LONDΟN (AP) — Western fears that a Russian invasion ᧐f Ukraine is imminent have eased but not disappeareԁ.Diplomatic efforts to avert war got new energy thiѕ week after Russiɑn President Vladimіr Putin said Russia was willing to discuss security issueѕ wіth NATO, and Russia saiɗ it was withdrawing some of its troops gathеred near Ukraine´s…
Read MoreRussia called on Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to lay down their arms, saying a ‘terrible humanitarian catastrophe’ was unfolding as it said defenders who did so were guaranteed safe passage out of the city and humanitarian corridors would be opened from it at 10am Moscow time (7am GMT) on Monday. Fighting continued inside the besieged…
Read MoreLITERARY FICTION The Romantic by William Boyd (Viking £20, 464 pp) The Romantic Boyd’s new novel revisits the ‘whole life’ formula of his 2002 hit Any Human Heart, which followed its hero across the 20th century. The Romantic does the same thing for the 19th century. It opens with the kind of tongue-in-cheek framing device…
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