Early bird: Russia has recorded the greatest successes in Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion. The Fed will not be lowering interest rates
Russian invasion forces are recording further military successes, the difficult situation in Ukraine is due to the delay of Western allies. In the USA, inflation problems persist and the Fed is not planning to significantly reduce record high interest rates. Belarusian autocratic president Alexander Lukashenko has called on athletes from his country to be aggressive during the Olympic Games. Harvey Weinstein will again stand trial, even though his previous verdict was recently overturned
American procrastination is behind Russian successes in Ukraine
Five months of waiting, before the US Congress approved military aid to Ukraine amounting to 61 billion dollars, could cause permanent damage, which will be felt on the frontline for several more months. Russian forces took advantage of the "artillery drought" which has hampered Ukraine's defense since December, to advance on the eastern front near Avdiivka, making the biggest progress since the first months of the war.
Moscow's progress raised warnings from high-ranking Ukrainian military officials about the possible threat to supply lines and nodes of Kyiv in the east, which are now dangerously close to falling in reach of the Russian firepower surplus, wrote the CNN website about the situation in Ukraine.
Problems with Inflation in the US Persist
The Federal Reserve System (Fed) emphasized on Wednesday that inflation remains high in recent months and stated that it does not plan to reduce interest rates until it has "greater certainty" that the price increase is permanently slowing to a 2% target.
The Fed announced its decision in a statement after its last meeting, where it left its key rate at a twenty-year high around 5.3%. Several worse than expected reports on prices and economic growth recently have undermined the Fed's belief that inflation is stably easing. The combination of high interest rates and persistent inflation could also become a threat to the potential re-election campaign of President Joe Biden, the AP agency reported.
Lukashenko calls on Belarusian athletes to be aggressive at the Olympic Games
The Belarusian athlete, who will participate in the Summer Olympics in Paris, should be tough and uncompromising, the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko stated on Wednesday. The International Olympic Committee banned competitors from Russia and Belarus from participating in this year's Games within their national teams due to aggression against Ukraine, allowing them to participate as neutral athletes.
In response to the question of whether the Belarusian athlete should participate in the Olympic Games despite the ban, Lukashenko replied that it is the athlete's choice, wrote about the situation of Belarusian athletes on the Politico website.
Weinstein's trial is not over
Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein will be retried in New York, the Manhattan prosecutor's office announced on Wednesday, a week after the state's highest court overturned his 2020 rape conviction.
Weinstein appeared in court before Judge Curtise Farber in a wheelchair and in a black suit, more than four years after his conviction was marked as a milestone of the #MeToo movement, in which women accused hundreds of men from the entertainment industry, media, politics, and other fields of sexual abuse, reported by the agency Reuters.
Sources: reuters.com, apnews.com, cnn.com, politico.eu
