14 militants killed in southern Afghanistan
Officials in Afghanistan say a battle outside of the southern city of Kandahar has killed at least six Taliban fighters, while an airstrike against militants elsewhere in the south killed eight.
Kandahar deputy provincial police chief Abdullah Khan says the battle just west of Kandahar began late Saturday after Taliban militants ambushed a police patrol, wounding two officers. NATO and Afghan forces responded, unleashing bombs that could be heard in Kandahar.
Khan says at least six militants have been killed in the fighting, which has continued into Sunday.
In neighboring Helmand province, governor spokesman Daud Ahmadi says an airstrike against a minivan killed eight militants late Saturday.
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Japan sees record temperatures, appeals to conserve power: A lowdown
As Japan is sweltering under extremely hot weather conditions, the government has reportedly made an appeal to the residents of Tokyo to “conserve power”. The Japanese government and utility providers have warned of the electricity supply being “tight”. According to Japan's meteorological agency data, the temperatures will be as high as 35 degrees Celsius. On Saturday, Japan witnessed the highest temperature of above 104 degrees (40 Celsius) for the first time in June.
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Sri Lanka sends two ministers to Russia negotiate for fuel amid crisis
Sri Lanka is sending two government ministers to Russia to negotiate for fuel — one of the necessities nearly exhausted amid the Indian Ocean island nation's economic collapse. Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said two ministers are scheduled to leave for Russia on Monday to continue in-person talks that Sri Lanka has been having with Russian authorities to directly purchase fuel, among other related issues.
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Egypt, one of world's biggest wheat importers, to buy 180K
Egypt has contracted to buy 180,000 tonnes of wheat from India, less than previously agreed, but is looking at ways to extract more flour from grain and even use potatoes in bread making as it tries to trim imports, the supply minister said on Sunday. Egypt relies mainly on imported wheat to make heavily subsidised bread available to more than 70 million of its 103 million population.
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PM Modi, Trudeau set to meet on sidelines of G7 summit
India Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday will hold his first in-person bilateral meeting with his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau in over four years, in Germany. The bilateral meeting has been confirmed by the Canadian prime minister's officer and is scheduled for 6pm local time (9:30 pm IST) in Schloss Elmau, on the margins of the ongoing Group of Seven (G7) summit. The meeting is expected to last for about 20 minutes.
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Russia defaults on foreign debt for first time in a century | 5 points
Russia defaulted on its foreign-currency sovereign debt for the first time in more than a century, a result of its further alienation from the global financial system following West-led sanctions imposed over its war in Ukraine. “There is money and there is also the readiness to pay," Russian finance minister Anton Siluanov said last month. “This situation, artificially created by an unfriendly country, will not have any effect on Russians' quality of life.”
