Biden to attend G-20 summit, V-P Harris goes to Asean
US President Joe Biden will visit India from Sept 7-10 for a summit of the Group of 20 (G-20) nations while Vice-President Kamala Harris will travel to Jakarta Sept 4-7 to attend summits of Southeast Asian leaders, the White House said on Tuesday.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan announced the trips as the Brics group of major emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - held a summit in Johannesburg.
That bloc was founded in 2009 to provide a platform for its members to challenge a world order dominated by the United States and its Western allies, a notion resisted by Mr Sullivan as he announced the trips.
Reuters reported exclusively on Aug 9 that Mr Biden was unlikely to attend summits of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Jakarta, citing several diplomats saying it would be a significant disappointment if Mr Biden did not go.
Brics divisions re-emerge ahead of expansion debate
Brics leaders met on Tuesday to plot the future course of the bloc of developing nations but divisions re-emerged ahead of a critical debate over a potential expansion of the group intended to boost its global clout.
Heightened tensions in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine and Beijing’s growing rivalry with the United States have pushed China and Russia - whose President Vladimir Putin will attend the meeting virtually - to seek to strengthen Brics.
They are seeking to use the Aug 22-24 summit in Johannesburg to forge the grouping, which also includes South Africa, Brazil and India, into a counterweight to Western dominance of global institutions.
Ukraine defies odds by advancing in counteroffensive
Ukraine has made progress in its counteroffensive against Russian forces simply by proving it can push back a better-armed and numerically superior enemy, a senior Ukrainian official said on Tuesday.
Ukrainian troops have faced vast Russian minefields and trenches in the counteroffensive launched in early June, and a US official said last week it looked unlikely that Kyiv would be able to recapture the strategic southern city of Melitopol.
But Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar brushed aside any suggestion that Kyiv’s progress was too slow, and said Ukraine had effectively defied military doctrine by attacking an enemy that has a numerical advantage in manpower and weaponry.
Rescuers find 18 burned bodies as Greek wildfires spread
Eighteen burned bodies, possibly migrants, were found on Tuesday in a rural area in northern Greece where wildfires have been burning out of control for a fourth day, authorities said, as gale force winds fanned blazes across the country.
In a city nearby, dozens of hospital patients were evacuated onto a ferry, while a blaze on the foothills of Mount Parnitha sent thick clouds of smoke over the capital Athens.
The bodies were found in the Evros region in the north-east of the country, a popular route for migrants from the Middle East and Asia crossing the river from Turkey into the European Union. An uptick in crossings was reported this month.
Tennis great Serena Williams gives birth to second child
Tennis great Serena Williams has given birth to her second child, a girl named Adira River Ohanian, and along with husband Alexis Ohanian welcomed the new arrival in social media posts on Tuesday.
“Welcome my beautiful angel,” Williams wrote in the caption of a video posted on TikTok that shows her, Ohanian and their four-year-old daughter Olympia embracing the newborn.
“I’m grateful to report our house is teaming with love: a happy & healthy newborn girl and happy & healthy mama. Feeling grateful,” Ohanian posted on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
