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In the news today: Ukraine and the US finalize a minerals deal; sex assault reports in the US military dipped in 2024; and a discovery of mass graves shines a light on a dark chapter in Greece. Also, how youth in China are finding love. |
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and President Donald Trump, talk as they attend the funeral of Pope Francis in Vatican, April 26, 2025. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP) |
Ukraine and the US sign a rare earth minerals deal |
The deal was months in the making and could keep military aid flowing to Kyiv following concerns that President Donald Trump would scale back support. The negotiations come amid rocky progress in Washington's push to stop Ukraine's grinding war with Russia. Read more. |
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The deal is expected to give the U.S. access to Ukraine's valuable rare earth minerals while providing Kyiv a measure of assurance about continued American support. It also comes at a critical moment in the three-year war. Trump has long criticized Zelenskyy, saying he didn't "have the cards" to win the war and blaming him for prolonging the killing by not giving up Crimea. But in recent days, he has rebuked Russian President Vladimir Putin as well, saying he was complicating negotiations with "very bad timing" in launching deadly strikes on Kyiv.
The two sides offered only barebone details about the structure of the deal, which they called the United States-Ukraine Reinvestment Fund. But according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, this latest version of the deal would establish an equal partnership between the two countries and last for 10 years. Financial contributions to the joint fund would be made in cash, and only new U.S. military aid would count toward the American share. Unlike an earlier draft, the deal would not conflict with Ukraine's path toward European Union membership — a key provision for Kyiv.
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Sex assault reports in the US military fell nearly 4% last year, AP learns |
Senior U.S. defense officials said that while the decline is a good sign, the number of reported assaults is still too high and the military needs to do more to get victims to report the often undisclosed crime. Read more. |
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- It was the second year in a row with a decrease, reversing a troubling trend that has plagued the Defense Department for more than a decade. There were 8,195 reported sexual assaults in 2024 involving members of the military, compared with 8,515 in 2023, officials said on condition of anonymity because the report has not been publicly released.
- The data shows that the overall decrease was due to a 13% drop in reported sexual assaults across the Army, which is the largest military service. All the other services saw increases. While reported assaults decreased, the number of sexual harassment complaints went from 2,980 in 2023 to 3,014 last year. Most were filed by female service members, and the vast majority of those accused were male.
- The report reflects the first full year since new prosecution procedures have been in place, putting independent lawyers in charge of those decisions and sidelining commanders after years of pressure from Congress. The change, long resisted by Pentagon leaders, was finally forced by frustrated lawmakers who believed that too often commanders would fail to take victims' complaints seriously or would try to protect alleged perpetrators in their units.
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Greece's dark past is uncovered after 33 bodies are found in a civil war-era mass grave |
Yedi Kule castle in the port city of Thessaloniki was a prison where Communist sympathizers were tortured and executed during Greece's 1946–49 Civil War. As many as 400 prisoners were executed there, according to historians and the Greek Communist Party. For the families of slain pro-Communist Greeks, the find in the Park of National Resistance, in the shadow of the Byzantine fortress, is reviving a wartime legacy kept dormant to avoid reigniting old animosities. Read more. |
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Greece's archaeological service cleared the site for development because the bones are less than 100 years old. But authorities in Neapolis-Sykies, a suburb of Thessaloniki, pressed on with excavation, saying the chance find has "great historical and national importance." The find has not been directly addressed by the country's center-right government – a reminder that many Greeks still find it easier to walk past the country's ghosts than confront them.
The small site has become Greece's first Civil War mass grave to be exhumed. City officials are taking steps to conduct DNA testing on the remains and urging families of the missing to submit genetic material.
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Young people in China find love in livestreamed video chatroom
Steve Chen had never been in love. Last spring though, it happened. The 25-year-old met his first girlfriend in a way he couldn't have imagined before: a livestreamed video chat. Frustrated with traditional dating and using the apps, Chen jumped on a new trend among young, single people in China. Those looking for love go into video chatrooms hosted by what's called a "cyber matchmaker," all while thousands of viewers watch and comment in real time. |
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