World News Roundup: Russia, Ukraine battle for Bakhmut; Moscow says grain deal extended; After unveiling submarine deal to counter China, Biden says Xi talks expected 'soon' and more

Bakhmut has become the focus of Russia's invasion, with the months-long fight becoming Europe's bloodiest infantry battle since World War Two. Clashes between Pakistan police, former PM Khan's supporters injure several Pakistani police and supporters of Imran Khan clashed on Tuesday outside the former prime minister's home in the eastern city of Lahore, injuring several on both sides, ahead of his possible arrest, a government spokesman and witnesses said.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Russia, Ukraine battle for Bakhmut; Moscow says grain deal extended

Ukraine's future hinges on the outcome of battles in the east, including in and around Bakhmut, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, with both sides describing brutal fighting as Russia intensifies a winter campaign to capture the small city. Bakhmut has become the focus of Russia's invasion, with the months-long fight becoming Europe's bloodiest infantry battle since World War Two.

After unveiling submarine deal to counter China, Biden says Xi talks expected 'soon'

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday after unveiling details of a major submarine deal with Britain and Australia aimed at countering China that he expected to speak to Chinese leader Xi Jinping soon, but declined to say when. Asked at a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in San Diego if he was worried that China would see the AUKUS submarine deal as aggression, Biden replied "no."

 

Clashes between Pakistan police, former PM Khan's supporters injure several

Pakistani police and supporters of Imran Khan clashed on Tuesday outside the former prime minister's home in the eastern city of Lahore, injuring several on both sides, ahead of his possible arrest, a government spokesman and witnesses said. A few hundred Khan supporters gathered outside the house after a police team arrived from Islamabad to arrest him on a court order, government spokesman Amir Mir told Reuters.

Exclusive-Ukraine accuses Russian snipers of abusing child, gang raping mother

Ukraine has accused two Russian soldiers of sexually assaulting a four-year-old girl and gang raping her mother at gunpoint in front of her father, as part of widespread allegations of abuse during the more than one-year-long invasion. According to Ukrainian prosecution files seen by Reuters, the incidents were among a spree of sex crimes Russian soldiers of the 15th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade committed in four homes of Brovary district near the capital Kyiv in March 2022.

German military in worse shape than before Russia's invasion -official

The German military is suffering from a greater shortage of weapons and equipment than before Russia's invasion of Ukraine a year ago, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces said in her annual report on Tuesday. "The Bundeswehr has too little of everything, and it has even less since (Russia's invasion on) Feb. 24, 2022," Eva Hoegl, who acts as an advocate defending the rights of the troops, told reporters in Berlin.

Malawi's storm Freddy death toll jumps to 190

The death toll in Malawi from tropical storm Freddy has jumped to 190 from 99 reported previously, the country's disaster management agency said on Tuesday. Freddy, one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the southern hemisphere and potentially the longest-lasting tropical cyclone, has killed scores of people and left a trail of destruction in Malawi and Mozambique after it made landfall for the second time over the weekend.

Exodus of healthcare workers from poor countries worsening, WHO says

Poorer countries are increasingly losing healthcare workers to wealthier ones as the latter seek to shore up their own staff losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, sometimes through active recruitment, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. The trend for nurses and other staff to leave parts of Africa or Southeast Asia for better opportunities in wealthier countries in the Middle East or Europe was already under way before the pandemic but has accelerated since, the U.N. health agency said, as global competition heats up.

Chinese consumers out of COVID gates with caution, rather than zest

Chinese consumers, unshackled from COVID-19 restrictions, are returning to hotels, restaurants and some shops, but they are choosy about what they buy, disappointing hopes for an immediate post-pandemic splurge. China's battered property market, lingering worries over job stability, and government parsimony in wages, pensions and medical benefits are keeping shoppers cautious.

Black Sea grain talks continue as Russia seeks 60-day renewal

Talks continue to extend a deal to allow grain shipments from Ukraine's Black Sea ports ahead of a deadline later this week, the United Nations and Turkey said on Tuesday, after Kyiv rejected a Russian push for a reduced 60-day renewal. Since Russia and Ukraine signed the U.N.-backed Black Sea Grain Initiative in Turkey on July 22, millions of tonnes of grain and other food products have been exported from Ukrainian ports, helping to lower global food prices from record highs.

A new intifada? Young Palestinian fighters rise as West Bank boils

Before a group of young men from Aqabat Jabr refugee camp mounted a botched attack on a restaurant in Jericho popular with Israeli settlers in January, they declared allegiance to Hamas. That was a surprise to their families - and to Hamas.

(With inputs from agencies.)