Europe

LONDON (AP) — “Titanic” director James Cameron says the search operation for a deep-sea tourist sub turned into a “nightmarish charade” that prolonged the agony of the families of the passengers.

Cameron told the BBC in an interview broadcast on Friday that he “felt in my bones” that the Titan submersible had been lost soon after he heard it had lost contact with the surface during its descent to the wreckage of the ocean liner at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

(AP) --- The video was shocking — not just for what it showed but also for what was said.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the outspoken millionaire head of the private military contractor Wagner, stood in front of the bloodied bodies of his slain troops in Ukraine and yelled expletive-riddled insults at Russian military leaders, blaming them for the carnage.

BRUSSELS, June 22. /TASS/: The European Commission (EC) transferred another monthly tranche of 1.5 billion euros to Ukraine on Thursday as part of a program designed for 2023 with a total volume of 18 billion euros, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced on Twitter.

"Today we disburse another €1.5 bn for Ukraine in macro-financial assistance. We help keep Ukraine’s services and infrastructure afloat in its brave fight for freedom," she tweeted.

MOSCOW, June 22. /TASS/: The Moscow City Court on Thursday upheld the decision to extend by three months the arrest of The Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, who is accused of espionage, a TASS correspondent reports from the courtroom.

"The court considered the appeal from Gershkovich’s defense against the decision to extend his stay in custody and ruled to leave the decision of the court of first instance unchanged and the defendant's appeal unsatisfied," the court said.

MOSCOW, June 22. /TASS/: The West can supply additional military equipment to Ukraine but it does not have an endless amount of manpower to work with, meaning Western countries intend to fight Russia until the last Ukrainian, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out at a briefing with permanent Security Council members.

KAZAN, June 22. /TASS/: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has praised the country's demand for domestically produced aircraft.

"The demand is huge," he said at a conference in Kazan on expanding civil aircraft production.

"Our companies need modern aircraft for transporting goods and passengers. We need small models for regional flights, as well as medium-and long-haul aircraft," Mishustin added.

He emphasized that the government pays great attention to the aviation industry. "This is a strategic, backbone industry," Mishustin said.

PARIS, June 22 (NNN-SANEWS) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to attend and participate in the New Global Financing Pact Summit to be held in Paris, France, on June 22-23.

This at the invitation of his counterpart, the President of the Republic of France, Emmanuel Macron.

International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Dr Naledi Pandor, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana as well as senior government officials will accompany President Ramaphosa to the summit.

LONDON, June 22 (Reuters) - The Bank of England raised interest rates by a bigger-than-expected half a percentage point on Thursday after it said there had been "significant" news suggesting British inflation would take longer to fall.

The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 7-2 to raise its main interest rate to 5% from 4.5%, its highest since 2008 and its largest rate increase since February, following stickier inflation and wage growth since its policymakers met last in May.

KYIV, June 22 (Reuters) - Ukrainian missiles struck one of the few bridges linking the Crimea Peninsula with the Ukrainian mainland early on Thursday, cutting one of the main supply routes for Russian occupation forces in southern Ukraine as Kyiv pushes to drive them out.

Vladimir Saldo, the head of the Russian-installed administration in occupied parts of Ukraine's Kherson province, released video of himself on the Chonhar road bridge, where craters had been blasted through the asphalt.

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned Beijing on Thursday against using force to change the status quo with Taiwan and expressed concern about the human rights situation in China, days after holding bilateral talks with the new Chinese premier.

Scholz told German lawmakers that Berlin wants constructive relations with China because the country plays a key role in solving global problems such as food security, climate change and poverty.