Ukraine ups security as Russia holds nuclear strike drills with Belarus

A look at destruction in Ukraine as Russia launches 2 days of intense attacks 01:10

Kyiv — Ukraine is implementing "enhanced security measures in the northern regions" near its border with Belarus as Russia holds joint nuclear drills with its close ally, for which Moscow says "nuclear munitions were delivered" to field storage facilities.

Kyiv announced the heightened security posture along its northern border Thursday after warning for weeks of a possible fresh attack coming from Belarus, Russia's chief regional ally.

Kyiv has sounded the alarm that Russia may use Belarus — which it used as a springboard to launch its ongoing, full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 — to stage a new offensive from the north, including toward the capital Kyiv.

Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said its units and the army were "carrying out a comprehensive set of enhanced security measures in the northern regions of our country."

The measures — including stepped up checks and controls of individuals and properties — "will serve as an effective deterrent to any aggressive actions or operations by the enemy and its ally," the SBU said in a statement.

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The Kremlin on Monday dismissed Ukrainian allegations that it wanted to drag Belarus further into the war as "an attempt at further incitement."

But on Thursday, Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement that, "as part of the nuclear forces exercise" taking place with Belarus, "nuclear munitions were delivered to the field storage facilities of the [Russian] missile brigade's position" in the country.

Avideoposted Thursday on social media by Belarus' Ministry of Defense, which appeared to have been created by the Russian Defense Ministry, showed a truck driving through a forest and unloading an item said to be related to the nuclear munitions.

Russia's military said the missile brigade in Belarus was carrying out training to receive munitions for mobile Iskander-M tactical missile launch systems, including exercises in loading munitions onto launch vehicles and moving them clandestinely in preparation for a hypothetical launch.

Speaking Wednesday,NATOSecretary General Mark Rutte said the alliance was monitoring the Russian-Belorussian exercises and warned that it's reaction to any Russian nuclear attack would be "devastating," according to theKyiv Independent.

There has been little significant change in the trajectory ofthe war, now well into its fifth year, in recent months, though Ukrainian forces — taking advantage of drone warfare technology — have, according to multiple reports, managed to at least slow the rate of Russia's encroachment.

AWall Street Journal reportpublished this week argued that Ukraine had in fact "wrestled Russia's much-larger army almost to a halt in recent months, having gained a tactical and technological edge," but it cautioned that it was too soon to declare the war had reached "a strategic turning point."

byNeo

in

May 21, 2026

Ukraine ups security as Russia holds nuclear strike drills with Belarus

A look at destruction in Ukraine as Russia launches 2 days of intense attacks 01:10 Kyiv — Ukraine is implementing "enhanced ...

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Trump will ease refrigerant rule in a bid to address surging grocery costs

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is set toloosen a federal rulethat requires grocery stores and air-conditioning companies to reduce greenhouse gases used in cooling equipment, in what officials say is a push to lower grocery costs.

Trump EPA

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, saidthe Biden-era ruleimposes costly restrictions that limit the type of refrigerants U.S. businesses and families can use.

The new rule will “allow businesses to choose the refrigeration systems that work best for them, saving them billions of dollars. This will be felt directly by American families in lower grocery prices,” Zeldin said in a statement released before a White House event Thursday where President Donald Trump is scheduled to announce the changes. Executives from Kroger, Piggly Wiggly and other grocery chains are expected to join him.

With voter concerns over the cost of living spiking before pivotal elections in November, the Republican administration is trying to address affordability issues. It is not clear how much or how quickly the loosening of the refrigerant rule might ease grocery prices.

Inflation in the United Statesincreased to 3.8% annuallyin April, amid price spikes caused by theIran warand President Donald Trump'ssweeping tariffs. Inflation is now outpacing wage gains as the war has kept oil and gasoline prices high.

The administration's action on refrigerants represents a reversal after Trump signed a law in his first term thataimed to reduce harmful, planet-warming pollutants emitted by refrigeratorsand air conditioners. That bipartisan measure brought environmentalists and major business groups into rare alignment on the contentious issue of climate change and won praise across the political spectrum.

The 2020 law reflected a broad bipartisan consensus on the need to quickly phase out domestic use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, that are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide and are considered a major driver of global warming.

The EPA action highlights the second Trump administration’s drive toroll back regulations perceived as climate friendly.The plan is among a series of sweeping environmental changes that Zeldin has said will put a “dagger through the heart of climate change religion.”

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Environmentalists have criticized the administration's plans, saying a proposed rule announced last year would exacerbate climate pollution while disrupting a yearslong industry transition to new coolants as an alternative to HFCs.

The 2020 law signed by Trump, known asthe American Innovation and Manufacturing Act, phased out HFCs as part of aninternational agreementon ozone pollution. The law accelerated an industry shift to alternative refrigerants that use less harmful chemicals and are widely available.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Chemistry Council, the top lobbying group for the chemical industry, were among numerous business groups that supported the law and an international deal on pollutants,known as the Kigali Amendment, as victories for jobs and the environment. U.S. companies such as Chemours and Honeywell developed and produce the alternative refrigerants sold in the United States and around the world.

The 2023 rule now being relaxedimposed steep restrictions on HFCs starting in 2026. Zeldin said the rule from the Democratic Biden administration did not give companies enough time to comply and that the rapid switch to other refrigerants caused shortages and price increases last year. Some in the industry dispute this.

The Food Industry Association, which represents grocery stores and suppliers, applauded the Trump EPA proposal last year, saying the earlier rule “imposed significant and unrealistic compliance timelines.”

The Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, which represents more than 330 HVAC manufacturers and commercial refrigeration companies, said the change in approach would "inject uncertainty across the market” and could even raise prices.

“This rule works against basic supply and demand,” said Stephen Yurek, the group's president and CEO. “By extending the compliance deadline" for phasing out HFCs, the administration “is maintaining and even increasing demand in the market for existing refrigerants while supply continues to fall."

Manufacturers have already retooled product lines and certified models based on the existing timeline, Yurek said. Nearly 90% of residential and light commercial air conditioning systems use substitute refrigerants, rather than HFCs, he said.

byNeo

in

May 21, 2026

Trump will ease refrigerant rule in a bid to address surging grocery costs

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is set toloosen a federal rulethat requires grocery stores and air-conditioning companies to...

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French Open pay protest to include interview refusals

The world's top tennis stars reportedly will voice their displeasure with the French Open prize pool by remaining silent.

Players selected to participate in Friday's opening press conferences at Roland Garros in Paris will walk out after 15 minutes to protest the 15% average allocation of revenues toward the prize money at the Grand Slams, newspapers L'Equipe and The Guardian reported Wednesday.

Other players in the ATP and WTA draws will refuse to conduct additional interviews with the French Open's primary media partners, TNT Sports and Eurosport, per the reports.

The French Open announced last month that the prize pool was increasing about 10% this year to $72.1 million.

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World No. 1 players Aryna Sabalenka and Jannik Sinner and others expressed their disappointment on May 4, arguing that the percentage of total revenue at Roland Garros had declined from 15.5% in 2024 to 14.9% in 2026.

"With estimated revenues of over 400 million euros for this year's tournament, prize money as a percentage of revenue will likely still be less than 15%, far short of the 22% that players have requested to bring the Grand Slams into line with the ATP and WTA Combined 1000 events," the players said.

Players are also seeking better representation, health options and pensions from the four Grand Slam events.

--Field Level Media

byNeo

in

May 20, 2026

French Open pay protest to include interview refusals

The world's top tennis stars reportedly will voice their displeasure with the French Open prize pool by remaining silent. Pla...

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Korn Ferry Tour makes each player's pace-of-play data public for the first time

Nicholas Infanti is the fastest player on the Korn Ferry Tour and Ian Gilligan is the slowest, according to pace-of-play data through the first 11 events of the season.

The PGA Tour’s top developmental circuit recently became the first professional tour to publicly reveal the Average Stroke Time (AST) of its players.

The data was posted on PGATour.comfollowing the conclusion of last week’s Colonial Life Charity Classic. This data shows how players rank relative to field averages, both for a given tournament and for season-long averages. It can give valuable context as to what part of the game a player needs to improve his pace and for rules officials to identify the true culprits of slow play and how they are trending. It's also a momentous day for those who have longed for the Tour to be more transparent, especially with pace of play.

Player's AST is listed for overall speed of players and are broken down into four categories: Off-the-Tee, Approach-the-Green, Around-the-Green and On-the-Green. Tour rules officials have had this information available for several years and talked to players individually about pace of play issues but it had never been previously made public. The initiative to publicize the data for Korn Ferry Tour players was formally approved by the PGA Tour Policy Board in November. It's unclear if or when similar data will be published for the PGA Tour but it would first have to go through a similar governance process.

“The publishing of the AST data on the Korn Ferry Tour is an opportunity to provide greater context around a player’s pace of play and the various factors that may impact it during any given tournament,” said Korn Ferry Tour president Alex Baldwin. “We are hopeful this data is not only additive for our players, but allows our fans to feel more connected to what occurs inside the ropes each and every week.

Mitchell Meissner — who serves on the Korn Ferry Tour Player Advisory Council — is currently ranked 17th in overall speed of play for the 2026 season, averaging nearly five seconds fewer than the average player to hit each shot during competition.

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“There was definitely some interest in comparing my timing data to the data of my buddies,” Meissner said. “I hope the fans will be surprised by how quickly the majority of us play, especially considering all the necessary decisions it takes to play one shot and the significant consequences at stake out here.”

Individual pace-of-play data for players season-long average has been available throughout the ShotLink era, and was used by rules officials to try to change habits. It sometimes served as a wake-up call for players unaware that they they were the problem. Peer pressure has been the most effective means of change. But now those slowpokes on the Korn Ferry Tour will face a potentially more powerful tool for change: public shaming. [There is some concern that it could impact a player's reputation and lead to players being branded as slow for their entire career.] The Korn Ferry Tour currently ranks 129 players who have played sufficient number of rounds for their data to be under consideration.

Korn Ferry Tour pace of play data

Here are the top 10 fastest players on the Korn Ferry Tour in overall speed of play, as it relates to the average:

Avg. Stroke Time

Nicholas Infanti

Dylan Menante

Jack Maguire

Nick Gabrelcik

Robbie Higgins

Taylor Dickson

Brett Stegmaier

Norman Xiong

Logan McAllister

Here are the slowest players on the Korn Ferry Tour:

Avg. Stroke Time

Ian Gilligan

Joseph Bramlett

Augusto Nunez

Chris Korte

Chris Francoeur

Cristobal Del Solar

Yuta Sugiura

Alistair Docherty

And here's a look at this year's KFT winners and where they rank in pace:

Pace ranking

Taylor Dickson

James Nicholas

Alistair Docherty

Jeremy Gandon

Dylan Menante

Cole Sherwood

Adam Schupak is a senior writer covering the PGA Tour for Golfweek.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek:Korn Ferry Tour reveals pace-of-play data, fastest and slowest players

byNeo

in

May 20, 2026

Korn Ferry Tour makes each player's pace-of-play data public for the first time

Nicholas Infanti is the fastest player on the Korn Ferry Tour and Ian Gilligan is the slowest, according to pace-of-play data through t...

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Google rejects UK union recognition but offers talks via conciliation body

LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) - Google < GOOGL.O> said it had rejected a request from two British unions for voluntary recognition but ‌would negotiate with them via a state-backed conciliation service, ‌delaying a potential statutory process that could force recognition.

Under UK rules, the move opens ​a 20-working-day window, extendable by agreement, for talks on recognition. If talks fail, unions can seek statutory recognition via the country's independent Central Arbitration Committee.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Unite said earlier this month that ‌they had sent a ⁠formal letter to Google seeking voluntary recognition after an employee-organised vote showed support for unionisation at Google's AI ⁠unit DeepMind.

The company confirmed the receipt of that letter, which gave it 10 days under UK rules to respond by agreeing to voluntary recognition, ​rejecting the ​request or entering negotiations.

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"We've declined ​the unions' request for voluntary ‌recognition to bargain collectively on pay, hours and holiday, but we have offered to meet via ACAS, which is a standard next step," a Google spokesperson said via email on Wednesday. "We continue to value the constructive and direct dialogue that we have with our employees ‌about building a positive and successful workplace."

Britain's ​new employment rights legislation, which came into ​force last month, has ​simplified the union recognition process, lowering some of the ‌thresholds and procedural hurdles for ​unions.

Google has about 7,000 ​employees in the UK, including those at DeepMind.

Globally, big technology companies have been accused by workers' rights groups of discouraging ​unionisation through "union-busting" tactics, a ‌characterisation the firms reject, saying they favour direct dialogue with ​workers over formal collective bargaining.

(Reporting by Muvija M; Editing ​by Paul Sandle and Mark Porter)

byNeo

in

May 20, 2026

Google rejects UK union recognition but offers talks via conciliation body

LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) - Google < GOOGL.O> said it had rejected a request from two British unions for voluntary recognition but...

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