Briefly

UNITED STATES

Pentagon halts missile shipments to Ukraine

The Pentagon has halted some shipments of air defense missiles and other precision munitions to Ukraine over concerns that US stockpiles are too low, two people familiar with the decision told Reuters on Tuesday. The White House confirmed the move in an email to AFP, saying the decision was made to "put America's interests first" following a Pentagon review of US military support to other countries. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry summoned the deputy chief of the US embassy in Kyiv, John Ginkel, on Wednesday and warned that any delays in US military aid to Ukraine would "encourage" Russia. The Kremlin welcomed the US move, saying the conflict would end sooner if fewer arms flowed to Ukraine.

Foreign aid agency formally closes down

The US Agency for International Development formally closed down on Tuesday, with President Donald Trump's administration trumpeting the end of the "charity-based model "despite predictions that millions of lives will be lost. Founded in 1961, the agency has now been incorporated into the State Department — after Secretary of State Marco Rubio slashed 85 percent of its programming. A study published in the journal The Lancet predicted that more than 14 million people would die, one-third of them small children, by 2030 because of the foreign aid cuts.

FRANCE

PM Bayrou survives no-confidence motion

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou survived a no-confidence vote on Tuesday, his eighth such vote since taking office in December. The motion was put forward by the Socialist Party after the collapse of talks on pension reforms. It received just 189 votes out of the 289 needed to bring down the government. It had broad support across the left but did not receive the backing of the far-right National Rally.

Agencies via Xinhua