Firefight Breaks Out at Ukrainian Checkpoint in Debaltseve

Reuters
Taiwan happy with US aid package, China objects to arms sales
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Wednesday she was happy the U.S. Congress had passed a sweeping foreign aid package which includes arms support for the island, as China urged Washington to stop selling weapons to Taipei. The United States is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier even in the absence of formal diplomatic ties. China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly demanded arms sales stop.
5m ago
Associated Press
North Korea sends a delegation to Iran in a growing effort to break its diplomatic isolation
A high-level North Korean economic delegation was on its way to Iran, the North's state media said Wednesday, for what would be the two countries’ first known talks since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Embracing the idea of a “new Cold War,” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is pushing to build up cooperation with countries confronting the United States, as his intensified weapons tests prompted the U.S. and South Korea to expand their military drills. Pyongyang's delegation led by Yun Jung Ho, North Korea’s minster of external economic relations, flew out Tuesday for the trip to Iran, official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday.
16m ago
Reuters
Prabowo vows to fight for all Indonesians, calls for unity among political elites
Indonesia president-elect Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday vowed to fight for all Indonesians and called for unity among political elites to take the country forward, as he seeks to strengthen his parliamentary clout ahead of taking office in October. Speaking at a ceremony where he was being confirmed as the winner of the Feb. 14 election, Prabowo, who won by a huge margin, said he was talking to elites in the country and it was vital parties could get along together for the common good. Prabowo, who was tacitly backed by popular incumbent Joko Widodo, is seeking to broaden his coalition in the new parliament and is in talks with parties who backed his election rivals.
26m ago
Reuters
Polestar may use US plant to sell cars to Europe as EU-China tension rises
Chinese-backed Swedish electric vehicle (EV) maker Polestar Automotive is preparing to shift production of cars it plans to sell into Europe to its U.S. plant from China in view of rising geopolitical tension, its CEO said. Asked how Polestar is preparing for a European probe into Chinese-made EVs possibly leading to increased tariffs, Thomas Ingenlath said the automaker is exploring the idea of exporting the Polestar 3 made in South Carolina to the European Union. Polestar builds the majority of its cars in the Chinese cities of Chengdu and Taizhou.
31m ago
NBC News
131 million in U.S. live in areas with unhealthy pollution levels, lung association finds
Nearly 40% of people in the U.S. are living in areas with unhealthy levels of air pollution and the country is backsliding on clean air progress as the effects of climate change intensify, according to a new report from the American Lung Association.
32m ago
Reuters
Iran's Raisi arrives in Sri Lanka to foster ties, open hydropower project
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Sri Lanka on Wednesday for a brief state visit aimed at strengthening ties, during which he will also open a $514-million hydropower project. The first visit by an Iranian president to Sri Lanka since an April 2008 trip by its then president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will see the two countries sign five pacts, or Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs). Iran agreed to build the hydro power project in 2010 but funds dried up after the release of $50 million, as U.S. sanctions imposed later that year on the Middle East nation made it hard to transfer money, forcing Sri Lanka to fund the rest.
33m ago
Associated Press
Ukraine gets a big boost of US aid. It still faces a long slog to repel Russia
A big, new package of U.S. military aid will help Ukraine avoid defeat in its war with Russia. The arms and ammunition in the $61 billion military aid package should enable Ukraine to slow the Russian army's bloody advances and block its strikes on troops and civilians. “Ultimately it offers Ukraine the prospect of staying in the war this year,” said Michael Clarke, visiting professor in war studies at King’s College London.
41m ago
Reuters
Analysis-China's EV survival game creates peril - and power
By most measures, the last thing China needs is more electric cars crowding a market with more losers than winners, driving down prices at the expense of profit and taking the fight for market share beyond China. But while there is a peril in China's overcapacity, there is also a power in the hyper-competition it has unleashed, analysts, suppliers and executives say. China's leading EV makers have found ways to slash vehicle development time, combining speed to market with new features and a pricing advantage rivals outside cannot match.
48m ago
Associated Press
Arrests follow barricades and encampments as college students nationwide protest Gaza war
Standoffs between pro-Palestinian student protesters and universities grew increasingly tense on both coasts Wednesday as hundreds encamped at Columbia University faced a deadline from the administration to clear out while dozens remained barricaded inside two buildings on a Northern California college campus. Both are part of intensifying demonstrations over Israel’s war with Hamas by university students across the country demanding that schools cut financial ties to Israel or the war in Gaza. Dozens have been arrested on charges of trespassing or disorderly conduct.
1h ago
AFP
Chinese sellers go to TikTok school to reach buyers abroad
Donning hijabs and floor-length abaya gowns over shorts and tank tops, Chinese students at an e-commerce school perform into a smartphone camera as they learn how to sell the clothes to overseas TikTok users.It is the final day of a two-week course on selling products abroad via the short video app -- which despite being blocked in China is a platform more and more Chinese vendors are turning to.
1h ago
Associated Press
Australian police execute search warrants as part of a 'major operation' over church stabbings
Detectives and secret service agents investigating the stabbing of a bishop in a Sydney church executed search warrants in the city on Wednesday as part of a major operation, officials said. The Joint Counter-Terrorism Team, which includes federal and state police as well as the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the nation’s main domestic spy agency, said in a statement there is no current threat to public safety. Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said the operation was related to a knife attack in a Sydney church on April 15 in which an Assyrian Orthodox bishop and priest were injured.
1h ago
AFP
China to send fresh crew to Tiangong space station
China will send a fresh crew to its Tiangong space station on Thursday evening, Beijing's Manned Space Agency announced, the latest mission in a programme that aims to send astronauts to the Moon by 2030.Beijing also aims to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030, and plans to build a base on the lunar surface.
1h ago
Reuters
Russian priest presiding over Navalny's memorial suspended from duties
In a statement published on its website on Tuesday, the diocese did not say what was the reason for the punishment, which forbids the priest, Dmitry Safronov, from giving blessings, wearing the frock and bearing the church's priestly cross until 2027. Safronov was also to be moved to another church in Moscow to perform the duties of a psalm-reader.
1h ago
Associated Press
Japan's moon lander wasn't built to survive a weekslong lunar night. It's still going after 3
Japan’s first moon lander has survived a third freezing lunar night, Japan’s space agency said Wednesday after receiving an image from the device three months after it landed on the moon. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the lunar probe responded to a signal from the earth Tuesday night, confirming it has survived another weekslong lunar night. Temperatures can fall to minus 170 degrees Celsius (minus 274 degrees Fahrenheit) during a lunar night, and rise to around 100 Celsius (212 Fahrenheit) during a lunar day.
1h ago
Reuters
Victims' families to urge US prosecute Boeing over fatal crashes
Families of the victims of two fatal Boeing 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 will press U.S. Justice Department officials Wednesday to criminally prosecute the planemaker after a January in-flight blowout exposed continuing safety and quality issues. Relatives and their lawyers are expected to argue that Boeing violated a 2021 deal with prosecutors to overhaul its compliance program following the crashes, which killed 346 people. Federal prosecutors agreed to ask a judge to dismiss a criminal charge against Boeing so long as it complied with the deal's terms over a three-year period.
1h ago
Reuters
Better US-China ties but still deep disagreements as Blinken starts visit
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Shanghai on Wednesday with U.S.-China ties on a steadier footing, but with a daunting array of unresolved issues threatening the stability of relations between the global rivals. Blinken will meet with business leaders before heading to Beijing for talks on Friday with his counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and a likely meeting with President Xi Jinping. Blinken's visit is the latest high-level contact between the two nations that, along with working groups on issues from global trade to military communication, have tempered the public acrimony that drove relations to historic lows early last year.
1h ago
AFP
Long-delayed Ukraine aid clears US Congress, awaits Biden signature
The US Congress gave final approval to a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine late Tuesday, with President Joe Biden quickly vowing to sign the long-delayed bill and begin delivering fresh supplies this week to the war zone as Russia makes battlefield gains.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who visited Washington in December to plead for fresh aid, quickly thanked US lawmakers for passing the bill, saying on social media that he looks "forward to the bill being signed soon and the next mili
2h ago
NBC News
Rep. Summer Lee fends off a primary challenge in a race that tested Democratic sentiment over Israel
NBC News projects that Rep. Summer Lee, a progressive member of the “Squad,” defeated fellow Democrat Bhavini Patel in Pennsylvania’s 12th District primary.
2h ago
AFP
Victims of China floods race to salvage property
Victims of severe floods in southern China raced on Wednesday to salvage property from the muddy waters, as authorities warned of more heavy rains to come.Authorities have warned of more downpours across Guangdong from Wednesday evening until Friday.
2h ago
Politico
Tennessee lawmakers pass bill to allow teachers to be armed
The legislation comes a year after a deadly Nashville shooting.
2h ago

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