This handout photograph taken on July 29, 2021 and released by the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos on July 30, 2021, shows the Russian Multipurpose Laboratory Module "Nauka" (Science) being docked next to the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft on the International Space Station (ISS). (OLEG NOVITSKY / RUSSIAN SPACE AGENCY ROSCOSMOS / AFP) WASHINGTON – Russian space officials have informed US counterparts that Moscow would like to …
Doctor: Biden tests negative for COVID-19 after treatment
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington DC on July 27, 2022. Biden has had two negative COVID-19 tests and no longer needs to isolate after recovering from infection, his White House Doctor Kevin O'Connor said Wednesday. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP) WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden had tested negative for COVID-19 after five days of …
Türkiye opens coordination center for Ukraine grain exports
This photograph taken on July 27, 2022 shows a computer screen displaying the Black Sea at the opening of the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) for Ukrainian grain exports in Istanbul on July 27, 2022. Türkiye formally opened a joint coordination center for Ukrainian grain exports under a UN-backed deal aimed at resuming shipments for the first time since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began in February. (OZAN …
Ukraine to get 1.6b euros from European Investment Bank
A handout image made available by the Odessa City Council Telegram channel on July 24, 2022, shows Ukrainian firefighters battling a fire on a boat burning in the port of Odessa after missiles hit the port on July 23, 2022. (STR / ODESSA CITY COUNCIL TELEGRAM CHANNEL / AFP) KIEV / BEIJING – Ukraine will get some 1.6 billion euros (about $1.62 billion) from the …
New Tunisia constitution passed in vote with low turnout
President of the Independent Higher Authority for Elections, Farouk Bouasker, gives a press conference on the final result of the referendum on a draft constitution put forward by the country's president, in Tunis on July 26, 2022. (ANIS MILI / AFP) TUNIS – A new Tunisian constitution giving far more power to President Kais Saied passed in a referendum with a 30.5 percent turnout, the …
Greece, Saudi Arabia seal deal on data cable
Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis greets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman prior to their meeting at the prime minister's office in Athens on July 26, 2022. (YORGOS KARAHALIS / AFP) RIYADH/ATHENS – Greece and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday sealed a deal to lay an undersea data cable that will connect Europe with Asia and discussed the possibility of linking their power grids to supply …
Greece, Saudi Arabia seal data cable deal, discuss power grid link
Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis greets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman prior to their meeting at the prime minister's office in Athens on July 26, 2022. (YORGOS KARAHALIS / AFP) RIYADH/ATHENS – Greece and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday sealed a deal to lay an undersea data cable that will connect Europe with Asia and discussed the possibility of linking their power grids to supply …
At least 15 killed as anti-UN protests flare in east Congo
Residents protest against the United Nations peacekeeping force (MONUSCO) deployed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Goma, July 25, 2022. (MOSES SAWASAWA / AP) GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo – Three United Nations peacekeepers and at least 12 civilians were killed during a second day of anti-UN protests in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday, authorities said. The protests were spurred by …
EU member states agree emergency gas curbs
The gas storage plant Reckrod is pictured near Eiterfeld, central Germany, July 14, 2022, after the Nord Stream 1 pipeline was shut down due to maintenance. European Union governments agreed on July 26, 2022 to ration natural gas this winter to protect themselves against possible supply cuts by Russia. (MICHAEL PROBST / AP, FILE) BRUSSELS – European Union member states have reached a political agreement …
French lawmakers vote bill ending virus mandates on Aug 1
French Minister for the Economy and Finances Bruno Le Maire addresses Members of Parliament during a session of questions to the government at The National Assembly in Paris on July 19, 2022. (CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP) PARIS / WASHINGTON / MEXICO CITY – The French Parliament adopted on Tuesday a bill ending the state of health emergency and COVID-19 related mandates on Aug 1. The bill grants the …
Russia plans to quit space station; NASA says it’s not official yet
In this photo provided by NASA, backdropped against clouds over Earth, the International Space Station is seen from Space Shuttle Discovery as the two orbital spacecraft accomplish their relative separation on March 7, 2011. (NASA VIA AP, FILE) WASHINGTON – Russia's new space chief announced on Tuesday his country plans to withdraw from the International Space Station (ISS) after 2024, but senior NASA officials said …
Ukraine plans to start grain exports via seaports this week
A general view shows the coastline looking east towards in the port city of Odessa, on April 12, 2022. (ED JONES / AFP) KYIV/MOSCOW – Ukraine is preparing to start grain exports via the Black Sea ports this week under the grain deal signed last week in Türkiye, Ukrainian officials said on Monday. Speaking at a media briefing aired on the Ukrainian Infrastructure Ministry's Facebook …
Pope apologizes for ‘deplorable evil’ of Canadian indigenous schools
People listen to Pope Francis issue a historic apology for the Catholic Church's cooperation with Canada's "catastrophic" policy of Indigenous residential schools in Maskwacis, near Edmonton, Canada on July 25, 2022. (TED SHAFFREY / AP PHOTO) MASKWACIS – Pope Francis apologized on Monday to Canada's native people on their land for the Church's role in schools where indigenous children were abused, calling their forced cultural …
COVID symptoms almost resolved, Biden says feeling great
US President Joe Biden attends an event on fighting "ghost guns" crimes at the White House in Washington, DC April 11, 2022. (PHOTO/XINHUA) WASHINGTON / LOS ANGELES – US President Joe Biden on Monday said he was "feeling great," as he recovers from COVID-19, and that he expected to end his isolation and return to normal working conditions by the end of the week. Biden …
Police: Three dead, including gunman, in Canada shooting
The shootings in Langley, British Columbia on July 25, 2022 morning prompted the authorities to send emergency alerts to cellphones in the area. (DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS VIA AP) LANGLEY, British Columbia – Three people including the suspected gunman were killed in a series of shootings early on Monday in the Canadian province of British Columbia, police said. Police said shooting in the …
UK prime minister hopefuls feud over tax and spending plans
A handout picture released by the BBC, taken and received on July 25, 2022, shows Conservative politicians and candidates to be the Leader of the Conservative Party, and Britain's next Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak (left) and Liss Truss (center), as they appear on the BBC's 'The UK's Next Prime Minister: The Debate', in Victoria Hall in Stoke-on-Trent, central England on July 25, 2022. (JEFF OVERS …
The border’s toll: Migrants increasingly die crossing into US
Migrants line up as they wait to be processed by US Border Patrol after illegally crossing the US-Mexico border in Yuma, Arizona in the early morning of July 11, 2022. Every year, tens of thousands of migrants fleeing violence or poverty in Central and South America attempt to cross the border into the United States. Many never make it. (ALLISON DINNER / AFP) SAN DIEGO, …
Ukraine grain deal needs to overcome sanctions, trust issues
A view of a grain elevator in Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region, on July 14, 2022, amid the ongoing Russian special military operation in Ukraine. (OLGA MALTSEVA / AFP) MOSCOW – Russia and Ukraine separately signed a deal in Istanbul on Friday with Türkiye and the United Nations to resume grain shipments from Ukrainian ports to international markets via the Black Sea. The long-awaited deal, the first …
Official: EU should act now for COVID-19 waves in winter
European Union Ccmmissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides speaks during a joint press conference after the College meeting focused on the Nature Restoration Law and the Commission’s proposal to halve the use of pesticides by 2030 at the EU headquarters in Brussels on June 22, 2022. (JOHN THYS / AFP) WASHINGTON / NICOSIA – EU member states should start preparing now for a new wave of …
Bavarian Nordic monkeypox vaccine wins EU approval
OSLO – Danish biotechnology company Bavarian Nordic said on Monday the European Commission had given permission for its Imvanex vaccine to be marketed as protection against monkeypox, as recommended last week by the European Medicines Agency. The approval comes just one day after the World Health Organization issued a high-level alert declaring the rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak as a global health emergency. Bavarian's vaccine, the only …