Europe

LONDON (AP) — Russia has repeatedly fired missiles and drones at Ukrainian ports key to sending grain to the world. Moscow has declared large swaths of the Black Sea dangerous for shipping. Even the U.S. said ships are at risk of being targeted.

There is still interest from ship owners in carrying Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea — if they can mitigate the risk, according to a major shipping group. And that’s a big if.

SHUSHA (Azerbaijan), Jul 21 (APP): President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev inaugurated the first-ever Global Media Forum on “New Media in the Era of the 4th Industrial Revolution” here on Friday.

The media forum was organized on the occasion of the 148th anniversary of the Azerbaijan National Press which brought together 150 participants from 49 countries, including 34 state news agencies – Associated Press of Pakistan among them – and 12 international and media organizations, besides 60 local media heads and representatives.

MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/: Russia’s Central Bank does not rule out the possibility of further increase of the key rate at the next meetings of its board of directors, the regulator’s Governor Elvira Nabiullina told a press conference following the board meeting on Friday.

"At the next meetings we admit further key rate’s increase," she said.

The rate of the possible increase of the key rate will be defined by the degree of influence of data received on assessment of development of the situation and the balance of risks for achieving the inflation target of 4% in 2024.

MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/: Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian command post in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and an enemy fuel warehouse in the Zaporozhye area over the past day in the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Friday.

MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/: Russia’s Central Bank has sharply increased its key rate after a long pause - by 1 percentage point to 8.5% per annum, noting reinforced inflationary pressure in the economy, according to a statement released on Friday.

MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/: Plans may be in the works to use an intended Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian joint military unit as an occupation force in western Ukrainian territories, and any Polish forces entering Lvov are certain to remain there, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a working meeting of the Security Council.

MOSCOW, July 21 (Reuters) - Russian investigators on Friday detained prominent Russian nationalist Igor Girkin, who had publicly accused President Vladimir Putin and the army top brass of not prosecuting the war in Ukraine harshly or effectively enough.

The move, reported by his wife, his lawyer and the RBC news outlet, suggests the authorities have wearied of his criticism of what they call Russia's "special military operation".

MOSCOW, July 21 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused NATO member Poland of having territorial ambitions in the former Soviet Union, and said any aggression against Russia's neighbour and close ally Belarus would be considered an attack on Russia.

Moscow would react to any aggression against Belarus, which forms a loose "Union State" with Russia, "with all the means at our disposal", Putin told a meeting of his Security Council in televised remarks.

MOSCOW, July 21 (Reuters) - Russia's Defence Ministry said on Friday that its Black Sea Fleet had practised firing rockets at surface targets in a live fire exercise, two days after it warned that ships heading to Ukraine's Black Sea ports could be considered military targets.

Russia issued its warning earlier this week after it quit the Black Sea grain deal on Monday, revoking security guarantees for ships carrying Ukrainian grain.

LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's governing Conservatives lost two strategically important parliamentary seats on Friday but unexpectedly retained former leader Boris Johnson's old constituency in a setback for the opposition Labour Party.

The Conservatives' narrow victory in Uxbridge and South Ruislip gave Sunak some breathing space to try to narrow Labour's large lead in the polls by tackling inflation and a cost-of-living crisis before a national vote expected next year.