KIEV, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine on Saturday denounced the plans of five EU countries to extend Ukrainian grain import ban, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website.

Those countries, including Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, have sought to extend the import ban on Ukrainian grain, so as to protect their own agricultural sector.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces struck a cafe in a key front-line area in northeastern Ukraine Saturday, killing two civilians and wounding a third, regional officials said.

The shelling near the city of Kupiansk came as U.K. officials said that Russia may try to retake the area, which was captured by Kyiv in a lightning counteroffensive last September after more than six months of Russian occupation. Fierce fighting there earlier this month prompted mandatory evacuations and fears of a second Russian takeover.

Aug 26 (Reuters) - Ukraine's GUR military intelligence agency said on Friday a Ukrainian drone attack had hit a Russian military base deep inside annexed Crimea, while residents reported casualties, explosions and a road closure.

Early on Friday, Russia reported one of the biggest coordinated Ukrainian air raids yet over Russian-controlled territory but said air defence systems had downed all 42 drones attacking Crimea before they could hit their targets.

ABUJA, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Friday said it is working toward an amicable solution to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger.

Omar Alieu Touray, president of the ECOWAS Commission, said during a press conference in the Nigerian capital of Abuja that the regional bloc would maintain its interest in the economic prosperity and social welfare of the citizens of the landlocked West African country.

Canada (AP) — Wildfires forced Amanda Dengler to flee her home in Canada’s Northwest Territories three times in the past 18 months, and each time her cats have evaded her attempts to bring them along.

The latest time, Dengler had to stay away longer than expected, and joined the many residents who have turned to networks of volunteers who are rescuing animals from communities threatened by Canada’s record year of wildfires.

Dengler said she tried to catch her three cats on Aug. 13, when she left her home in the town of Hay River because of a nearby wildfire.

WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Donald Trump leads Ron DeSantis by nearly 40 percentage points in the race for the Republican presidential nomination even after declining to debate the Florida governor and other rivals, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Friday.

The survey found that half of Republican respondents who followed the party's first debate on Wednesday were more open to DeSantis' bid - good news for a campaign banking on the event boosting his profile after a summer slide in opinion polls.

IWAKI, Japan (AP) — Fish auction prices at a port south of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were mixed amid uncertainty over how seafood consumers will respond to the release of treated and diluted radioactive wastewater into the ocean.

The plant, which was damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, began sending the treated water into the Pacific on Thursday despite protests at home and in nearby countries that are adding political and diplomatic pressures to the economic worries.

KIEV, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Three pilots were killed after two L-39 military trainer jets collided in the sky over Ukraine's northern Zhytomyr region, the country's Air Force said Saturday in a statement on Telegram.

The crash took place on Friday, when two aircraft were performing a combat task, the statement said.

The regional prosecutor's office launched criminal proceedings into the crash on charges of violation of flight rules, said the Prosecutor General's Office.

An investigation into the collision is underway.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans on Friday chose Houston to host their 2028 national convention, hoping to cement support in Texas even as Democrats are betting that a booming Hispanic population and other key demographic shifts could eventually turn the country’s largest reliably red state blue.

“I am excited to announce Houston as the host city for the 2028 Republican National Convention,” Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said in a statement. She applauded the committee’s “smart business decision” last spring to allow for selecting the site “earlier than ever.”

PELLA, Iowa (AP) — Vivek Ramaswamy has charged back into Iowa, stoking curiosity and skepticism after his attention-grabbing performance in the first Republican presidential debate.

The charismatic 38-year-old businessman was met Friday by hundreds of GOP activists in small central cities near Des Moines, with more events planned in the coming days.

Aug 25 (Reuters) - Wildfires in Canada's Northwest Territories on Friday forced the evacuation of the entire town of Hay River, a community of about 4,000 people on the Great Slave Lake, authorities said.

The government of the Northwest Territories ordered everyone in town, including essential workers, to go to the Hay River Merlyn Carter Airport and await further instructions.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — One of the features that President Joe Biden cited in his plan to bring internet to every home and business in the United States by 2030 was affordability. But an important federal program established to keep broadband costs down for low-income households is set to expire next year.