May 31, 2022

*) Russian forces face stiff resistance in Ukraine's Donbass A Moscow-backed separatist leader has said that Russian forces had not advanced as rapidly as they had hoped in the battle for Sievierodonetsk. Russia has been seeking to seize the entire Donbass region, consisting of Luhansk and Donetsk, which Moscow claims on behalf of separatist proxies. Capturing the easternmost city of Sievierodonetsk would give Moscow effective control of Luhansk and allow the Kremlin to declare some form of victory after more than three months of the conflict. *) EU agrees ban on 'more than 2/3' of Russian oil imports European Union leaders have reached a compromise to impose a partial oil embargo on Russia at a summit focused on helping Ukraine with a delayed package of sanctions that was blocked by Hungary. The watered-down embargo covers only Russian oil brought in by sea, allowing a temporary exemption for imports delivered by pipeline. EU Council President Charles Michel said on Twitter the agreement covers more than two-thirds of oil imports from Russia, "cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine…” *) Nepal recovers all bodies from site of plane crash Civil aviation authorities in Nepal have said they recovered the last body from the wreckage site of a small passenger plane carrying 22 people that went missing over the weekend. "We have found the last missing body," Deo Chandra Lal, a spokesperson for Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority said. Lal also said preliminary investigations have found that the cause of the crash could be "adverse weather conditions." *) Biden to meet Fed chair as inflation bites pocketbooks President Joe Biden is set to meet with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as soaring inflation takes a bite out of Americans' pocketbooks. The meeting will be the first since Biden renominated Powell to lead the central bank and comes weeks after his confirmation for a second term by the Senate. The White House said the pair would discuss the state of the US and global economy and