformation and mislead American voters.Iran earlier raised the possibility that talks to revive th
Reuters
COLUMN-For Russia, aggression seen central to great power status: Peter Apps
When U.S. President Joe Biden visited Europe last week, only one world leader received his undivided attention for an entire day: Vladimir Putin. At his press conference in Geneva, Biden claimed that the last thing his Russian counterpart wanted was another Cold War. The truth, however, is that in some respects what the West sees as Russia’s misbehaviour in recent years has achieved exactly what Moscow wanted: to be treated as a "great power", equal on its own terms with the United States and China.
Associated Press
Biden faces growing pressure from the left over voting bill
When New York Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones was at the White House for the signing of the proclamation making Juneteenth a national holiday last week, he told President Joe Biden their party needed him more involved in passing voting legislation on the Hill. Biden “just sort of stared at me,” Jones said, describing an “awkward silence” that passed between the two. For Jones, the moment was emblematic of what he and a growing number of Democratic activists describe as a lackluster engagement from Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on an issue they consider urgent and necessary for the health of the democracy.
Associated Press
From Biden to Congress, Big Tech is under mounting pressure
Without speaking a word or scratching a pen across paper, President Joe Biden drove up the pressure on Big Tech companies already smarting under federal and congressional investigations, epic antitrust lawsuits and near-constant condemnation from politicians of both parties. Biden last week elevated a fierce critic of Big Tech, antitrust legal scholar Lina Khan, to head the powerful Federal Trade Commission. The surprise move was a clear signal of a tough stance toward tech giants Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple and came as sweeping bipartisan legislation advanced in the House that could curb their market power and force them to sever their dominant platforms from their other lines of business.
Associated Press
Xi congratulates Chinese astronauts aboard space station
Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with three astronauts who are making the country's space station their home for the next three months, and called their mission an important milestone in China’s space industry. The crew consisting of former air force pilots Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo arrived at the Tianhe space station last week. Throughout their stay, they will carry out science experiments and maintenance, space walks and prepare the station for receiving two additional modules next year.
AFP
Five years on, Brexit bedevils pandemic-hit UK
Five years on from Britain's shock decision to quit the European Union, the wounds opened by Brexit have yet to heal, and analysts say its far-reaching changes are only just beginning.
Axios
DOJ seizes 36 U.S. website domains with links to Iran in disinformation crackdown
American officials seized 36 news website domains linked to Iran's government for spreading disinformation as part of a propaganda campaign, the Department of Justice said Tuesday.Why it matters: The action comes at a time of heightened tension between the two countries, with Iran's hardline President-elect Ebrahim Raisi on Monday ruling out negotiating over missiles or meeting with President Biden as the two nations hold talks on returning Tehran to the 2015 nuclear deal.Get market news worthy
Fox News
What the Iranian presidential election means for the US and the Middle East
Hardline conservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi was declared the winner of Iran’s June 2021 presidential election in a contest that was widely viewed as predetermined and will have major implications beyond Iran’s borders.
Associated Press
Russia says Syria can deliver aid, Turkey not essential
Russia’s foreign minister says Moscow disagrees that there is no alternative to deliver humanitarian aid to Syria’s rebel-held northwest except from Turkey as the U.N. and many Western nations maintain, insisting deliveries are possible across conflict lines within the country. Sergey Lavrov said that since April 2020 Russia has seen continuous attempts to block joint humanitarian convoys by the United Nations, International Committee of the Red Cross and Syrian Arab Red Crescent to northwest Idlib from Syria’s capital Damascus by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the strongest militant group there, “with the connivance of Ankara.”
Associated Press
Pelosi signals new panel to investigate Jan. 6 Capitol riot
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is signaling that she is poised to create a new committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, pushing closer to a partisan investigation of the attack after Senate Republicans blocked the creation of an independent probe. A person familiar with the matter said after a meeting with Democrats that Pelosi had told her colleagues that she would create a select panel. The new committee would come after the Senate voted earlier this month to block legislation to form a bipartisan, independent commission investigating the attack by former President Donald Trump's supporters.
Reuters
UPDATE 2-Sudan asks U.N. Security Council to meet over Ethiopia's Blue Nile dam
Sudan asked the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday to meet and discuss a dispute over a giant dam being built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile, a government statement said. Ethiopia is pinning its hopes of economic development and power generation on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), while the two downstream countries - Egypt and Sudan - are concerned about it and seeking a binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam. Egypt relies on the Nile River for as much as 90% of its fresh water and sees the dam as an existential threat.