International news brief: UK government on brink of collapse, Governor urges Ukranians to flee

London, July 06: Boris Johnson's premiership was on the brink of collapse after two of his top ministers, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid, dramatically announced their resignations. While The governor of the last remaining eastern province partly under Ukraine's control urged his more than 350,000 residents to flee as Russian troops escalated their offensive.

UK government on brink of collapse

The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government was on the brink of collapse on Tuesday night after Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) Rishi Sunak, who is Infosys cofounder Narayana Murthy's son-in-law, and Pakistani-origin health minister Sajid Javid resigned from the government within half an hour of each other in what appeared to be a coordinated attempt to demonstrate no confidence by the cabinet in his leadership.

Nadhim Zahawi appointed UK finance minister

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed Nadhim Zahawi as finance minister on Tuesday, replacing Rishi Sunak who earlier quit in protest at Johnson's leadership.

Zahawi, 55, inherits an economy that is likely heading for a sharp slowdown or even a recession, and will face immediate pressure to do more to help struggling households and to lower taxes which are on course to hit their highest level in decades.

US seeks to focus on 'urgent' needs of Ukraine at Swiss meeting

A top US diplomat on Tuesday urged allies of Ukraine to help the war-battered country meet its "immediate and urgent" needs - not only longer-term rebuilding - as scores of countries wrapped up a two-day conference aimed at helping Ukraine recover from Russia's war when it ends one day. Scott Miller, the US ambassador to Switzerland, added a dose of urgency to the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano, at which the Ukrainian prime minister a day earlier presented a $750 billion plan to help his country both recover now - where possible - as well as in the immediate aftermath of the war and over the long term.

Moscow takes no breaks, Governor urges 350,000 residents flee

Ukraine's president says air alarms rang out across most of Ukraine Tuesday night as Russian forces continued to 'intimidate' and 'take people's lives'.

The governor of the last remaining eastern province still partly under Ukrainian control has urged the region's more than 350,000 residents to flee Russia's escalating bombing offensives.

As Russian forces pounded targets across eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, Donetsk's governor Pavlo Kyrylenko urged civilians to evacuate the province to save lives and to enable the Ukrainian army to better defend towns from the Russian onslaught.

US weighs restructuring Trump-era China tariffs

US President Joe Biden's administration is looking at whether to cut tariffs on some Chinese imports in a bid to ease inflation, the White House said on Tuesday.

Four years ago, former US President Donald Trump imposed his first wave of tariffs, which in total would end up covering some $350 billion worth of Chinese imports to the US.

The administration's review is required to keep the duties from automatically expiring.

One deadline for submitting requests to keep $10 billion in tariffs in place expires Wednesday, while another tranche is set to expire on August 22.

2 UN peacekeepers from Egypt killed, 5 wounded in Mali

A UN armoured vehicle hit a mine Tuesday in central Mali, killing two Egyptian peacekeepers and seriously wounding five others in another deadly incident targeting the UN mission in the West African nation that has faced a decade-long Islamic insurgency. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said 10 UN peacekeepers have died in Mali in the first six months of 2022.

with agency inputs