LONDON (AP) — Concerns are growing that Russia will not extend a United Nations-brokered deal that allows grain to flow from Ukraine to parts of the world struggling with hunger, with ships no longer heading to the war-torn country’s Black Sea ports and food exports dwindling. Turkey and the UN negotiated the breakthrough accord last summer to ease a global food crisis, along with a separate agreement with Russia to facilitate shipments of its food and fertilizer. Moscow insists it’s still facing hurdles, though data shows it has been exporting record amounts of wheat.

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BEIJING (Reuters) - A private Chinese company launched into orbit on Wednesday the world’s first methane-liquid oxygen rocket, beating U.S. rivals in sending what could become the next generation of launch vehicles into space. The Zhuque-2 carrier rocket blasted off at 9 a.m. (0100 GMT) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China and completed its flight according to plan, state media reported. It was the second attempt by Beijing-based LandSpace, one of the earliest firms in China’s commercial launch sector, to launch the Zhuque-2. A first attempt in December failed.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden’s public approval rating held steady at 40% in early July, close to the lowest levels of his presidency, as economic worries continued to trouble Americans, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll this week. The three-day online poll, which asked Americans, “Do you approve or disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling his job as president?” and ended on Monday, showed a marginal decrease from his 41% approval rating a month earlier, within the survey’s three percentage point margin of error. The largest number of respondents -- 21% -- cited the economy as their top concern, following by 15% who cited crime or corruption. The White House in recent weeks has kicked off a series of events aimed to lift Americans’ dour mood about the economy, touting what it calls the Democratic president’s “Bidenomics” agenda.

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NEW YORK (AFP) – Black women throughout the Americas -- and in particular the United States -- face health care mistreatment due to “systemic racism,” leading to high death rates during childbirth, the United Nations warned Wednesday. Maternal mortality among women of African origin is “alarmingly high,” both in absolute terms and when compared to non-Black and non-Indigenous women in the region, according to a damning new report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) reviewing nine countries in the Americas. The study drew on data from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Panama, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States and Uruguay.

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NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India’s capital New Delhi on Wednesday began evacuating hundreds of residents over the risk of flooding as record rainfall has swelled water levels in a river that runs through the city, its chief minister said. The Yamuna River has already risen above the “danger mark” and submerged a few adjoining areas in the capital of 20 million people, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, adding that the water levels had surged to a 45-year high. On Wednesday, people living in makeshift houses next to the river put their belongings on bikes and tractors and moved to some of the 2,500 relief camps set up in the city.