Ukrainian troops “enjoyed success” in villages near Bakhmut, a key town seized by Russian forces in May after some of the heaviest fighting in the 19-month-old war. Ilia Yevlash, spokesperson for Ukraine’s forces in the east, told national television that Russia trained fire on Ukrainian soldiers 580 times on this front and used aircraft four times. “On the southern flank, we continue the offensive operation. In particular, we have had successes near Zaitseve, Klishchiivka, Odradivka and Ivanivske. There, our defenders continue to knock out the enemy. Under heavy fire, they are holding the defence and consolidating positions,” he said during the 24/7 national forecast. The Ukrainian army killed 141 Russian troops and destroyed several pieces of Russian artillery equipment, the spokesperson said. On the southern front, Russian forces were bringing in reserves as Ukrainian troops dug in and were poised to move on the village of Verbove as part of their advance to the Sea of Azov, said Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for the troops in the south. "I believe we will soon have good news," the spokesperson said. The battlefield’s “loud” successes were cheered on by president Volodymyr Zelensky in his nightly address who confirmed damage to Russian logistics and headquarters. “The first is the actual situation at the front, our offensive and defensive operations. Important reports on the east and south. On the destruction of logistics and headquarters of the occupiers. There are good details. Loud details. I thank all the Ukrainian warriors who distinguished themselves!” he said on Tuesday evening. While Russian forces aimed their strikes on Ukraine’s grain exporting district, Kyiv’s forces also struck back on Monday and Tuesday with a growing number of attacks inside Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea. The governor of Russia’s Kursk region said power had been cut off to about seven settlements in the latest reported attack. Russia’s defence ministry said a drone had been destroyed over the Kursk region at around 5.30 am local time. Ukraine fired its counteroffensive operations in early June and is gradually progressing with gains in eastern and southern Ukraine where Russian forces have managed to breach the territory. But Ukrainian troops have targeted these regions in its bid to push back Russian soldiers off its territory. After a grinding slow start in June, Ukraine has reported a chain of success in recapturing its settlements and villages in Bakhmut, Zaporizhzhia and southern regions as it continues to move through heavily mined and destroyed towns and cities. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin planning new ‘assault units’ despite Moscow’s ‘mobilisation issues’ Destruction in Ukraine’s eastern village of Klishchiivka captured in aerial footage Explosions from Russian drone attack on Odesa region seen from ferry on Danube Russia tries to rejoin UN Human Rights Council

Mr Scholz shared a photo of himself wearing an eye-patch on X, saying it "looks worse than it is".

Greece's center-right leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis is to be sworn in as prime minister on Monday, hours after easily winning a second term with a record-high margin over the leftwing opposition in an election that also ushered new far-right parties into Parliament. With 99.67% of the vote counted, Mitsotakis' New Democracy party had 40.55% of the vote — more than twice the main opposition Syriza's 17.84%. It was the largest margin of victory in half a century, and slightly expanded ND's 20-percentage-point lead in previous election five weeks before. Held under a new electoral law that boosts the first party, Sunday's vote gives ND a comfortable majority of 158 seats in the 300-member Parliament, with Syriza getting 48. Center-left PASOK elected 32 lawmakers and the Stalinist-rooted Communist Party 20. The remaining 42 seats will be shared between three far-right parties — including one endorsed by a jailed former leader of the defunct, Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn party — and one representing the far-left. Voter turnout was just under 53%, compared to just over 61% in the May vote. Mitsotakis, 55, campaigned on a platform of securing economic growth and political stability as Greece gradually recovers from a nearly decade-long financial crisis. Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou is set to formally hand him the mandate to form a government on Monday, after which he will be sworn in and announce his new Cabinet. His main rival, 48-year-old Alexis Tsipras, served as prime minister from 2015 to 2019 during some of the most turbulent years of Greece’s financial crisis. Despite Syriza's dismal performance, Tsipras has shown no inclination to resign, and there have been no open calls from within his party for him to do so. After Sunday's result, Tsipras said Syriza would move on to focus on next year's European parliamentary elections. Mitsotakis, a Harvard graduate, comes from one of Greece’s most prominent political families. His late father, Constantine Mitsotakis, served as prime minister in the 1990s, his sister served as foreign minister and his nephew is the current mayor of Athens. The younger Mitsotakis has vowed to rebrand Greece as a pro-business and fiscally responsible eurozone member. The strategy, so far, has worked. New Democracy won in all but one of the country's 59 electoral regions, capturing traditional Socialist and leftwing strongholds, some for the first time. Despite scandals that hit the Mitsotakis government late in its term, including revelations of wiretapping targeting senior politicians and journalists and a deadly Feb. 28 train crash that exposed poor safety measures in public transport, voters appeared happy to return to power a prime minister who delivered economic growth and lowered unemployment. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

A United Methodist Church court has acquitted a California bishop of all charges in the first trial of one of the church’s bishops in nearly a century

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The diminutive woman with a white feather headdress was standing on the stage of the majestic colonial theater in Brazil’s Amazon and addressing the crowd

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are set to join a trio of key reproductive rights activist groups to mark the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs Supreme Court decision Friday, highlighting what's expected to be a major Biden campaign plank for the 2024 presidential election.

More than half of the region's ethic Armenians are now thought to have fled the Azerbaijani takeover.

The shares were priced at the top of the range that had been indicated to prospective investors.