
AP's Global Week in Pictures: July 1 - 7
July 1 - 7, 2023 Street artists performed across the Romanian capital, French protesters burned buses after a teenager was shot by police, Russia continued to attack Ukraine, Palestinians buried their dead after Israeli soldiers drove thousands form their homes, and people tried to stay out of the sun on the hottest days on human record. In the world of sports, cycles wizzed through forests on their Tour de France. This photo gallery highlights some of the most compelling images from around the world made or published by the Associated Press in the past week. The selection was curated by AP photo editor Leslie Mazoch in Mexico City. Follow AP visual journalism: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apnews/ AP Images on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Images Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide
2023-07-08 10:20

Jamie Raskin Won’t Run for Senate, Warns Democracy in Peril
Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin, the Democratic firebrand and constitutional law professor who led Donald Trump’s second impeachment, announced
2023-07-08 09:51

White House says US has destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile
The US on Friday announced it had completed the more than three-decade process of destroying its chemical weapons stockpiles. “Today—as we mark this significant milestone—we must also renew our commitment to forging a future free from chemical weapons,” Joe Biden said in a statement. “I continue to encourage the remaining nations to join the Chemical Weapons Convention so that the global ban on chemical weapons can reach its fullest potential,” he added. “Russia and Syria should return to compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention and admit their undeclared programs, which have been used to commit brazen atrocities and attacks.” The US and Soviet Union agreed in 1989 in principle to destroy their stores of the deadly weapons, condemned following their widespread use in wartime atrocities in conflicts like World War I. Later, in 1997, the US Senate ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. The US chemical weapons stock included cluster bombs and land mines with verve agent, mustard gas artillery shells, and poison that could be sprayed via jet, according to the New York Times. The effort to destroy the weapons was decades behind schedule and cost an estimated $42bn, according to the paper. “Chemical weapons are responsible for some of the most horrific episodes of human loss,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said in a statement, the AP reports. “Though the use of these deadly agents will always be a stain on history, today our nation has finally fulfilled our promise to rid our arsenal of this evil. The news of the destruction of the stockpile comes as the US offloaded some of its other controversial weapons to Ukraine. The US will be sending cluster munitions to the country as part of a $800m aid package to help its beleagured armed forces fend off the Russia invastion. More than 120 countries, including numerous US allies in Europe, have joined a convention banning the use of such rounds, because they can cause a high number of civilian casualties. Read More U.S. destroys last of its declared chemical weapons, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell says Global chemical weapons watchdog says it found no evidence to back Syrian claim of 2017 gas attack US will provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, White House says The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary
2023-07-08 09:30

China Angst Drives Boom in Funds Excluding Asia’s Biggest Market
A strategy of stripping China out of emerging-market portfolios is fast gaining traction as stock managers seek to
2023-07-08 08:28

Republican 2024 Hopeful Scott Confident He Will Make Debate Cut
Republican presidential hopeful Tim Scott expressed confidence that he will meet his party’s eligibility requirements to participate in
2023-07-08 06:27

New Minimum Wage Rule for NYC Food Delivery Workers Temporarily Halted by Judge
A New York state judge issued a temporary halt to a new city law scheduled to go into
2023-07-08 06:00

Rutte Coalition Falls Over Asylum Crisis as Dutch Face Vote
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s government collapsed over a migration policy dispute, pointing the Netherlands toward an early
2023-07-08 05:59

Musk Claims Lawyers Overbilled in Fight to Make Him Buy Twitter
Elon Musk sued the law firm that led the court fight to make him complete his takeover of
2023-07-08 05:23

Biden to Purchase 6 Million More Barrels of Oil for Emergency Reserve
The Biden administration announced Friday it’s purchasing 6 million more barrels of crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum
2023-07-08 03:59

State, City Hiring Pushes Payrolls Back Near Pre-Pandemic Levels
State and local governments continued expanding payrolls in June, adding about 59,000 jobs as the strength of the
2023-07-08 03:22

US will provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, White House says
The United States will provide Ukraine with cluster-style artillery rounds for use on their own territory to repel Russian invading forces, the White House has said. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on Friday that Kyiv has “provided written assurances” that it would use the controversial weapons “in a very careful way that is aimed at minimising any risk to civilians”. He said the Defence Department would provide further details on the next arms package that will be sent to Ukraine, but he pointed out that Kyiv’s forces are “firing thousands of rounds a day to defend against Russian efforts to advance and also to support its own efforts to retake its sovereign territory”. The national security adviser suggested the decision to provide Ukraine with cluster weapons already in US stocks was necessary to keep up a steady flow of arms for Kyiv’s defence. “We have provided Ukraine with a historic amount of unitary artillery rounds and we are ramping up domestic production of these rounds. We’ve already seen substantial increases in production, but this process will continue to take time, and it will be critical to provide Ukraine with a bridge of supplies. While our domestic production is ramped up,” he said. “We will not leave Ukraine defenceless at any point in this conflict period”. Mr Sullivan noted that Russia has been using their own version of cluster munitions, which are antipersonnel weapons that make use of small “bomblets” to maximise their effectiveness against massed troops, and pointed out that the Russian weapons have a high rate of failure which leaves the battlefield littered with unexploded ordinance. He added that the US-made shells that will be provisioned to Kyiv’s defence forces have a much lower failure rate, and said Ukraine’s government has committed to post-war de-mining that would prevent civilians from being harmed by unexploded submunitions, which in past conflict zones have lingered for years. While a 2008 treaty, the Oslo Convention on Cluster Munitions, has been signed by more than 100 nations which have agreed to ban the use of such weapons, neither the US, Russia or Ukraine are signatories to the treaty. He also contrasted Russia’s use of the weapons on Ukraine’s territory with Ukraine’s desire to use them to defend their own land. “When we look at what Ukraine would be doing with these weapons, as opposed to what Russia is doing with these weapons, we see a substantial difference. It doesn’t make it an easy decision, and I’m not going to stand up here and say it is easy,” he said, adding that the US had deferred a decision on providing cluster munitions for quite some time because it “required a real hard look at the potential harm to civilians”. “When we put all of that together, there was a unanimous recommendation from the national security team, and President Biden ultimately decided — in consultation with allies and partners and in consultation with members of Congress — to move forward on this step,” he said. Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary
2023-07-08 02:56

Medical Credit Cards Targeted by US for Piling Debt on Patients
Three federal agencies are looking into potentially predatory practices in medical-payment products such as credit cards and installment
2023-07-08 01:55