HONG KONG/SHENZHEN, China, June 20 (Reuters) - Psst! Where can a Chinese buyer purchase top-end Nvidia (NVDA.O) AI chips in the wake of U.S. sanctions?

Visiting the famed Huaqiangbei electronics area in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen is a good bet - in particular, the SEG Plaza skyscraper whose first 10 floors are crammed with shops selling everything from camera parts to drones. The chips are not advertised but asking discreetly works.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom says there’s no chance “on God’s green earth” he’s running for president in 2024, but he wants to make clear that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running, is “weak” and “undisciplined” and “will be crushed by Donald Trump.”

DeSantis, meanwhile, likes to mock Newsom’s apparent “fixation” on Florida while insisting that the Democratic governor’s “leftist government” is destroying California.

CAIRO, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi met with visiting EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday, discussing bilateral relations and regional hotspot issues.

During their meeting, Sisi highlighted the diverse and longstanding ties between the two sides, and Egypt's willingness to continue cooperation with the bloc, according to an Egyptian presidency statement.

BRUSSELS, June 20. /TASS/: NATO’s Exercise Air Defender is sending a message that the alliance is ready to defend every inch of its territory, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on a visit to the exercise’s headquarters at Jagel Air Base in Germany on Tuesday.

"This is the biggest air exercise in NATO's history," he said in comments broadcast by the NATO press office. "This exercise sends a very clear message that NATO is ready to defend every inch of allied territory and to defend every inch of allied airspace."

BEIJING (AP) — The United States and China may be back to talking at a high level, but their battle for global power and influence remains unchecked and mutual suspicion still runs deep.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken set low goals for his visit to Beijing this week, and he met them. About the most the rivals can hope for these days is to stop things getting much worse.

Blinken pointed to difficult days ahead, while China’s foreign ministry warned the relationship was in a downward spiral.

JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Jun 20 (NNN-ANA) – Afghanistan has reported five polio cases, after a child under five years old was diagnosed with the crippling disease, in the country’s eastern Nangarhar province, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Afghanistan, said.

The case has been registered in Dur Baba district of Nangarhar province, Kamal Shah Sayed, head of the communications department of UNICEF Polio Eradication Programme in Afghanistan, told media.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia legislative primary season marked by hard-fought campaigns in both parties will come to a close Tuesday, as voters pick their party’s nominee for dozens of seats, including some swing districts that will help determine the balance of power in the General Assembly.

Both parties and both chambers have competitive contests on the ballot in the primary election. An unusually high number of sitting officeholders are also facing serious challenges in an election season upended by new political maps.

19 June 2023; MEMO: The Australian Labor Party passed a resolution yesterday, during the final day of the Victorian party conference, calling for the federal Australian government to recognise the state of Palestine.

"In re-affirming the resolution carried at the 2018 and 2021 national conferences, the Albanese government will join with 138 countries and the Vatican, which have already done so," the motion read.

KYIV, June 20 (Reuters) - Russia attacked military and infrastructure targets across Ukraine early on Tuesday, including in the capital Kyiv and the western city of Lviv, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukraine said it had shot down 32 of 35 Iranian-made Shahed drones launched from Russia's Bryansk region and the Azov Sea.

But a "critically important facility" was struck in Lviv, far from the front lines and around 70 km (43 miles) from the border with NATO member Poland, regional governor Maksym Kozytskiy said. He gave no other details of the facility.

MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/: Russian forces destroyed eight Ukrainian ammunition depots over the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Tuesday.

During the last 24-hour period, operational/tactical and army aircraft, missile troops and artillery of the Russian groupings of forces struck 98 Ukrainian artillery units at firing positions, manpower and military equipment in 112 areas, the spokesman said.

UNITED NATIONS, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The international community should focus on prevention as the most effective approach to ending the global menace of terrorism, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday.

"Prevention means more than just foiling attacks and disrupting plots," he told a UN high-level conference of heads of counter-terrorism agencies of member states.

DHAKA, Jun 20 (NNN-BSS) – Bangladesh has formally requested to join BRICS, an acronym of five major emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The request was put forward, following a meeting between Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, and South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, in Geneva last Wednesday, Bangladeshi newspaper, Dhaka Tribune, reported yesterday.

This year’s BRICS summit, scheduled to take place in South Africa in Aug, might include discussions about new membership, according to media.