Ukraine's security agency says it killed Russian agents suspected of gunning down its officer
The Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, said in a statement that the suspected Russian agents were killed in the Kyiv region after they offered resistance to arrest. A video released by the agency showed two bodies lying on the ground.
The agency said earlier that a man and a woman were suspected to be involved in Thursday's assassination of Ivan Voronych, an SBU colonel, in a bold daylight attack that was caught on surveillance cameras.
Media reports claimed that Voronych was involved in covert operations in Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine and reportedly helped organize Ukraine's surprise incursion into Russia's Kursk region last year.
After a series of massive attacks across Ukraine involving hundreds of exploding drones, Russia launched 60 drones overnight, Ukraine's air force said. It said 20 of them were shot down and 20 others were jammed.
The Ukrainian authorities reported that four civilians were killed and 13 others injured in Russian attacks on the Donetsk and Kherson regions since Saturday.
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Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The BRICS Boom Could End Up Being a Bust
For much of its early existence, BRICS was an acronym in search of a meaning. The original Goldman Sachs report that coined the term in 2001 simply pointed to four emerging economies—Brazil, Russia, India and China—that would be increasingly influential in terms of globalized trade and manufacturing. But the report's author never suggested they might harmonize a broader multilateral agenda, let alone form an alliance. Before long, however, the leaders of what subsequently became five countries when South Africa joined in 2010 began to gather on an annual basis. And in between those annual summits, their foreign ministers and other government officials began to organize routine lower-level meetings. Over time a common agenda began to take shape. While it never achieved a crystal-clear purpose, the BRICS grouping attempted to become a five-country counterweight to the G7, offering an alternative vision for global development as well as a critique of the existing international system that the West, led by the United States and Europe, still dominated. More recently, across 2023 and 2024, the primary BRICS narrative was one of expansion. The organization's original five members agreed to bring in new members, even as they disagreed about who they should be. Ultimately, five new full members—Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates—joined the original five nations last year. Another 10 states—Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam—were accorded the status of 'BRICS partners,' meaning they will be invited to participate in nearly all of the bloc's meetings moving forward. Other countries have applied to be part of the organization's multilateral New Development Bank or attend BRICS meetings as likely future partners. Unofficial reports suggest as many as 40 more countries have applied to join the organization as full members or partners. A map included in a recent WPR briefing by Mihaela Papa and Walter Streeter shows over half the globe having joined the organization or thinking about doing so. That makes for a lot of new countries involved in BRICS. To get more in-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs from WPR, sign up for our free Daily Review newsletter. However, such rapid expansion appears to have hurt the group's mission. Just one year after welcoming in its new members and partners, and at a time when it seemed that everyone wanted to be part of the group, the story of this year's summit on July 6-7 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was one of no-shows. The leaders of new member states Egypt and the UAE skipped the BRICS meeting. But the leaders of China and Russia also failed to attend. When it had only five permanent members, the BRICS summits regularly achieved 100-percent attendance. Now, with 10 full members and 10 partner nations, it's struggling to get half the member states' leaders to turn out. In one year, BRICS has gone from the organization that everyone wanted to join to just another multilateral meeting that might not be worth the time and money for the countries' leaders to attend. Some of the absences were understandable, though that didn't make them any less noticeable. Russian President Vladimir Putin's ability to travel is restricted due to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court over Russian actions in Ukraine. And Chinese President Xi Jinping just visited Rio last November for the G20 Summit also hosted by Brazil. Still, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has made hosting these multilateral gatherings a major part of his diplomatic agenda, and with a presidential election coming up next year, these gatherings are also intended to burnish his credentials for his domestic audience. Still, there are at least two other factors that contributed to what remains a dramatic shift. First, BRICS has always struggled to balance the democracies and autocracies within its midst, as well as to overcome some internal geopolitical tensions, particularly between China and India. When there were only five members, these differences could be brushed off by focusing on areas of clearly converging interests as well as the valuable bilateral sideline meetings that summits made possible. But with increased membership, the various internal 'factions' are now competing to shape the organization's agenda, and the one that feels less represented by a particular host country's priorities may choose to reduce their role or just not show up. For this year's summit, that was the authoritarian leaders. But that is the opposite of last year's summit, when Russia was the host and China's influence—along with the presence of the grouping's new members—tilted the balance toward non-democracies. Second, BRICS must now contend with the reshaped geopolitical landscape since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Trump clearly does not like BRICS. He views the organization's plans for expanding alternatives to the U.S. dollar for cross-border trade settlements as a strategic threat to the United States' place in the international system. While Trump has minimized the threat that BRICS poses, he also recently compared the potential loss of dollar dominance to losing a war. And although mounting an alternative to the dollar remains a distant prospect, Trump threatened to slap a 100 percent tariff on the BRICS countries for any efforts to do so back in February, and ahead of this month's summit he raised the possibility of a 10 percent tariff against any state that aligned itself with those efforts. Maintaining dollar dominance was also one of the justifications for the 50 percent tariff Trump imposed on Brazilian goods last week, although the move was also driven by Trump's affinity with former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently facing a trial on charges of plotting a coup after his election defeat to Lula in 2022. Political ideology and global geopolitics had already played a role in limiting BRICS' expansion last year. Argentina and Saudi Arabia were both invited to join as full members, but the former declined due to President Javier Milei's antipathy to China and Russia, while the latter has hesitated to formally accept due to U.S. objections. Under Trump, those geopolitical considerations will be heightened for all other potential members seeking to maintain warm relations with Washington. The BRICS grouping's inability to navigate its internal cleavages and the changed global landscape under the Trump administration are part of a broader challenge the organization now faces. The reality is that BRICS overreached in its expansion and undermined one of its key assets, as the depth of the relationships that could be maintained across five members is no longer possible among 10 or 20. BRICS has moved away from being an organization in which the potential for reaching agreements in bilateral meetings was reason enough to meet each year. That can be seen in how last week's meetings played out. While the BRICS Summit was underwhelming and under-attended, the meetings between Lula and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi—who was honored with a state dinner—were incredibly productive, including a pledge to triple trade between the two countries. This kind of deepening of bilateral political and trade relations was the strength of BRICS when the group's presidents all met in the past. India will host the BRICS Summit in 2026, and these same issues will in all likelihood play out yet again. India will want to drive the agenda, likely with Brazil's support, and China will want to downplay India's role as a global leader. At the same time, Modi will need to balance a desire for BRICS leadership with the need to maintain a strong relationship with Trump and the U.S., meaning he cannot focus too much on the organization's role as a potential alternative to the U.S.-led global system, one of the key talking points of BRICS proponents. One way BRICS could remedy its newfound drift would be to return to its origins by creating a 'permanent council' of the original five members that prioritizes their roles and gives them a separate space to continue meeting without the expanded membership. Those five countries are important enough to be global leaders without the presence of the other members and partners. The irony, of course, would be that any effort to create a privileged group within BRICS would look a lot like the permanent veto-wielding members of the United Nations Security Council, a system that Brazil and India have been particularly critical of in the past due to being excluded from it. Whether it goes in that direction or not, if BRICS does not find more focus, the organization will be a victim of its own success. What began as a small grouping of rising powers will have diluted its effectiveness in pursuit of greater numbers and broader representation. James Bosworth is the founder of Hxagon, a firm that does political risk analysis and bespoke research in emerging and frontier markets, as well as a global fellow at the Wilson Center's Latin America Program. He has two decades of experience analyzing politics, economics and security in Latin America and the Caribbean. The post The BRICS Boom Could End Up Being a Bust appeared first on World Politics Review.
Associated Press
32 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Milwaukee man pleads guilty to carrying concealed pistol near Republican National Convention
MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Milwaukee man has pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed pistol outside the Republican National Convention's security perimeter last year. Federal agents stopped Donnell Tinsley as he was walking near the convention's security zone on the gathering's first day in July 2024, according to a criminal complaint. Tinsley was wearing black pants and a ski mask and was carrying what the complaint described as a black tactical backpack. Agents found an AK-47-style pistol in the backpack. The arrest came just two days after Thomas Matthew Crooks tried to assassinate Donald Trump during a campaign appearance in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was a presidential candidate at the time and went on to capture the White House in the November elections. Online court records show Tinsley, now 22, pleaded guilty July 3 to a misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed weapon. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Marisabel Cabrera, a former Democratic state representative, sentenced him to 26 days time served. Tinsley's attorney, public defender Elizabeth Ellsworth-Kasch, declined comment when reached by phone Monday.
The Hill
42 minutes ago
- The Hill
Trump give Russia ultimatum
Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here It's Monday. A year ago today, the Republican National Convention began in Milwaukee. This was right after President Trump's first assassination attempt, and we were all on high alert. If you want a refresher, check out my reporting from that day. In today's issue: President Trump is upping the ante with Russia to end its war with Ukraine. He has been growing increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and to that end, he just made two major announcements: 1) Secondary tariffs: Trump will impose 100 percent secondary tariffs on any country that trades with Russia unless Moscow agrees to a ceasefire with Ukraine in the next 50 days. 'We're very, very unhappy with them, and we're going to be doing very severe tariffs if we don't have a deal in about 50 days,' Trump told reporters. He noted Congress wants 500 percent tariffs, so his 100 percent threat is far lower. 2) Sending weapons paid for by Europe: European countries will buy U.S.-made weapons to help Ukraine. 'In a nutshell, we're going to make top-of-the-line weapons, and they'll be sent to NATO,' Trump said alongside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Yes, Rutte, the person who infamously referred to the president as 'daddy' a few weeks ago. 😅 (FWIW, he later tried to clarify it.) 📸 Photo from the room Did we see these announcements coming?: Washington had been bracing for the 'major statement' Trump had teased regarding Russia. 💬 Follow today's live blog 💻 Watch Trump's remarks ➤ WHAT ELSE TRUMP SAID DURING HIS ANNOUNCEMENT: Trump said he spoke with Melania Trump about Russia: 'I [got] home and told the first lady, 'I spoke with Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation.' She said, 'oh really? Another city was just hit,'' Trump 📹 explained. Trump's intention: 'I think this is a chance at getting peace,' Trump 📹 said in his announcement. ➤ TIDBIT — WANT TO SEE HOW THE ROSE GARDEN REMODEL IS COMING?: Construction crews began work in June to complete the Rose Garden renovation Trump ordered. It includes replacing the grass with gravel. Well, The Hill's Alex Gangitano is at the White House today and 📸posted a photo of the construction. Republicans are trying to take back billions of dollars in federal funding this week — and it could make for a potentially ugly week in the Senate. I'll explain: The Senate is expected to take up the bill, known as the rescissions package, this week before Friday's deadline. The House has already approved it. The dynamics are tricky. Some Republicans are concerned about the bill's cuts to public broadcasting and global public health programs. But President Trump threatened to withhold support for any Republican who votes 'no.' A prominent senator has concerns: Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and other members of the committee are not thrilled with cutting programs that have already been funded through bipartisan bills. A broader concern: The Hill's Alexander Bolton reports that 'a handful of senior Republican senators are worried about ceding even more power to the Trump administration, as Congress has already done by allowing President Trump to shutter or overhaul agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development or impose steep tariffs on many of the nation's trading partners without much pushback.' Read Bolton's reporting: 'GOP leader faces showdown with Republicans on Trump-backed funding cuts' What else is happening on Capitol Hill this week, via The Hill's Mychael Schnell We're learning more about what happened in the early morning of July 4 when a flash flood seemingly caught parts of Central Texas, including Camp Mystic, off guard. The Washington Post published a new report today on the circumstances that made this flood so deadly. A leader at Camp Mystic, which is located in a flood zone, got a flood alert warning of 'life threatening' conditions at 1:14 a.m. However, Dick Eastland, the camp's director, didn't begin evacuations until 2:30 a.m. The Post notes the National Weather Service's (NWS) alert didn't include an evacuation order and interviews with families indicate there was spotty cell service. Other camps also delayed their evacuations, but Camp Mystic had a higher risk. The camp had a speaker system, but it wouldn't have worked without electricity. The Washington Post also spoke with a camp counselor who recounted what happened that night. It is hard to read. Excerpt: 'A native Texan, [camp counselor Ainslie Bashara had] seen hundreds of summer squalls, but this one felt heavier. The thunder cracked like fireworks inside the cabin. … The lightning lit the room like flashbulbs, and at each strike, she scanned faces around the room. Then she noticed a car pass by, a bizarre sight at that hour. She glanced at her watch: 1:58 a.m. She soon heard another noise that, at first, felt out of place. Two nearby cabins housed Mystic's youngest campers, and the 8-year-olds had started shrieking.' Read: 'In the dark, amid screams, a Camp Mystic counselor had 16 girls and one headlamp' The New York Times reports the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) did not respond to nearly two-thirds of calls from flood survivors to the disaster assistance line. Why?: 'The lack of responsiveness happened because the agency had fired hundreds of contractors at call centers, according to a person briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal matters.' Timing: Contractors were laid off on July 5 once their contracts expired. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who introduced a new rule that any expense exceeding $100,000 must be personally approved by her, didn't renew those contracts for five days. The percentage of FEMA calls that were answered, per the Times: Noem defended her response this weekend: Noem denied reports of resources being delayed in Texas due to her new $100,000 sign-off rule as 'absolutely false.' She told NBC's 'Meet the Press' on Sunday that 'call centers were fully staffed and responsive.' President Trump is desperately trying to move on from the controversy surrounding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but his attempts to put to rest the conspiracy theories have backfired. His administration concluded Epstein had no client list of powerful people and that he was not murdered in jail, both theories that have long fueled conspiracies. But the reported memo debunking these questions has only sparked more intense scrutiny. A reporter asked Attorney General Pam Bondi about the Department of Justice's (DOJ) conclusions last week — and before Bondi could respond, Trump snapped at the journalist. This didn't end the discussion, so this past weekend, Trump tried another approach. He praised Bondi on Truth Social, called into Charlie Kirk's radio show to express support for his attorney general and 📸invited her to his box at the FIFA Club World Cup. But the questions are only intensifying. Far-right activist Laura Loomer, who is a strong ally of Trump, called for a special counsel to investigate the handling of the Epstein files. She told Politico late last night that she doesn't think Bondi 'has been transparent or done a good job handling this issue.' Tomorrow: In The Movement newsletter, The Hill's Emily Brooks will take a look at how the Epstein saga could affect Republicans in the midterms. Click here to sign up & get it in your inbox. Related, via The Wall Street Journal's Editorial Board: 'Now Trump Says Forget Jeffrey Epstein: He urges MAGA to give up a conspiracy tale that he and his allies promoted.' ➤ DEMOCRATS ARE ALSO TRYING TO FORCE THE FILES TO BE RELEASED: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) called on House Republicans to demand the Trump administration release the 'FULL Epstein files.' And Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) says he will introduce a resolution to demand the file release. There is speculation swirling that President Trump could replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell with Treasury Department Secretary Scott Bessent. The Hill's Tobias Burns reports this possibility 'is spinning heads from Washington to Wall Street.' Could this happen?: Burns published a helpful explainer on whether it is actually possible to have a dual Fed-Treasury chief. Basically, there's no law prohibiting it, but losing the Federal Reserve's independence could have serious ramifications for the economy, particularly inflation. Read Burns's reporting: 'Will Bessent serve as Fed chair, Treasury secretary at the same time?' The House and Senate are in. President Trump is in Washington. (All times EST) Noon: Trump participates in the White House Faith Office luncheon in the State Dining Room. 💻Livestream 2 p.m.: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will be the first guest on GOP strategist Scott Jennings's new radio show, per The Hill's Emily Brooks. 5:30 p.m.: Two Senate votes, one judicial confirmation and the other to end debate on another nominee. 📆Today's agenda 6:30 p.m.: First and last House votes. 📆Today's agenda Wednesday: The Hill and NewsNation are hosting an inaugural Hill Nation Summit to interview Washington's top leaders. Speakers include: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, White House senior counselor for trade and manufacturing Peter Navarro, House Democratic Vice Chair Ted Lieu (Calif.), former DNC co-Vice Chair David Hogg and more. 🎤Full speaker list📝Request to attend 🧀 Celebrate: Today is National Mac and Cheese Day! 🧑💻 Elmo, I sure hope your password wasn't Elmo!ABC123: Elmo's X account was hacked over the weekend. The hacker posted racist and antisemitic messages, per USA Today. To leave you smiling, watch this dog process the news of a new baby entering the family.
