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As tensions with Iran have escalated over its nuclear program, the U.S. military this month posted pictures of a powerful bomb designed to penetrate deep into the earth and destroy underground facilities that could be used to enrich uranium. The U.S. Air Force on May 2 released rare images of the weapon, the GBU-57, known as the “Massive Ordnance Penetrator.” Then it took the photos down — apparently because the photographs revealed sensitive details about the weapon's composition and punch. The publication of the photographs comes as The Associated Press reported that Iran is making steady progress in constructing a nuclear facility that is likely beyond the range of the GBU-57, which is considered the U.S. military last-ditch weapon to take out underground bunkers. WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT AMERICA'S MASSIVE ORDNANCE PENETRATOR? The U.S. developed the Massive Ordnance Penetrator in the 2000s as concerns grew over Iran hardening its nuclear sites by building them underground. The Air Force posted images of the bombs on the Facebook page for Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. The base is home to the fleet of B-2 stealth bombers, the only aircraft that can deploy the bomb. In a caption, the base said it had received two Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs so a munitions squadron there could “test their performance.” It is not the first time the Air Force has published photos and videos of the bomb that coincided with rising acrimony with Tehran over its nuclear program. In 2019, the U.S. military released a video of a B-2 bomber dropping two of the bombs. The Air Force did not respond to requests for comment on why it posted — and removed — the most recent set of photos. WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM THE PHOTOS? The latest photos revealed stenciling on the bombs that listed their weight as 12,300 kilograms (27,125 pounds). It also described the bomb as carrying a mix of AFX-757 — a standard explosive — and PBXN-114, a relatively new explosive compound, said Rahul Udoshi, a senior weapons analyst at Janes, an open-source intelligence firm. The weight of the bomb, judging from the stenciling, shows the majority of it comes from its thick steel frame, which allows it to chew through concrete and soil before exploding. However, it remains unclear what the exact effectiveness of the weapon would be. The Warzone, an Internet news site, first reported on the publication of the photographs. The AP contacted Whiteman Air Force Base and the Air Force’s Global Strike Command with questions about the images. Within a day, the Facebook post vanished. Udoshi said the Air Force likely took them down because they revealed too much data about the bombs. “Immediate removal from the internet without comment (or) justification means there is a potential lapse,” Udoshi said. WHAT ROLE WOULD THIS BOMB PLAY IN POTENTIALLY TARGETING IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM? The AP reported on Monday that satellite imagery from Planet Labs PBC reveals Tehran has been digging tunnels in the mountain near the Natanz nuclear site in central Iran. Excavation mounds at the site suggest the facility could be between 80 meters (260 feet) and 100 meters (328 feet) under the ground, according to the experts and AP’s analysis. Experts say the size of the construction project indicates Iran likely would be able to use the underground facility to enrich uranium as well — not just to build centrifuges. Those tube-shaped centrifuges, arranged in large cascades of dozens of machines, rapidly spin uranium gas to enrich it. Additional machines would allow Iran to quickly enrich uranium under the mountain’s protection. That could be a problem for the GBU-57: In previously describing the bomb’s capabilities, the Air Force has said it could tear through 60 meters (200 feet) of ground and cement before detonating. COULD THE UNITED STATES STILL TRY TO DROP THE BOMB? U.S. officials have discussed using two such bombs in succession to ensure a site is destroyed. But even then, the new depth of the Natanz tunnels likely presents a serious challenge. Further complicating any possible U.S. military strike is that the B-2 had been grounded for months since December when one caught fire after an emergency landing. On Monday, Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere, the commander of the Air Force's Global Strike Command, announced the B-2 grounding had been lifted. “While the B-2 fleet safety pause is officially over, our ability to deliver nuclear deterrence and provide long-range strike was never in doubt," an Air Force statement said.

The European Union slapped Meta with a record $1.3 billion privacy fine Monday (May 22, 2023) and ordered it to stop transferring user data across the Atlantic by October, the latest salvo in a decadelong case sparked by U.S. cybersnooping fears. The penalty fine of 1.2 billion euros from Ireland's Data Protection Commission is the biggest since the EU's strict data privacy regime took effect five years ago, surpassing Amazon's 746 million euro penalty in 2021 for data protection violations. The Irish watchdog is Meta's lead privacy regulator in the 27-nation bloc because the Silicon Valley tech giant's European headquarters is based in Dublin. Meta, which had previously warned that services for its users in Europe could be cut off, vowed to appeal and ask courts to immediately put the decision on hold. Read more: Facebook user data issue: Facebook parent company Meta will pay $725M “There is no immediate disruption to Facebook in Europe,” the company said. “This decision is flawed, unjustified and sets a dangerous precedent for the countless other companies transferring data between the EU and U.S.,” Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global and affairs, and Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Newstead said in a statement. It's yet another twist in a legal battle that began in 2013 when Austrian lawyer and privacy activist Max Schrems filed a complaint about Facebook’s handling of his data following former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden’s revelations about U.S. cybersnooping. The saga has highlighted the clash between Washington and Brussels over the differences between Europe's strict view on data privacy and the comparatively lax regime in the U.S., which lacks a federal privacy law. Read more: Meta oversight board urges changes to VIP moderation system An agreement covering EU-U.S. data transfers known as the Privacy Shield was struck down in 2020 by the EU's top court, which said it didn’t do enough to protect residents from the U.S. government's electronic prying. That left another tool to govern data transfers — stock legal contracts. Irish regulators initially ruled that Meta didn't need to be fined because it was acting in good faith in using them to move data across the Atlantic. But it was overruled by the EU's top panel of data privacy authorities last month, a decision that the Irish watchdog confirmed Monday. Meanwhile, Brussels and Washington signed an agreement last year on a reworked Privacy Shield that Meta could use, but the pact is awaiting a decision from European officials on whether it adequately protects data privacy. EU institutions have been reviewing the agreement, and the bloc's lawmakers this month called for improvements, saying the safeguards aren't strong enough. Read more: Meta contributes over Tk1.5 crore for Sitrang-hit people's rehabilitation efforts Meta warned in its latest earnings report that without a legal basis for data transfers, it will be forced to stop offering its products and services in Europe, “which would materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.” The social media company might have to carry out a costly and complex revamp of its operations if it's forced to stop shipping user data across the Atlantic. Meta has a fleet of 21 data centers, according to its website, but 17 of them are in the United States. Three others are in the European nations of Denmark, Ireland and Sweden. Another is in Singapore. Other social media giants are facing pressure over their data practices. TikTok has tried to soothe Western fears about the Chinese-owned short video sharing app's potential cybersecurity risks with a $1.5 billion project to store U.S. user data on Oracle servers. Read more: Ohio retirement fund sues Facebook over investment loss

Delegates from the Group of 20 nations arrived in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Monday to participate in a tourism meeting condemned by China and Pakistan, as authorities significantly reduced visibility of the security in the disputed region's main city. The meeting scheduled for later Monday is the first significant international event in Kashmir since New Delhi stripped the Muslim-majority region of semi-autonomy in 2019. Indian authorities hope the meeting will show that the controversial changes have brought "peace and prosperity" to the region. The delegates will discuss topics like green tourism and destination management. Side events on ecotourism and role of films in promoting tourist destinations have also been scheduled. On Monday, the region's main city of Srinagar, appeared calm and roads never as clean. Most of the security checkpoints were removed or camouflaged with cubicle-like security posts made of G20 signages behind which security officials stood. Also Read: With G20 event, India seeks to project normalcy in disputed Kashmir Officials said hundreds of officers were specially trained for what they call "invisible policing" for the event. Shops in the city center also opened earlier than usual after several meeting between trade representatives and security officials. But authorities closed the main road leading to the convention center for civilian traffic and shut many schools in the city. Mondays' measures contrasted starkly to the security imposed in the days before the event. A massive security cordon was placed around the venue on the shores of Dal Lake in Srinagar with elite naval commandos patrolling in rubber boats in the water. The city's commercial center was spruced up, with freshly black-topped roads leading to the lakeside convention center and power poles lit in the colors of India's national flag. "We have the making of a unique meeting," India's chief coordinator for the G20, Harshvardhan Shringla, told reporters Sunday. He said the event will have the highest representation of foreign delegates in comparison to previous tourism meetings India held in the states of West Bengal and Gujarat earlier this year. Last week, the U.N. special rapporteur on minority issues, Fernand de Varennes, said the meeting would support a "facade of normalcy" while "massive human rights violations" continue in the region. India's mission at the U.N. in Geneva rejected the statement as "baseless" and "unwarranted allegations." India's tourism secretary, Arvind Singh, told reporters Saturday that the meeting "was not only to showcase its (Kashmir's) potential for tourism but to also signal globally the restoration of stability and normalcy in the region." The region remains one of the world's most heavily militarized territories, with hundreds of thousands of Indian troops. In 1989, a violent separatist insurgency erupted in the region that sought independence or a merger with Pakistan. India replied with a brutal counter insurgency and tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels have been killed in the conflict. India's crackdown intensified after 2019 when New Delhi took the region under its direct control. Since then the territory's people and its media have been largely silenced. Authorities have seized scores of homes and arrested hundreds of people under stringent anti-terror laws. The government says such actions are necessary to stop what it calls a "terror ecosystem." Authorities have also enacted new laws that critics and many Kashmiris fear could transform the region's demographics. The G20, made up of the world's largest economies, has a rolling presidency with a different member setting priorities each year. India is steering the group in 2023. India has been promoting tourism in Kashmir as a sign of peace since 2019 decision. But the region, known for rolling Himalayan foothills, has for decades been a major domestic tourist destination. Millions of visitors arrive Kashmir every year and enjoy a strange peace kept by ubiquitous security checkpoints, armored vehicles and patrolling soldiers. The mainstay of Kashmir's economy, however, continues to be agriculture, and tourism industry only contributes about 7% to the region's GDP. China, with which India is locked in a military standoff along the mostly unmarked border in the Ladakh region, has boycotted the event. Pakistan, which controls a part of Kashmir but, like India, claims the entire territory, has also slammed New Delhi for holding the meeting in Srinagar. Both have argued that such meetings can't be held in disputed territories. India has dismissed Pakistan's criticism, saying that the country is not even a member of the G20.

The U.S. and other Group of Seven nations rolled out a new wave of global sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine as they met Friday during a summit in Japan. The sanctions target hundreds of people and firms — including those helping Russia to evade existing sanctions and export controls. Some of the sanctions focus on additional sectors of Russia's economy, including architecture, construction and transportation. After 15 months of war, the allied nations are still aiming at new targets for financial penalties that block, freeze and seize access to international funds. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the newest sanctions will tighten the grip on Russian President Vladimir Putin's "ability to wage his barbaric invasion and will advance our global efforts to cut off Russian attempts to evade sanctions." Also Read: Ukraine’s Zelenskyy at center of last day of high-level diplomacy as G7 looks to punish Russia But there are limits to how much impact they can have. A look at the sanctions dynamics: WHAT'S IN THE NEWEST ROUND? The U.K imposed sanctions on 86 people and companies, including parties connected to the theft and resale of Ukrainian grain. It also banned the import of diamonds from Russia. The European Union, too, plans to restrict trade in Russian diamonds. The U.S. hit individuals and organizations across 20 countries, focusing on people and firms helping the Kremlin evade existing sanctions to procure technology. The Commerce Department added 71 firms to its list, and the State Department put 200 people, firms and vessels on its blocked list. Also Read: Ukrainian president meets with world leaders at G7 as Russia claims a key victory in the war Additionally, new U.S. reporting requirements were issued for people and firms that have any interest in Russian Central Bank assets. The purpose is to "fully map holdings of Russia's sovereign assets that will remain immobilized in G7 jurisdictions until Russia pays for the damage it has caused to Ukraine," the Treasury Department said. HOW EFFECTIVE HAVE THE SANCTIONS BEEN SO FAR? While the U.S. and other G7 nations have turned Russia into the most sanctioned country in the world, some foreign policy experts question the effectiveness of the financial penalties and point to Russia's maneuvers to evade them and press its war effort. Maria Snegovaya, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Russia has demonstrated "a remarkable degree of adaptability to Western sanctions." She added that the war is "relatively cheap" for Russia to prosecute, amounting to up to an estimated 5% of GDP. Also Read: Ukraine says troops still engaging Russian forces in Bakhmut after Moscow announces victory in city "That is easily manageable for Russia in the next couple of years at least, and the cumulative effect of sanctions is just not strong enough to radically alter that," she said. U.S. officials defend the effectiveness of the sanctions, and argue that they are not designed to work immediately. Along with imposing individual sanctions, the U.S. and allies have frozen Russian Central Bank funds, restricted Russian banks' access to SWIFT — the dominant system for global financial transactions — and imposed a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil and diesel. The Treasury Department on Friday in a new progress report said the price cap has been successful in suppressing Russian oil revenues. It cited Russian Ministry of Finance data showing that the Kremlin's oil revenues from January to March of this year were more than 40% lower than in the same period last year. "Despite widespread initial market skepticism around the price cap, market participants and geopolitical analysts have now acknowledged that the price cap is accomplishing both of its goals," the Treasury Department report. WHY ARE THE US AND ITS ALLIES STILL FINDING NEW TARGETS? Treasury officials say that as sanctions are imposed, Russian intelligence keeps looking for ways to get around them, requiring constant adjustments. Newer sanction efforts have been dedicated to the evaders and the "facilitators" of evasion, who help Russia acquire supplies and technology. "We know the Kremlin is actively seeking ways to circumvent these sanctions," Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo said earlier this year. "One of the ways we know our sanctions are working is the Kremlin has tasked its intelligence services, such as the FSB and GRU, to find ways to get around them." Among other things, U.S. officials say, Moscow has turned to North Korea and Iran to resupply the Russian military with drones and surface-to-surface missiles. WHAT MORE IS THERE TO SANCTION? Treasury officials say future targets could include newly identified firms and people connected to supply chains that help Russia gain materials for the war, front companies that help Russia evade sanctions and rogue actors from North Korea and Iran. For the past month, Treasury officials Brian Nelson and Liz Rosenberg have traveled across Europe and Central Asia to press countries that do business with the Kremlin to cut off financial ties because of the war on Ukraine. They are also increasingly sharing intelligence between countries and firms to spot evasion. There are also calls for the U.S. and allies to confiscate and transfer Russia's central bank funds to Ukraine for the war effort. "The G7 countries must sustain and augment their efforts, including by confiscating frozen reserves of the Central Bank of Russia to help fund Ukraine's reconstruction," said Jeffrey J. Schott, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

As India prepares to host a meeting of tourism officials from the Group of 20 in the disputed region of Kashmir, authorities have deployed elite commandos and stepped up security in the region's largest city. The meeting will be the first significant international event in Kashmir since New Delhi stripped the Muslim-majority region of semi-autonomy in 2019. Indian authorities are hoping the meeting will show that the controversial changes have brought "peace and prosperity" to the region. Since the 2019 changes, the city, known for rolling Himalayan foothills and exquisitely decorated houseboats, has become a major domestic tourist destination. Hotels have been mostly booked out for months. Kashmir has also drawn millions of visitors, who enjoy a strange peace kept by ubiquitous security checkpoints, armored vehicles and patrolling soldiers. Also Read: Indian troops kill 2 rebels in Kashmir in ongoing operations For the G20 meeting, the city has spruced up its commercial center and roads leading to the convention center on Dal Lake, while police have increased security even further, placing a massive security cordon around the site. On a recent Wednesday, gun-toting naval commandos in rubber boats mingled with tourists in canary-yellow gondolas. Paul Staniland, a political scientist who studies South Asia at the University of Chicago, said the G20 meeting is "in line with Indian government policy to symbolically project normalcy and stability in Kashmir," and is unlikely to herald a change in policy. ALso Read: India revives civil militia after Hindu killings in Kashmir "The meeting is good and it could boost tourism," said college student Mufeed Hilal. "But we also want to see the Kashmir issue resolved. That is our basic problem." ___ REGIONAL NEIGHBORS AND UN HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERT CRITICIZE KASHMIR MEETING Pakistan, which controls a part of Kashmir but, like India, claims the entire territory, has slammed New Delhi for holding the meeting in Srinagar. Speaking on the sidelines of a recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in India, foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the choice of location showed India's "pettiness" and was a "show of arrogance to the world." Also Read: 2 kids among 6 people die in Kashmir village attack: Police India's foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, dismissed the Pakistani minister's comments, saying that he was not going to debate the issue "with a country which has nothing to do with the G20," referring to the fact that Pakistan is not a member of the group. The G20, made up of the world's largest economies, has a rolling presidency with a different member state in charge of the group's agenda and priorities each year. India is steering the group in 2023. China also criticized India's plan to hold the meeting in Srinagar. "China firmly opposes holding any form of G20 meeting in disputed areas and China will not attend such a meeting," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters at a daily briefing Friday. Last month, China skipped another G20 meeting held in the disputed region Ladakh, where Indian and Chinese soldiers are locked in a bitter military standoff high in the mountains after 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed in a hand-to-hand melee in 2020. A U.N. human rights expert on Monday said the meeting would support a "facade of normalcy" while "massive human rights violations" continue in the region. "The government of India is seeking to normalise what some have described as a military occupation by instrumentalising a G20 meeting and portray an international seal of approval," said Fernand de Varennes, the special rapporteur on minority issues, in a statement. India's mission at the U.N. in Geneva rejected the statement as "baseless" and "unwarranted allegations." In a tweet on Tuesday, it said it was India's "prerogative to host its meetings in any part of the country." India also held G20 tourism meetings in the states of West Bengal and Gujarat earlier this year, and one more is scheduled in Goa next month. ___ SEARCHES AND PATROLS REDOUBLE AHEAD OF MEETING Intrusive security measures have been a fact of life in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989, when a violent separatist insurgency erupted and Indian forces replied with a brutal crackdown. While the armed rebellion was largely suppressed, the region remains one of the world's most heavily militarized territory, with hundreds of thousands of Indian troops deployed. For decades, a typical Kashmiri's day has included frisking and questioning by police and soldiers, house raids and random searches of cars. But after New Delhi took the region under its direct control, authorities have seized scores of homes and arrested hundreds under stringent anti-terror laws. The government says such actions are necessary to stop what it calls a "terror ecosystem." Mehbooba Mufti, the region's former top elected official, said that police had detained hundreds of Kashmiris ahead of the meeting. In a party newsletter, she alleged that there has been an "unprecedented surge in arrests, raids, surveillance and persecution of our people" ahead of the event. In a statement on Monday, police said there is a "need to enhance the security measures at vulnerable locations to avoid any chance of terrorist attack during the G20" meeting. Kashmir has remained on edge since the 2019 changes, as authorities put in place new laws that critics and many Kashmiris fear could transform the region's demographics. In New Delhi's effort to shape what it calls "Naya Kashmir," or a "new Kashmir," the territory's people and its press have been largely silenced. Although violence has ebbed in last few years, fighting between government forces and rebels opposed to Indian rule still erupts periodically. At least 10 Indian soldiers, including five members of army special forces, were killed recently in two militant attacks in Jammu region.  

The nine-month battle for Bakhmut has destroyed the 400-year-old city in eastern Ukraine and killed tens of thousands of people in a mutually devastating demonstration of Ukraine's strategy of exhausting the Russian military. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground Sunday in the invasion's longest battle: Russia's defense ministry reported that the Wagner private army backed by Russian troops had seized the city. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said Bakhmut was not being fully occupied by Russian forces. Regardless, the small city has long had more symbolic than strategic value for both sides. The more meaningful gauge of success for Ukrainian forces has been their ability to keep the Russians bogged down. The Ukrainian military has aimed to deplete the resources and morale of Russian troops in the tiny but tactical patch of the 1,500-kilometer (932-mile) front line as Ukraine gears up for a major counteroffensive in the 15-month-old war. "Despite the fact that we now control a small part of Bakhmut, the importance of its defense does not lose its relevance," said Col.-Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander of Ground Forces for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. "This gives us the opportunity to enter the city in case of a change in the situation. And it will definitely happen." Also Read: Ukraine says troops still engaging Russian forces in Bakhmut after Moscow announces victory in city About 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, Bakhmut was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines and home to about 80,000 people before the war, in a country of more than 43 million. The city, named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, was known for its sparkling wine produced in underground caves. It was popular among tourists for its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th century mansions. All are now reduced to a smoldering wasteland. Fought over so fiercely by Russia and Ukraine in recent months has been the urban center itself, where Ukrainian commanders have conceded that Moscow controlled more than 90%. But even now, Ukrainian forces are making significant advances near strategic roads through the countryside just outside, chipping away at Russia's northern and southern flanks by the meter (yard) with the aim of encircling Wagner fighters inside the city. Also Read: Ukraine’s Zelenskyy at center of last day of high-level diplomacy as G7 looks to punish Russia "The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut. They lost part of the heights around the city. The continuing advance of our troops in the suburbs greatly complicates the enemy's presence," said Hanna Maliar, Ukraine's deputy defense minister. "Our troops have taken the city in a semi-encirclement, which gives us the opportunity to destroy the enemy." Ukrainian military leaders say their months-long resistance has been worth it because it limited Russia's capabilities elsewhere and allowed for Ukrainian advances. Also Read: Ukrainian president meets with world leaders at G7 as Russia claims a key victory in the war "The main idea is to exhaust them, then to attack," Ukrainian Col. Yevhen Mezhevikin, commander of a specialized group fighting in Bakhmut, said Thursday. Russia has deployed reinforcements to Bakhmut to replenish lost northern and southern flanks and prevent more Ukrainian breakthroughs, according to Ukrainian officials and other outside observers. Russian President Vladimir Putin badly needs to claim victory in Bakhmut city, where Russian forces have focused their efforts, analysts say, especially after a winter offensive by his forces failed to capture other cities and towns along the front. Some analysts said that even Ukraine's tactical gains in the rural area outside urban Bakhmut could be more significant than they seem. Also Read: Zelenskyy says ‘Bakhmut is only in our hearts’ after Russia claims controls of Ukrainian city "It was almost like the Ukrainians just took advantage of the fact that, actually, the Russian lines were weak," said Phillips O'Brien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews. "The Russian army has suffered such high losses and is so worn out around Bakhmut that ... it cannot go forward anymore." Ukrainian forces in the outskirts of Bakhmut and in the city bore relentless artillery attacks until a month ago. Then, Ukrainian forces positioned south of the city spotted their chance for a breakthrough after reconnaissance drones showed the southern Russian flank had gone on the defensive, Col. Mezhevikin said. After fierce fighting for weeks, Ukrainian units had made their first advance in the vicinity of Bakhmut since it was invaded nine months ago. In all, nearly 20 square kilometers (eight square miles) of territory were recaptured, Maliar said in an interview last week. Hundreds of meters (yards) more have been regained almost every day since, according to Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesman for Ukraine's Operational Command East. "Previously we were only holding the lines and didn't let Russians advance further into our territory. What has happened now is our first advance (since the battle started)," Maliar said. Victory in Bakhmut does not necessarily bring Russia any closer to capturing the Donetsk region — Putin's stated aim of the war. Rather, it opens the door to more grinding battles in the direction of Sloviansk or Kostiantynivka, 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, said Kateryna Stepanenko, a Russia analyst at the U.S.-based think tank Institute for the Study of War. Satellite imagery released this week shows infrastructure, apartment blocks and iconic buildings reduced to rubble. In the last week, days before Russia announced that the city had fallen into their control, Ukrainian forces retained only a handful of buildings amid constant Russian bombardment. Outnumbered and outgunned, they described nightmarish days. Russia's artillery dominance is so overwhelming, accompanied by continuous human waves of mercenaries, that defensive positions could not be held for long. "The importance of our mission of staying in Bakhmut lies in distracting a significant enemy force," said Taras Deiak, a commander of a special unit of a volunteer battalion. "We are paying a high price for this." The northern and southern flanks regained by Ukraine are located near two highways that lead to Chasiv Yar, a town 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Bakhmut that serves as a key logistics supply route, one dubbed the "road of life." Ukrainian forces passing this road often came under fire from Russians positioned along nearby strategic heights. Armored vehicles and pickup trucks driving toward the city to replenish Ukrainian troops were frequently destroyed. With the high plains now under Ukrainian control, its forces have more breathing room. "This will help us design new logistic chains to deliver ammunition in and evacuate the injured or killed boys," said Deiak, speaking from inside the city on Thursday, two days before Russia claimed it controlled the city. "Now it is easier to deliver supplies, rotate troops, (carry out) evacuations."  

A new journalism competition will be held in Bangladesh's capital Dhaka to encourage more and better-quality investigative reporting to bolster Bangladesh-China ties in trade, commerce and investment. An agreement on the Bangladesh China Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCCI) - the Economic Reporters' Forum (ERF) Journalism Award was signed here Saturday. Both sides have decided to jointly hold the journalism award event. The "BCCCI-ERF Journalism Award" will cover five areas, including the trade and investment ties between Bangladesh and China, how the high-quality development of China has helped Bangladesh, science and technology, the Belt and Road Initiative and others. Noting the professional significance of such an event, Al Mamun Mridha, secretary general of BCCCI, hoped that it would further encourage the economic journalists to analyze the topics of bilateral relations between Bangladesh and China.

Ukrainian soldiers were still engaging Russian forces in fierce battles in and around Bakhmut on Sunday, military officials said, hours after Moscow and the private army Wagner announced that their troops had taken full control of the eastern city. The fog of war made it impossible to confirm the situation on the ground in the invasion's longest battle, and a series of comments from Ukrainian and Russian officials added confusion to the matter. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar even went so far as to say that Ukrainian troops "took the city in a semi-encirclement." "The enemy failed to surround Bakhmut, and they lost part of the dominant heights around the city," Malyar said. "That is, the advance of our troops in the suburbs along the flanks, which is still ongoing, greatly complicates the enemy's presence in Bakhmut." Also Read: Ukraine’s Zelenskyy at center of last day of high-level diplomacy as G7 looks to punish Russia Her comments came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at the Group of Seven summit in Japan, appeared to suggest that Bakhmut had fallen. When asked if the city was in Ukraine's hands, Zelenskyy said: "I think no, but you have to -- to understand that there is nothing, They've destroyed everything. There are no buildings. It's a pity. It's tragedy." Zelenskyy's press secretary later walked back those comments. Also Read: Ukrainian president meets with world leaders at G7 as Russia claims a key victory in the war And the spokesman for Ukraine's Eastern Group of Forces, Serhii Cherevaty, said that the Ukrainian military is managing to hold positions in the vicinity of Bakhmut. "The president correctly said that the city has, in fact, been razed to the ground. The enemy is being destroyed every day by massive artillery and aviation strikes, and our units report that the situation is extremely difficult. "Our military keep fortifications and several premises in the southwestern part of the city. Heavy fighting is underway," he said. It was only the latest flip-flopping of the situation in Bakhmut after eight months of intense fighting. Also Read: Zelenskyy says ‘Bakhmut is only in our hearts’ after Russia claims controls of Ukrainian city Only hours earlier, Russian state new agencies reported that President Vladimir Putin congratulated "Wagner assault detachments, as well as all servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces units, who provided them with the necessary support and flank protection, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk," which is Bakhmut's Soviet-era name. Russia's Defense Ministry also said that Wagner and military units "completed the liberation" of Bakhmut. At the G-7 in Japan, Zelenskyy stood side by side with U.S. President Joe Biden during a news conference. Biden announced $375 million more in aid for Ukraine, which included more ammunition, artillery and vehicles. "I thanked him for the significant financial assistance to (Ukraine) from (the U.S.)," Zelenskyy tweeted later. The new pledge came after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Biden said Sunday that Zelenskyy had given the U.S. a "flat assurance" that Ukraine wouldn't use the F-16s jets to attack Russian territory. Many analysts say that even if Russia was victorious in Bakhmut, it was unlikely to turn the tide in the war. The Russian capture of the last remaining ground in Bakhmut is "not tactically or operationally significant," a Washington-based think tank said late Saturday. The Institute for the Study of War said that taking control of these areas "does not grant Russian forces operationally significant terrain to continue conducting offensive operations," nor to "to defend against possible Ukrainian counterattacks." In a video posted on Telegram, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said the city came under complete Russian control at about midday Saturday. He spoke surrounded by about a half-dozen fighters, with ruined buildings in the background and explosions heard in the distance. Russian forces still seek to seize the remaining part of the Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control, including several heavily fortified areas. It isn't clear which side has paid a higher price in the battle for Bakhmut. Both Russia and Ukraine have endured losses believed to be in the thousands, though neither has disclosed casualty numbers. Zelenskyy underlined the importance of defending Bakhmut in an interview with The Associated Press in March, saying its fall could allow Russia to rally international support for a deal that might require Kyiv to make unacceptable compromises. Analysts have said Bakhmut's fall would be a blow to Ukraine and give some tactical advantages to Russia but wouldn't prove decisive to the outcome of the war. Bakhmut, located about 55 kilometers (34 miles) north of the Russian-held regional capital of Donetsk, had a prewar population of 80,000 and was an important industrial center, surrounded by salt and gypsum mines. The city, which was named Artyomovsk after a Bolshevik revolutionary when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, also was known for its sparkling wine production in underground caves. Its broad tree-lined avenues, lush parks and stately downtown with imposing late 19th-century mansions — all now reduced to a smoldering wasteland — made it a popular tourist destination. When a separatist rebellion engulfed eastern Ukraine in 2014 weeks after Moscow's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, the rebels quickly won control of the city, only to lose it a few months later. After Russia switched its focus to the Donbas following a botched attempt to seize Kyiv early in the February 2022 invasion, Moscow's troops tried to take Bakhmut in August but were pushed back. The fighting there abated in autumn as Russia was confronted with Ukrainian counteroffensives in the east and the south, but it resumed at full pace late last year. In January, Russia captured the salt-mining town of Soledar, just north of Bakhmut, and closed in on the city's suburbs. Intense Russian shelling targeted the city and nearby villages as Moscow waged a three-sided assault to try to finish off the resistance in what Ukrainians called "fortress Bakhmut." Mercenaries from Wagner spearheaded the Russian offensive. Prigozhin tried to use the battle for the city to expand his clout amid the tensions with the top Russian military leaders whom he harshly criticized. "We fought not only with the Ukrainian armed forces in Bakhmut. We fought the Russian bureaucracy, which threw sand in the wheels," Prigozhin said in the video on Saturday. The relentless Russian artillery bombardment left few buildings intact amid ferocious house-to-house battles. Wagner fighters "marched on the bodies of their own soldiers" according to Ukrainian officials. Both sides have spent ammunition at a rate unseen in any armed conflict for decades, firing thousands of rounds a day. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that seizing the city would allow Russia to press its offensive farther into the Donetsk region, one of the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow illegally annexed in September.  

World leaders ratcheted up pressure Sunday on Russia for its war against Ukraine, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the center of a swirl of diplomacy on the final day of the Group of Seven summit of rich-world democracies. Zelenskyy's in-person attendance at one of the world's premier diplomatic gatherings is meant to galvanize attention on his nation's 15-month fight against Russia. Even before he landed Saturday on a French plane, the G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Moscow and hamper its war-fighting abilities. Ukraine is the overwhelming focus of the summit, but the leaders of Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union, are also working to address global worries over climate change, AI, poverty, economic instability and nuclear proliferation. Also Read: Ukrainian president meets with world leaders at G7 as Russia claims a key victory in the war Two U.S. allies — South Korea and Japan — continued efforts Sunday to improve ties that have often been hurt by lingering anger over issues linked to Japan's brutal 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a memorial to Korean victims, many of them slave laborers, of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing. Washington wants the two neighbors, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of U.S. power in the region, to stand together on a host of issues, including rising aggression from China, North Korea and Russia. Bolstering international support is a key priority as Ukraine prepares for what's seen as a major push to take back territory seized by Russia in the war that began in February last year. Zelenskyy's visit to the G7 summit closely followed the United States agreeing to allow training on potent American-made fighter jets, which lays the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. Also Read: Zelenskyy says ‘Bakhmut is only in our hearts’ after Russia claims controls of Ukrainian city "Japan. G7. Important meetings with partners and friends of Ukraine. Security and enhanced cooperation for our victory. Peace will become closer today," Zelenskyy tweeted after his arrival. U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that President Joe Biden and Zelenskyy would have direct engagement at the summit. On Friday, Biden announced his support for training Ukrainian pilots on U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, a precursor to eventually providing those aircraft to Ukraine. "It is necessary to improve (Ukraine's) air defense capabilities, including the training of our pilots," Zelenskyy wrote on his official Telegram channel after meeting Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, one of a number of leaders he talked to. Zelenskyy also met on the sidelines of the summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war, and briefed him on Ukraine's peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. India, the world's largest democracy, has avoided outright condemnation of Russia's invasion. While India maintains close ties with the United States and its Western allies, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and oil. Summits like the G7 are a chance for leaders to put pressure on one another to align or redouble their diplomatic efforts, according to Matthew Goodman, an economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. "Zelenskyy's presence puts some pressure on G7 leaders to deliver more — or explain to him directly why they can't," he said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the G7 summit for aiming to isolate both China and Russia. "The task has been set loudly and openly: to defeat Russia on the battlefield, but not to stop there, but to eliminate it as a geopolitical competitor. As a matter of fact, any other country that claims some kind of independent place in the world alignment will also be to suppress a competitor. Look at the decisions that are now being discussed and adopted in Hiroshima, at the G7 summit, and which are aimed at the double containment of Russia and China," he said. The G7, however, has vowed to intensify the pressure. "Russia's brutal war of aggression represents a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community. We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes to bring a comprehensive, just and lasting peace," the group said in a statement. Another major focus of the meetings was China, the world's No. 2 economy. There is increasing anxiety that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear weapons program, could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and regularly sends ships and warplanes near it. The G7 said they did not want to harm China and were seeking "constructive and stable relations" with Beijing, "recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China." They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and "support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace." China's Foreign Ministry said that "gone are the days when a handful of Western countries can just willfully meddle in other countries' internal affairs and manipulate global affairs. We urge G7 members to ... focus on addressing the various issues they have at home, stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs, stop containing and bludgeoning other countries." The G7 also warned North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, to completely abandon its nuclear bomb ambitions, "including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology," the leaders' statement said. The green light on F-16 training is the latest shift by the Biden administration as it moves to arm Ukraine with more advanced and lethal weaponry, following earlier decisions to send rocket launcher systems and Abrams tanks. The United States has insisted that it is sending weapons to Ukraine to defend itself and has discouraged attacks by Ukraine into Russian territory. "We've reached a moment where it is time to look down the road again to say what is Ukraine going to need as part of a future force, to be able to deter and defend against Russian aggression as we go forward," Sullivan said. Biden's decisions on when, how many, and who will provide the fourth-generation F-16 fighter jets will be made in the months ahead while the training is underway, Biden told leaders. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Moscow as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putin's war effort. Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, but there are questions about the effectiveness. Russia had participated in some summits with the other seven countries before being removed from the then-Group of Eight after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. Kishida has twice taken leaders to visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the world's first wartime atomic bomb detonation. Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, wants nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The group reiterated its aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing for the G7's global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to China's investment dollars.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy huddled with some of his biggest backers in Hiroshima on Sunday, building momentum for his country's war effort even as Russia claimed a symbolic victory on the battlefield. The Ukrainian leader's in-person appearance in his trademark olive drab during the final day of the Group of Seven summit underscored the centrality of the war for the bloc of rich democracies. It also stole much of the limelight from other priorities, including security challenges in Asia and outreach to the developing world, that the leaders focused on at the three-day gathering. Zelenskyy held two major rounds of meetings Sunday, one with G7 leaders and a second with them and a host of invited guests including India, South Korea and Brazil. He also held one-on-one talks with several of the leaders. Also Read: Zelenskyy says ‘Bakhmut is only in our hearts’ after Russia claims controls of Ukrainian city U.S. President Joe Biden announced a new military aid package worth $375 million for Ukraine during his meeting with Zelenskyy, saying the U.S. would provide ammunition and armored vehicles. That fresh pledge came days after the U.S. agreed to allow training on American-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine. "We have Ukraine's back and we're not going anywhere," Biden said. Zelenskyy thanked Biden for the support, adding that "we will never forget." Even before Zelenskyy landed Saturday aboard a French plane, the G7 nations had unveiled a slew of new sanctions and other measures meant to punish Moscow over its invasion that began in February last year. Read More: G7 'outreach' an effort to build consensus on global issues like Ukraine, China, climate change Hanging over Sunday's talks was the claim by Russia's Defense Ministry that forces of the Wagner private army, backed by Russian troops, had seized the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. The eight-month battle for the eastern city — seen by both sides as a major symbolic prize — has been the longest and likely the bloodiest of the war. Asked if Bakhmut was still in Ukraine's hands, Zelenskyy said he thought that Russian forces had finally taken the city in a siege that "destroyed everything." "For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing in this place," Zelenskyy said, adding that the fight had left nothing in Bakhmut but a lot of "dead Russians." While Ukraine was the overwhelming focus of the summit, the leaders of Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Italy, as well as the European Union, also aimed to address global worries over climate change, AI, poverty, economic instability and nuclear proliferation. Biden also aimed to reassure world leaders that the U.S. would not default because of the debt limit standoff that has cast a large shadow over his trip. Two U.S. allies — South Korea and Japan — continued efforts Sunday to improve ties that have often been hurt by lingering anger over issues linked to Japan's brutal 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean Peninsula. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a memorial to Korean victims, many of them slave laborers, of the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing. Washington wants the two neighbors, both of which are liberal democracies and bulwarks of U.S. power in the region, to stand together on issues, including rising aggression from China, North Korea and Russia. Biden, Yoon and Kishida met briefly as a group outside the summit venue posing for photos in front of Hiroshima Bay. Biden invited the two leaders to visit Washington for a trilateral meeting and they accepted, a US official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity said. Zelenskyy also met on the sidelines of the summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, their first face-to-face talks since the war, and briefed him on Ukraine's peace plan, which calls for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the country before any negotiations. India, the world's largest democracy, has avoided outright condemnation of Russia's invasion. While India maintains close ties with the U.S. and its Western allies, it is also a major buyer of Russian arms and oil. Summits like the G7 are a chance for leaders to put pressure on one another to align or redouble their diplomatic efforts, according to Matthew Goodman, an economics expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington. "Zelenskyy's presence puts some pressure on G7 leaders to deliver more — or explain to him directly why they can't," he said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticized the summit for aiming to isolate both China and Russia. "The task has been set loudly and openly: to defeat Russia on the battlefield, but not to stop there, but to eliminate it as a geopolitical competitor," he said. The G7, however, has vowed to intensify the pressure, calling Russia's assault on Ukraine "a threat to the whole world in breach of fundamental norms, rules and principles of the international community." The group took a different approach in its comments on China, the world's No. 2 economy. There is increasing anxiety that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear weapons program, could try to seize self-governing Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. The G7 said they did not want to harm China and was seeking "constructive and stable relations" with Beijing, "recognizing the importance of engaging candidly with and expressing our concerns directly to China." They also urged China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine and "support a comprehensive, just and lasting peace." China's Foreign Ministry said that "gone are the days when a handful of Western countries can just willfully meddle in other countries' internal affairs and manipulate global affairs. We urge G7 members to ... focus on addressing the various issues they have at home, stop ganging up to form exclusive blocs, stop containing and bludgeoning other countries." The G7 also warned North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace, to completely abandon its nuclear weapon ambitions, "including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology," the leaders' statement said. The G7 leaders have rolled out a new wave of global sanctions on Russia, now the most-sanctioned country in the world, as well as plans to enhance the effectiveness of existing financial penalties meant to constrain President Vladimir Putin's war effort. The latest sanctions aimed at Russia include tighter restrictions on already-sanctioned people and firms involved in the war effort. More than 125 individuals and organizations across 20 countries have been hit with U.S. sanctions. Russia had participated in some summits with the other seven countries before being removed from the then-Group of Eight after its 2014 annexation of Crimea. Kishida, mindful of the host city's symbolic importance, has twice taken leaders to visit to a peace park dedicated to the tens of thousands who died in the world's first wartime atomic bomb detonation. He had wanted nuclear disarmament to be a major focus of discussions. Some survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb attack and their families worried that Zelenskyy's inclusion at the summit overshadowed that priority. Etsuko Nakatani, an activist whose parents survived the Hiroshima atomic bombing, said the leader's visit was "not appropriate for Hiroshima, which is a peace-loving city." Protesters carrying "No War No G7" banners briefly scuffled with riot police deployed as part of a massive show of force throughout the city during a march Sunday. The G7 leaders also discussed efforts to strengthen the global economy and address rising prices that are squeezing families and government budgets around the world, particularly in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. They reiterated their aim to pull together up to $600 billion in financing for the G7's global infrastructure development initiative, which is meant to offer countries an alternative to China's investment dollars.