US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday he will speak to his Russian counterpart for the first time since the Ukraine war to take up a "substantial proposal" to free detained Americans.. "We put a substantial proposal on the table weeks ago to facilitate their release.
Ihor Talalay was helping evacuate citizens from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in March when Russian forces captured him, marking the start of a harrowing three-months ordeal for the 25-year-old.. Olha Tabachuk, also speaking to reporters after addressing a meeting of OSCE delegates, said her family had not heard from her son, 38, since he was detained while helping Ukrainians evacuate.
Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine: - Ukraine moves closer to grain exports - The Ukrainian navy says that work has resumed at three Black Sea ports designated under a deal with Russia to resume cereals' exports that have been blocked by Russia's invasion. . At talks in Turkey last week, Kyiv and Moscow agreed a mechanism to allow blocked Ukrainian grain to be exported across the Black Sea from the ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Pivdennyi.
Pope Francis will travel to Quebec City Wednesday, where he will address Canada's political leaders after dedicating the first part of his journey to apologizing for the abuse of Indigenous children at Catholic-run schools.. From the late 1800s to the 1990s, Canada's government sent about 150,000 children into 139 residential schools run by the Church, where they were cut off from their families, language and culture.
AIDS researchers announced on Wednesday that a fourth person has been "cured" of HIV, but the dangerous procedure for patients also battling cancer may be little comfort for the tens of millions living with the virus worldwide.. He is the second person to be announced cured this year, after researchers said in February that a US woman dubbed the New York patient had also gone into remission.
France is on track to experience its driest July on record, the national weather service said Wednesday, with drought-like conditions leading to increasingly severe water restrictions around the country.. "The month of July will very likely be the driest July ever recorded since 1959," spokesman Christian Veil from Meteo-France told AFP. On average, just eight mm (0.3 inches) of rain fell across the country from July 1-25, less than the previous low of 16 mm which was clocked in 2020, he said.
The Kremlin vowed to further restrict Western media in Russia on Wednesday after the EU's top court upheld European sanctions that took Moscow's RT channel off-air around the continent.. Finding that the channel "actively supported" Moscow's destabilisation of Ukraine and broadcast pro-war propaganda, the court concluded that the EU's decision was legal and proportionate.
Ukrainian artillery on Wednesday struck a key bridge in Moscow-controlled territory in south Ukraine, damaging an important supply route as Kyiv's forces look to wrest back the Kherson region.. Ukrainian forces in recent weeks have been clawing back territory in the Kherson region, which fell to Russian forces easily and early after their invasion launched on February 24.
In a small studio in Paris, Russian journalist Denis Kataev prepares his evening news show that he hopes will play its part in countering the Kremlin narrative about the invasion of Ukraine.. "I am optimistic," said Kataev as he prepared to present Dozhd's flagship evening news show "Here and Now" from an impromptu studio set up in a Paris journalism school.
China warned Wednesday that Washington would "bear the consequences" if US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan, with tensions soaring ahead of an expected phone call between the two countries' leaders.. Taiwan enjoys bipartisan backing in divided Washington and China's warnings have only fuelled calls for Pelosi to go ahead.
