VIENTIANE, May 23. /TASS/: The deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, has described the perpetrators of the attack on the Belgorod Region as "scumbags" who "should be exterminated like rats."

"As for these scumbags - there is no other way to call them - one can characterize them in different ways. The only question is what is to be done about them? You just have to exterminate them like the rats they are and not even take them prisoner," Medvedev said.

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court on Tuesday extended the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by three months, Russian news agencies reported.

Gershkovich, an American citizen, was ordered held until Aug. 30. He had been arrested in March on espionage charges on a reporting trip in Russia. He, his employer and the U.S. government have denied the charges.

Tuesday’s court hearing wasn’t announced in advance, and the entire case has been wrapped in secrecy.

BEIRUT, May 23 (Reuters) - Lebanon is likely to be placed on a "grey list" of countries under special scrutiny over unsatisfactory practices to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Being added to the list would be another major blow to a country in a financial tailspin since 2019 and struggling to secure a deal with the International Monetary Fund.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Police have arrested a Missouri man they believe intentionally crashed a U-Haul truck into a security barrier at a park across from the White House.

The box truck’s driver smashed into the barrier near the north side of Lafayette Square on Monday at around 10 p.m., Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement. He was identified as 19-year-old Sai Varshith Kandula, of Chesterfield, a St. Louis suburb.

No one was injured in the crash.

BEIJING, May 23. /TASS/: China has expressed the hope that the United States, as the world’s largest economy, will not attempt to shift its financial risks onto the international community, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said at a news briefing on Tuesday.

LONDON (AP) — Several dozen youths pelted police with objects and set cars and trash bins ablaze in Cardiff in local unrest that erupted after two teenagers died in a road crash, officials said Tuesday.

Police said they were supporting the bereaved families and arresting the rioters — but faced questions about whether officers’ actions contributed to the fatal crash. Two teenage boys, ages 15 and 16, died in a crash involving an electronic bicycle in the Ely district of the Welsh capital on Monday evening, police said.

MOSCOW, May 23 (Reuters) - Yevgeny Prigozhin on Saturday delivered Vladimir Putin one of the few battlefield victories of the president's 15-month war in Ukraine.

Even then, Russia's most powerful mercenary could not resist breaking the taboos of Putin's tightly controlled political system.

Holding a Russian flag and with an automatic weapon slung over his shoulder, Prigozhin announced the fall of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut surrounded by heavily armed mercenaries, the black standards of his Wagner group and charred ruins where tens of thousands have perished.

ANKARA, May 23 (Reuters) - The man challenging for the Turkish presidency has accused President Tayyip Erdogan of being a "fabricator" after he cited a doctored video to allege opposition links to an outlawed militant Kurdish group ahead of a runoff election on Sunday.

Erdogan repeated the allegation and referred to the doctored video, splicing footage of Kemal Kilicdaroglu and a Kurdish militant, in an interview with state broadcaster TRT late on Monday, despite having been criticised by the opposition for showing it earlier in his campaign.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways has dismissed three cabin crew members after a passenger accused them of discriminating against non-English speakers, in a case that drew criticism from Chinese state media.

Airline CEO Ronald Lam expressed his apologies Tuesday to the passenger and the community over the incident, which occurred on a flight from Chengdu in southwest China to Hong Kong on Sunday. He reiterated his company’s “zero tolerance” of any serious breach of its policies and code of conduct.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday pressed his legal battle before a court in the capital, Islamabad, which granted him protection from arrest until early next month in several cases including terrorism charges for inciting violence.

The development comes as authorities have been cracking down on the supporters of Khan, now Pakistan’s top opposition leader. Thousands staged violent protests and attacked public property and military installations following Khan’s arrest earlier this month.

Beirut, May 23 (Reuters) - Germany has informed Lebanon it has issued an arrest warrant for Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh on corruption charges, including forgery, money laundering and embezzlement, a senior judicial source told Reuters on Tuesday.

A second source familiar with the matter confirmed the arrest warrant to Reuters. Salameh has denied any wrongdoing.

MOSCOW, May 23. /TASS/: Russia is coming together as a country at this important moment in history, and national pride is on the rise, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.