Europe

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations’ top human rights official will visit China next week on a trip that will take her to the Xinjiang region, where rights groups and some Western governments allege the Chinese government is committing genocide and serious abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet will start her six-day visit on Monday, her office said Friday. She will visit Guangzhou, Kashgar and the Xinjiang regional capital of Urumqi.

KOENIGSWINTER, Germany (AP) — The Group of Seven leading economies are set to agree on more than $18 billion in aid for Ukrainian defense efforts as meetings of finance ministers close Friday, Germany’s finance minister told Bloomberg Television.

“I think it’s a very good signal that the G-7 nations are standing shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine because they are not only defending themselves, they are defending our values,” German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said in an interview with Bloomberg.

MILAN (AP) — Edoardo Ronzoni inspects a construction site near Milan that he shut down in March as costs for materials skyrocketed. He can’t complete a half-built roundabout at an intersection known for fender-benders because asphalt, cast-iron pipes and concrete are too expensive — prices exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Public works projects in Italy are grinding to a halt just as the European Union is injecting 108 billion euros ($114 billion) in pandemic recovery money meant to launch a construction frenzy.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian authorities said Friday that their troops repelled a Russian attack in the east, as Moscow struggled to gain ground in the region that is now the focus of the war even as it intensified its campaign there.

19 May 2022; MEMO: A Finnish Member of Parliament has called for a boycott of Turkish kebabs, holidays and cars, as Turkiye continues to insist that Finland and Sweden should not gain NATO membership unless they cease support for groups Ankara views as terrorists.

In a statement to the media earlier this week, Finnish MP, Mikko Karna, urged "citizens to boycott Turkish holiday trips, Turkish kebab restaurants and Turkish-made cars until Turkiye has given its approval to Finland's NATO membership".

20 May 2022; MEMO: Sweden's foreign minister today hit out at "disinformation" about Sweden and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), after Turkey accused the Nordic country of giving support to the militant group, complicating NATO's enlargement, Reuters reported.

Turkiye is threatening to block Sweden and Finland from becoming members of the alliance after they applied this week to join.

MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/: Russia is restoring oil exports, it is impossible to talk about a crisis in the industry, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday.

MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/: The village of Solokhi in the Belgorod Region came under fire from Ukrainian territory several times over the past few days, with damage caused to 59 houses, Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Thursday.

"Over the past few days, our border village of Solokhi has been shelled several times from Ukrainian territory. Yesterday, the shells damaged 19 homes, including 14 for the second time. Overall, recovery works will have to be carried out in 59 houses," the governor wrote on his Telegram channel.

MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/:  Russia’s new Angara carrier rocket will no longer launch mock-up spacecraft and will instead orbit satellites, Head of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin told reporters after his speech at the New Horizons educational marathon on Thursday.

"We will no longer launch mass-dimensional mock-ups. As soon as satellites are ready, there will be launches," the Roscosmos chief said.

Angara rockets are now at the spaceport and will be launched as the operational need arises, Rogozin said.

MOSCOW, 19 May. /TASS/: Russia will give a positive response as soon as Ukraine expresses willingness to return to the negotiating table, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told reporters on Thursday.

"The negotiation process was not interrupted by us. It was put on pause by our Ukrainian partners. As soon as they express their willingness to return to the negotiating table, we will respond positively," he said.

"The main thing is to have something to discuss," Rudenko stressed.