Russian and Ukrainian forces are engaged in “heavy battles” in the outskirts of the Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine, according to Serhiy Hayday, the head of Luhansk region military administration. “All the forces of the Russian army are now thrown there, all the reserves they now have,” Hayday said Tuesday. Russian forces have suffered “huge number of losses and wounded,” because some... 

Crisis-hit Sri Lanka has announced that it will halt payments on its foreign debt as its dwindling reserves of dollars are needed to purchase food and fuel. “We have come to a situation where the ability to service our debt is very low. That’s why we decided to go for a preemptive default,” the newly appointed central bank governor, Nandalal Weerasinghe, announced during a briefing on Tuesday. The...