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The U.S. has led several mediation talks between the warring sides without success. Washington has called on the United Arab Emirates to stop supporting the war and imposed sanctions on several UAE companies that have been fueling the hostilities.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

With massive missile attacks on Ukraine this week and an announcement that it is resuming production of long-range missiles, Moscow is raising pressure on NATO allies as leaders of the alliance meet in Washington. Marcus Harton narrates this report by Ricardo Marquina.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

At a summit between India and Russia this week, both countries said they were committed to deepening the relationship. Anjana Pasricha reports on why India is enhancing its partnership with Russia, which has been isolated by Western countries over its war in Ukraine.

NEW YORK — The Library of Congress has awarded a lifetime achievement prize to James McBride, whose acclaimed novels include The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, Deacon King Kong and The Good Lord Bird.  Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced Thursday that McBride, whose story lines have ranged from the crusades of abolitionist John Brown to a Brooklyn neighborhood in the 1960s, is this year's winner of the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. The award, previously given to Marilynne Robinson and Don DeLillo among others, is given to an American author who excels as a prose stylist and creative thinker.  "I'm honored to bestow the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction on a writer as imaginative and knowing as James McBride," Hayden said in a statement. "McBride knows the American soul deeply, reflecting our struggles and triumphs in his fiction, which so many readers have intimately connected with. I, also, am one of his enthusiastic readers."  McBride, 66, said in a statement that he wished his mother were alive to hear of his prize. He then joked, "Does it mean I can use the Library? If so, I'm double thrilled."  McBride has been among the country's most honored authors in recent years, winning a National Book Award for Good Lord Bird, the Kirkus Prize for The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store and the Carnegie Medal for Deacon King Kong, which Oprah Winfrey chose for her book club. In 2016, he was given a National Humanities Medal.  On August 24, he will discuss The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store at the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., a gathering hosted by the Library of Congress. 

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An oil tanker held by Iran for over a year after being seized amid tensions between Tehran and the United States was sailing Thursday toward international waters, tracking data showed. The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker Advantage Sweet traveled toward the Strait of Hormuz, where it was seized in April 2023 by Iran's navy while carrying $50 million worth of oil from Kuwait for Chevron Corporation. That's according to tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press, which also listed the vessel's destination at Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates, which has been the first port of call for other vessels leaving Iranian detention. Iran did not acknowledge the ship's departure. It came after an Iranian court on Thursday ordered the U.S. government to pay over $6.7 billion in compensation over a Swedish company stopping its supply of special dressings and bandages for those afflicted by a rare skin disorder after Washington imposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Iran's government initially said it seized the Advantage Sweet because it hit another vessel, a claim not supported by any evidence. Then Iranian officials linked the Advantage Sweet's seizure to the court case that was decided Thursday. A report by the state-run IRNA news agency described the $6.7 billion order as being filed on behalf of 300 plaintiffs, including family members of victims and those physically and emotionally damaged. IRNA said about 20 patients died after the Swedish company's decision. Epidermolysis bullosa is a rare genetic condition that causes blisters all over the body and eyes. It can be incredibly painful and kill those afflicted. The young who suffer from the disease are known as "butterfly children" as their skin can appear as fragile as a butterfly's wing. The order comes as U.S. judges have issued rulings that call for billions of dollars to be paid by Iran over attacks linked to Tehran, as well as those detained by Iran and used as pawns in negotiations between the countries — something Iran has responded to with competing lawsuits accusing the U.S. of involvement in a 2017 Islamic State group attack. The United Nations' highest court also last year rejected Tehran's legal bid to free up some $2 billion in Iranian Central Bank assets frozen by U.S. authorities. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, apparently sparking the Swedish company to withdraw from the Iranian market. Iran now says it locally produces the bandages. Chevron, based in San Ramon, California, has maintained that the Advantage Sweet was "seized under false pretenses." It has since written off the cargo as a loss. The U.S. Navy has blamed Iran for a series of limpet mine attacks on vessels that damaged tankers in 2019, as well as for a fatal drone attack on an Israeli-linked oil tanker that killed two European crew members in 2021. Tehran denies carrying out the attacks, but a wider shadow war between Iran and the West has played out in the region's volatile waters. Iranian tanker seizures have been a part of it since 2019. The last major seizure came when Iran took two Greek tankers in May 2022 and held them until November of that year.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Washington — U.S. inflation edged down in June as analysts expected, government data showed Thursday, a reassuring development for President Joe Biden as he fights to win confidence on his economic record in his reelection bid.  The consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.0 percent last month from a year ago, said the Labor Department, as a fall in gas prices more than offset housing costs. A measure that strips out volatile food and energy prices saw the smallest annual rise since 2021. The world's biggest economy has been on a bumpy path to reining in inflation, which soared to a blistering 9.1 percent in mid-2022. This prompted the central bank to rapidly hike interest rates in hopes of easing demand and bringing down price increases. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers this week that inflation has since shown "modest" progress. In June, overall CPI declined 0.1 percent on-month for the first time since 2020, the latest Labor Department report showed. The "core" CPI index excluding the volatile food and energy segments came in at 3.3 percent on-year, the smallest jump since April 2021. The latest CPI report adds to a series of encouraging data that could give officials confidence that inflation is coming down to their two-percent target. This, in turn, would allow them to start cutting decades-high interest rates. 

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenyan President William Ruto on Thursday dismissed all his Cabinet ministers and promised to form a new government that will be lean and efficient following weeks of protests over high taxes and poor governance. In a televised address, the president also dismissed the attorney general and said ministries will be run by their permanent secretaries. Ruto said that he made the move after listening to the people and that he would form a broad-based government after consultations. Kenya has seen three weeks of unrest in which protesters stormed into parliament on June 25 after a finance bill that increased taxes was passed. More than 30 people died in the protests, which have morphed into calls for the president to resign.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Paris — A thick plume of dark smoke that was seen rising from the spire of the gothic cathedral in the French city of Rouen in Normandy was no longer visible on the latest live TV footage from BFM channel on Thursday.  Authorities said earlier the spire had caught fire during renovation works, as footage showed people in the streets below looking up in horror at the sight of the dark smoke billowing from inside the scaffolding into the sky.  In the latest images, smoke could still be seen through a gap in the white cover encircling the scaffolding around the spire but was no longer rising in a dark column.  A jewel of French medieval gothic architecture, the cathedral dates back to the 12th century and was repeatedly painted by impressionist artist Claude Monet in the 19th century, lifting its worldwide fame.  The earlier scenes were reminiscent of the devastating fire at Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris in 2019, which also started during renovation works.  In April this year, fire ripped through Copenhagen's Old Stock Exchange, one of the Danish capital's most historic landmarks, and toppled its spire. Large parts of the outer walls later collapsed.  The Rouen cathedral spire had been surrounded by scaffolding and the white cover for several weeks.  The local prefecture, which exercises state authority in the region, said the cathedral had been evacuated and emergency services were on the scene. A security cordon was in place around the building.  The prefecture said there were no reports of casualties and the extent of the damage was unclear for now. 

South Africa’s newly-appointed minister of sports – a self-described former gangster – wants to promote a sport that has associations with South African gangster culture. The sport of “spinning” involves fast-moving cars and dangerous stunts, and as Kate Bartlett reports from Johannesburg, the way it’s conducted is not always legal.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Brussels — The EU on Thursday approved Apple's offer to allow rivals access to the iPhone's ability to tap-to-pay within the bloc, ending a lengthy probe and sparing it a heavy fine. The case dates back to 2022 when Brussels first accused Apple of blocking rivals from its popular iPhone tap payment system in a breach of EU competition law. "Apple has committed to allow rivals to access the 'tap and go' technology of iPhones. Today's decision makes Apple's commitments binding," EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. "From now on, competitors will be able to effectively compete with Apple Pay for mobile payments with the iPhone in shops. So consumers will have a wider range of safe and innovative mobile wallets to choose from," she said. The EU previously found that Apple enjoyed a dominant position by restricting access to "tap-as-you-go" chips or near-field communication (NFC), which allows devices to interconnect within a very short range, to favor its own system. Now competitors will have access to the standard technology behind contactless payments to offer alternative tap-to-pay tools to iPhone users in the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes the EU and also Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Only customers with an Apple ID registered in the EEA would be able to make use of these outside apps, the European Commission said in a statement. The changes must remain in force for 10 years and a "monitoring trustee" must be chosen by Apple to report to the commission during that period on their implementation. Apple had risked a fine of up to 10% of its total worldwide annual turnover. Apple's total revenue in the year to September 2023 stood at $383 billion. "Apple Pay and Apple Wallet will continue to be available in the EEA for users and developers, and will continue to provide an easy, secure and private way to pay, as well as present passes seamlessly from Apple Wallet," the company said in a statement. The probe's conclusion comes at a particularly difficult moment in relations between the EU and Apple, especially over the bloc's new competition rules for big tech. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) seeks to ensure tech titans do not privilege their own services over rivals, but the iPhone maker says it puts users' privacy at risk. One of the DMA's main objectives is to give consumers more choice in the web browsers, app marketplaces, search engines and other digital services they use. The EU in June accused Apple of breaching the DMA by preventing developers from freely pointing consumers to alternative channels for offers and content outside of its proprietary App Store. It also kickstarted another probe under the DMA into Apple's new fees for app developers. The company could face heavy fines if the DMA violations are confirmed. In March, the EU slapped a $1.9 billion fine on Apple in a different antitrust case but the company has appealed the penalty in an EU court. Brussels also forced Apple last year to scrap its Lightning port on new iPhone models, in a change that was introduced worldwide and not just in Europe.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.