Ukraine says Russia has started a counteroffensive in its Kursk border region

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia has launched “counter-offensive actions” in its Kursk region to dislodge Ukrainian forces who stormed across the border five weeks ago and put Russian territory under foreign occupation for the first time since World War II. Zelenskyy’s comments in Kyiv on Thursday came shortly after Russia’s Defense Ministry said that Moscow’s forces had recaptured 10 settlements in Kursk and listed their names. Ukraine’s leader says his country’s troops anticipated such a response. Ukraine launched its daring incursion into Kursk on Aug. 6, partly in the hope that Russia would divert its troops there from Donetsk in eastern Ukraine where a push by the Russian army is threatening to overrun a belt of key defensive strongholds.

Death toll climbs to 199 in Vietnam as typhoon’s aftermath brings flash floods

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Nearly 200 people have died in Vietnam in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi and 128 are missing as flash floods and landslides take their toll. Vietnam’s VNExpress newspaper reported Thursday that 199 people have died while more than 800 have been injured. In the capital, flood waters from the Red River receded slightly but many areas were still inundated with water neck-high in some places. The death toll spiked earlier in the week as a flash flood swept away the entire hamlet of Lang Nu in northern Vietnam’s Lao Cai province Tuesday. Hundreds of rescue personnel worked tirelessly Wednesday to search for survivors, but as of Thursday morning 53 villagers remained missing.

Inflation’s down and the European Central Bank has cut rates

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — With inflation subsiding, the European Central Bank is cutting its benchmark interest rate to prop up tepid growth with lower borrowing costs for companies and home buyers. The bank’s rate-setting council lowered the deposit rate from 3.75% to 3.5% at a meeting at its skyscraper headquarters in Frankfurt on Thursday. It was the second rate cut as the bank starts to withdraw some of the swift rate increases it imposed to snuff out a burst of double-digit inflation that broke out after Russia cut off most natural gas supplies over its invasion of Ukraine.

UN warns some 25 million Sudanese risk famine without more donations

ROME (AP) — The World Food Program’s director is appealing for more money and access to feed 25 million people at risk of famine in Sudan. The UN agency’s director, Cindy McCain, called Sudan “nearly a forgotten crisis right now.” She said that with so many global crises, people’s “eyes glaze over” when she appeals for funds. Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to Darfur and other regions. More than 13 million people have been forced to flee their homes, the country is engulfed in a humanitarian crisis.