KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an order Wednesday to fast track Russian citizenship for residents in parts of southern Ukraine largely held by his forces, while lawmakers in Moscow passed a bill to strengthen the stretched Russian army.
KRAMATORSK, Ukraine (AP) — Piano music wafted from an apartment block on a recent spring evening in Kramatorsk, blending with distant artillery fire for a surreal soundtrack to a bomb-scarred neighborhood in the eastern Ukrainian city.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A senior Turkish official insisted after talks with Swedish and Finnish officials Wednesday that Turkey would not agree to the two Nordic countries joining NATO unless specific steps are taken to address Ankara's objections.
LONDON (AP) — An investigative report released Wednesday blamed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other senior leaders for allowing boozy government parties that broke the U.K.’s COVID-19 lockdown rules, and while Johnson said he took “full responsibility” for the breaches, he insisted he would not resign.
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Soaring inflation. Russia’s war in Ukraine. Squeezed supply chains. The threat of food insecurity around the world. The lingering COVID-19 pandemic.
Brexit
POKROVSK, Ukraine (AP) — The Russian rocket strikes came early in the morning in the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk on Wednesday, shaking buildings, jolting people out of bed and sending chunks of concrete and jagged pieces of metal flying through the air.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense attorneys for a Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer charged with lying to the FBI during the Trump-Russia probe showed jurors handwritten notes on Wednesday aimed at undercutting allegations that he misled the federal government about his legal work.
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks ended broadly higher on Wall Street Wednesday after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent meeting signaled the central bank intends to move “expeditiously” to raise interest rates back to more neutral levels in its fight to tame inflation.
UVALDE, Texas (AP) — A Facebook spokesman says messages posted by the gunman who killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school were private.
Andy Stone says the messages “were private one-to-one text messages that were discovered after the terrible tragedy.” He says Facebook is cooperating with investigators.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Dozens of soccer fans have been deported back to Italy following violent clashes in Tirana ahead of Wednesday’s Europa Conference League final, Albania’s deputy head of police said.
ANKARA, Turkey — A senior Turkish official has insisted after talks with Swedish and Finnish officials that Turkey will not agree to the two Nordic countries joining NATO unless specific steps are taken to address Ankara’s objections.
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Slovenia’s parliament on Wednesday voted to appoint the leader of a liberal-green party that won last month’s election as the country’s new prime minister, replacing a right-wing populist.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The horrific images and stories tumbling out of Ukrainian towns like Bucha in the wake of the withdrawal of Russian troops bear witness to depravity on a scale recalling the barbarities of Cambodia, the Balkans, World War II.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Congressional Budget Office released an economic outlook Wednesday saying that high inflation will persist into next year, likely causing the federal government to pay higher interest rates on its debt.
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Executives with German automaker Volkswagen say at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos that supply chain problems exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war are easing but they’re dealing with a huge backlog of orders.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — As she lay buried under the rubble, her legs broken and eyes blinded by blood and thick clouds of dust, all Inna Levchenko could hear was screams. It was 12:15 p.m. on March 3, and moments earlier a blast had pulverized the school where she’d taught for 30 years.
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was criminally charged Wednesday by authorities who accused him of inciting violence with his efforts to stage street protests against rising commodity prices that the government largely blames on the war in Ukraine.
Leeds defender Diego Llorente will replace the injured Aymeric Laporte in Spain's squad for the Nations League, the Spanish soccer federation said Wednesday.
Laporte had been included in the initial list of 25 players selected for the four Nations League matches to be played in June but is nursing a right knee injury sustained with Manchester City.
NEW YORK (AP) — Darren Walker, Ford Foundation president and preeminent connector and advocate for artists and art institutions, joined the exclusive company of global superstars like Stevie Wonder, T.S.
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has sent a protocol greeting to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, assuring him of prayers on his patron's feast day and stressing the value of human life and wisdom, as the Vatican insists on maintaining cordial relations amid the war in Ukraine.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Turkey’s foreign minister visited Israel on Wednesday as part of ongoing efforts to improve ties between the two countries, which have often been bitterly divided in recent years over Turkey's support for the Palestinians.
MILAN (AP) — AC Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimović had surgery on his left knee on Wednesday and faces up to eight months on the sidelines — if he decides to continue his playing career.
Ibrahimović missed large portions of Milan’s title-winning campaign with injury.
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara could be fit for the Champions League final against Real Madrid despite missing training on Wednesday because of injury.
The Spain international came off with an Achilles tendon injury in the 3-1 win over Wolverhampton on Sunday but Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said the problem “was not that bad.”
Mohamed Salah could easily have given the kind of diplomatic answer trotted out by most soccer players.
He just couldn’t.
Was there a preference, Salah was asked minutes after Liverpool reached the Champions League final three weeks ago, over which team he faced in the title match in suburban Paris?
Brittney Griner's wife, Cherelle, wants President Joe Biden to secure her partner's release, doing whatever is necessary to get the WNBA star home from Russia where she has been detained for more than three months.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A Danish Jehovah’s Witness on Wednesday has returned to Denmark after spending five years in a Russian prison under Moscow’s crackdown on the religious group, the organization said.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — The Conference League tournament was designed to give smaller teams a chance to play continental soccer deeper into the European season.
It worked for much of the inaugural competition, but the bigger teams took over by the semifinals.
PARIS (AP) — Several hundred climate protesters disrupted a TotalEnergies shareholders meeting in Paris and blocked the venue entrance Wednesday to denounce the oil and gas giant’s stake in Russia despite Moscow's war in Ukraine.
PARIS (AP) — This was the sort of point in the sort of contest that, if 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz eventually reaches the heights so many believe he will, the lucky folks on hand at Court Simonne Mathieu on Wednesday night just might regale dinner guests for years with tales that begin, “We were there when ...
CANNES, France (AP) — The war in Ukraine took a starring role on the opening night of the 75th Cannes Film Festival and it has rarely been far out of frame since.
TOKYO (AP) — The $1.4 billion Tokyo national stadium, built by the Japanese government for last year’s Olympics, is being viewed as a site for the track and field world championships.
An inspection team from World Athletics — the governing body of the sport — met with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike on Wednesday and was to tour the stadium on Thursday.
BERLIN (AP) — A German court on Wednesday sentenced a woman who posed as a doctor to life in prison for causing the deaths of several people she treated.
Judges at the regional court in Kassel said the evidence showed the 51-year-old woman, whose name was not given in line with German privacy rules, used a forged license to obtain employment as an anesthesiologist.
MADRID (AP) — Carlo Ancelotti is the only coach to win titles in the top five European soccer leagues, and is a victory away from a record-fourth Champions League trophy.
Still, not even Ancelotti is immune to pressure, especially ahead of a Champions League final.
BERLIN (AP) — Germany's health minister says the government plans to suspend a pandemic rule requiring people to show proof of vaccination, a negative test result or recent recovery from COVID-19 to enter the country over the summer.
BERLIN (AP) — Commodities firm Glencore says it has reached deals with authorities in the United States, Britain and Brazil to resolve corruption allegations in return for penalties totaling up to $1.5 billion.