MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin tapped a civilian economist as his surprise new defence minister on Sunday in an attempt to gird Russia for economic war by trying to better utilise the defence budget and harness greater innovation to win in Ukraine. More than two years into the conflict, which has cost both sides…

NEAR VOVCHANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Weeks after securing the boost of a $60 billion U.S. aid package, Ukraine is waging a tough new battle on its border, fending off a heavy Russian bombardment of northeastern Kharkiv region in an assault that will stretch Kyiv’s manpower. Russian forces smashed through the border into Kharkiv region on…

MOSCOW (Reuters) -At least seven people were killed and 15 injured when a whole section of a multi-storey apartment block collapsed after a Ukrainian missile strike in the Russian city of Belgorod near the border with Ukraine, Russian officials said. Footage from the scene posted by Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the region, showed at least…

KATHMANDU (Reuters) – A British climber and a Nepali guide have broken their own records for most climbs of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain, hiking officials said on Sunday. Rakesh Gurung, director of Nepal’s Department of Tourism, said Britain’s Kenton Cool, 50, and Nepali guide Kami Rita Sherpa, 54, climbed the 8,849-metre (29,032 foot)…

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel ordered new evacuations in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Saturday, forcing tens of thousands more people to leave as it prepared to expand its military operation deeper into what is considered Gaza’s last refuge, in defiance of growing pressure from close ally the United States and others. As pro-Palestinian…

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Five people were killed and nine wounded in three separate Ukrainian drone and artillery strikes on the Russian border provinces of Belgorod and Kursk, and the city of Donetsk, which Russia claims to have annexed, local officials said on Saturday. Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed head of east Ukraine’s Donetsk region, said in a…

WASHINGTON: A huge solar storm begun pummeling Earth on Friday, bringing possible disruptions to satellites and power grids – and stunning auroras – as it intensifies. The first of several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) — expulsions of plasma and magnetic fields from the Sun — arrived in the early afternoon, US eastern time, the National…

LONDON (AP): Prince William on Friday (May 10) has offered a positive assessment of his wife’s health, a hospital administrator said, in one of the royal’s few comments about Kate’s condition since she announced that she was undergoing treatment for cancer. William was on a solo tour of St. Mary’s Community Hospital on the Isles…

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine rushed reinforcements to its northeastern Kharkiv region on Friday to hold off a Russian attempt to breach local defenses, authorities said, signaling a tactical switch in the war by Moscow that Ukrainian officials had been expecting for weeks. Kharkiv’s regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said intense overnight shelling targeted Vovchansk, a city with a prewar…