Europe

PARIS, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Airbus signed a follow-on Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) contract with the U.S. Army, the European multinational aerospace corporation said in a press release on Monday.

The deal is the largest helicopter performance-based support contract managed by Airbus worldwide, it said.

Airbus will provide spare parts, material, and engineering support for the Army's helicopter models UH-72A and UH-72B Lakota fleet of 482 utility and training helicopters. It will support 67 Lakota sites in the United States and overseas.

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — As government officials, corporate leaders and other elites at the World Economic Forum grapple with how to confront climate change and its devastating effects, a central question is emerging: to what extent can oil and gas companies be part of a transition to lower-carbon fuels?

In different times the question could have been academic, but today it’s both practical and urgent, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced many countries that depended on Russian oil and gas to make swift changes to energy supplies.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Workers digging through rubble found 200 bodies in Mariupol, Ukrainian authorities said Tuesday, another grim discovery in the ruined port city that has seen some of the worst suffering of the 3-month-old war.

The bodies found in the basement of a collapsed apartment building were in a state of decomposition and a stench permeated the neighborhood, said Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the city’s mayor.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Heavy fighting was raging in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, where Russian forces have stepped up their bombardments beyond the frontlines, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

Moscow faces stiff Ukrainian resistance to its effort to encircle the area around the city of Sievierodonetsk and consolidate Russian control of the Luhansk region — the main focus but not the only Russian effort in the campaign to capture the Donbas, the ministry said in the update posted on Twitter.

(AP) --- When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, it had hoped to overtake the country in a blitz lasting only days or a few weeks. Many Western analysts thought so, too.

As the conflict marked its third month Tuesday, however, Moscow appears to be bogged down in what increasingly looks like a war of attrition, with no end in sight and few successes on the battlefield.

There was no quick victory for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s powerful forces, no rout that would allow the Kremlin to control most of Ukraine and establish a puppet government.

Kyiv, May 24 (AP-PTI) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says last week's attack on the town of Desna resulted in 87 deaths. Desna is 55 kilometers north of Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said the debris removal in Desna, in the Chernihiv region, has been completed and the deaths and destruction was cause by only four missiles.

24 May 2022; MEMO: The killing of a guard at the Qatar Embassy in Paris in the early hours of Monday was a "heinous and unjustified" crime, the Embassy said, as French prosecutors opened an investigation, Reuters reports.

The incident did not appear to have any links to terrorism, a source close to the probe said.

The incident took place at around 0630 (0430 GMT), the source said, adding that the suspect had entered the Embassy and had a row with the security guard, who died after being punched.

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: American multinational chain of coffeehouses Starbucks has decided to leave the Russian market.

"Starbucks has made the decision to exit and no longer have a brand presence in the market. We will continue to support the nearly 2,000 green apron partners in Russia, including pay for six months and assistance for partners to transition to new opportunities outside of Starbucks," the press release says.

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: The Russian government decided to withdraw Moscow's application for the right to host the Expo 2030 exhibition, the Cabinet’s press service reported on Monday. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin sent a letter announcing this decision to Dimitri Kerkentzes, Secretary General of the Bureau International Des Expositions (BIE), the intergovernmental organization in charge of overseeing and regulating World Expos.

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: Moscow will monitor the Moldovan authorities' reaction to possible NATO arms supplies to the republic, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told reporters on Monday.

"We are not so much surprised by Britain’s statements as by Chisinau's possible reaction. But we will keep an eye on this reaction to these reports because Moldova's constitution clearly states its neutral status," the diplomat said, commenting on Britain’s statements about the possibility of NATO arms supplies to the republic.