The city of Bakhmut, whose capture was claimed by Russia on Saturday and denied by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, had a population of around 72,000 people before the war.. While some experts have questioned the strategic importance of Bakhmut, Zelensky said in March that its capture could leave an "open road" for Russian troops to attack the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
Gunmen in Ecuador opened fire in a restaurant in a beach town popular with tourists, killing at least six people and wounding six more, prosecutors said Sunday.. On Thursday gunmen burst into a wake at a funeral home in the nearby town of Manta and started shooting, killing four people and leaving eight wounded.
Whether Bakhmut has fallen or not, Moscow is being pulled deeper into an ever more costly fight for the frontline city as Kyiv readies a major offensive, experts said.. Ukraine has tamped down speculation that the advances are its long-awaited offensive but drawing growing numbers of Russian troops into the deadly fight in Bakhmut carries significant advantages for Kyiv's fightback.
Martin Scorsese told AFP on Sunday that he had kept his film out of the main competition at Cannes because it was "time for others" to shine. . Asked by AFP why he had ultimately opted for an out-of-competition slot, Scorsese said with a laugh: "It's time for others.
US semiconductor giant Micron has failed a national security review, China's cybersecurity watchdog said Sunday, telling operators of "critical information infrastructure" to stop buying its products.. "Operators of critical information infrastructure in China should stop purchasing Micron products."
Heavy clashes again rocked Sudan's capital on Sunday hours after rival generals agreed to an upcoming one-week ceasefire, the latest in a series of truces that have been systematically violated.. In a statement published Sunday by the official Saudi Press Agency, Riyadh acknowledged multiple truces have been violated since fighting broke out on April 15.
Emmanuel Macron on Sunday made a brief but symbolic visit to Mongolia, the first by a French president to the country nestled between China and Russia that is of growing strategic interest in the West.. The vast north Asian country has been the subject of growing interest in recent years from the United States as part of a strategy to thwart the rise of China.
Ludmilla distracts herself from the memories of rising flood waters by tidying up around her makeshift bed in a gym at Castel Bolognese sheltering some of those who lost their homes.. - Feeling at home - Some 200 of the 10,000 or so residents in Castel Bolognese were evacuated Monday as a precaution, before the floods hit overnight.
Voters in East Timor flocked to polling stations on Sunday to cast their ballots in parliamentary elections, hoping for an end to years of political deadlock in Asia's youngest country.. This is the fifth parliamentary poll since East Timor gained independence from Indonesia in 2002 after a 24-year occupation, with 65 national lawmakers to be elected to a five-year mandate.
Three men died Sunday in an assault rifle attack in the French port city of Marseille, which has seen a surge of drug-related gang murders in recent months, police said.. This weekend alone, police had arrested five people for possession of firearms linked to the drugs trade, and seized three Kalashnikov assault rifles, a submachine gun and a handgun, she said.
