WASHINGTON — The United States is the first to acknowledge that its long-awaited $61 billion aid package for Ukraine is not a "silver bullet." As weapons and ammunition are rushed to the country, other issues such as manpower shortages in Kyiv's struggling military have come to the fore. Meanwhile, the monthslong delay in passing the aid package -- caused by wrangling among US lawmakers -- has further weakened Ukraine's position on the battleground, according to analysts ..read more

Former President Donald Trump's Manhattan hush money trial is being viewed in a totally different way abroad, German Der Spiegel reporter Marc Pitzke told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Wednesday. This comes as Trump is set to receive a ruling on whether he violated the gag order in the case, which charges him with business fraud in connection with his cover up payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. When it comes to Germany's relationship with the U.S., Pitzke said, "It's always this back and forth. And when Trump came into office, it sort of crystallized that. An ..read more

"The Black Dog" was a quiet London pub until it became a pilgrimage site for Taylor Swift fans who identified it from a song on the U.S. megastar's latest album. Dewmi Fernando, a 23-year-old tourist from Singapore joined the faithful flocking in growing numbers to the bar in Vauxhall, south London. She braved the rain to pose in front of the pub's brick front topped with "The Black Dog" signage, and next to a blackboard where the pub's manager has written the lyrics to "The Black Dog" in chalk. In the song from the "The Tortured Poets Department"/"The Anthology", the 14-time Grammy winner s ..read more

Extreme heat scorched the Philippines on Wednesday, forcing thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes and prompting warnings for people to limit the amount of time spent outdoors. The months of March, April and May are typically the hottest and driest in the archipelago nation, but conditions this year have been exacerbated by the El Nino weather phenomenon. "It's so hot you can't breathe," said Erlin Tumaron, 60, who works at a seaside resort in Cavite province, south of Manila, where the heat index reached 47 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday. "It's surprising our ..read more

Thousands of Bangladeshis gathered to pray for rain on Wednesday in the middle of an extreme heatwave that prompted authorities to shut down schools around the country. Extensive scientific research has found climate change is causing heat waves to become longer, more frequent and more intense. Bangladesh's weather bureau says that average maximum temperatures in the capital Dhaka over the past week have been 4-5 degrees Celsius (7.2-9 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the 30-year average for the same period. Muslim worshippers gathered in city mosques and rural fields to pray for relief from ..read more

Human rights worldwide are facing their most serious threats in decades, the London-based advocacy group Amnesty International said in its annual report on Wednesday. The organization highlighted the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine as well as the spread of authoritarian governments which are damaging the international order by violating international law and disregarding fundamental rights. "Israel's flagrant disregard for international law is compounded by the failures of its allies to stop the indescribable civilian bloodshed meted out in Gaza," said Amnesty Secretary general Agnès Callamard ..read more

Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Argentina to protest against cuts in the higher education sector. According to the University of Buenos Aires, more than 500,000 demonstrators protested in the capital alone on Tuesday against the strict austerity program of President Javier Milei's government. "We are defending the public, open and free university, which is one of the great achievements of our people and which we will not give up," said Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel at the central rally in front of the Casa Rosada, the seat of government ..read more

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Tuesday sharply criticized the recent attacks by Israeli forces in Rafah in the Gaza Strip due to the high death toll among women and children. "The latest images of a premature child taken from the womb of her dying mother, of the adjacent two houses where 15 children and five women were killed — this is beyond warfare," said Volker Türk, warning of possible war crimes. The pregnant woman was fatally injured in an Israeli attack on a residential building a few days ago, according to a UNHCR spokeswoman ..read more

A French police trade union threatened Tuesday to disrupt the Olympics torch relay ahead of the start of the Paris Games this July unless officers were given bonuses. The Alliance union said that the French prime minister's office and economy ministry were holding up special Olympics payments promised to police of as much as 1,900 euros ($2,032). Warning that a first demonstration had been called for Thursday, the union said that other actions could follow and "we do not rule out disturbing the torch relay". The threat underlines the challenge for French authorities as they negotiate Olympic ..read more

Under a ceaseless storm of strikes in Gaza, a baby girl has survived insurmountable odds as the only member of her family left alive after she was delivered by Caesarian section as her mother lay dying. At just seven months pregnant, her mother, Sabreen al-Sakani, reached the emergency unit in critical condition after she was fatally wounded in the head and abdomen at the weekend. An Israeli air strike hit her family's house in the east of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, witnesses told AFP. "It's a miracle that she was still alive, despite her difficulties in breathing," Sahib al-Shams, a s ..read more