VEREBIEJAI, Lithuania (AP) — Mustafa Hussein Hamad kicked a dirty ball between two old tires in the schoolyard where he spends most of his time. He and dozens of other migrants are fenced in at an old school after walking at night through the thick woods into Lithuania from neighboring Belarus.

”I paid 1,400 bucks after a friend pointed out this new way to Europe,” said the 20-year-old from Baghdad as he waited at the shabby two-story school housing 160 people. Recounting his journey from Iraq for a better life in the European Union, he added: ”They said it is a nice shortcut by plane to Minsk.”

Migrants rest at the refugee camp in Druskininkai, some 145km (99,1 miles) south from Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday, July 13, 2021. Lithuania has struggled with a flow of migrants from the Middle East and Africa — a huge influx that officials in the tiny Baltic country say was organized by Belarusian authorities as part of a ”hybrid war” against the European Union. Photo: Mindaugas Kulbis/AP

”The organized mass immigration is revenge.”

Lithuania struggles with migrant flood opened by Belarus

CHICAGO (AP) — United Airlines says it is investing in a startup that is trying to build electric-powered aircraft and might buy 100 of the small planes.

The airline declined Tuesday to say how much money it will put into Sweden-based Heart Aerospace.

A United Airlines jetliner lifts off from a runway at Denver International Airport, Wednesday, June 10, 2020, in Denver. On Monday, April 19, 2021, United Airlines said it is still losing money, and it’s waiting for a turnaround in lucrative business and international travel to get it back to profitability. Photo: David Zalubowski/AP

Swedish startup Heart Aerospace offers 19-seat planes.

United says it’s investing in Swedish electric-plane firm

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has described Russians and Ukrainians as “one people” and argued that Ukraine can only be stable and successful if it maintains friendly ties with Russia.

He also charged in an article published on Monday that Ukraine has no intention of honoring a 2015 peace deal to end a conflict with Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east.

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during their meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, July 13, 2021. Putin has hosted the leader of Belarus, who has increasingly relied on Moscow’s support amid increasing tensions with the West. Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko thanked Putin for a ”very serious support from Russia” and pledged that his country will duly repay its loans. Photo: Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo/AP

Relations tensing between Russia and the rest of the world over Ukraine.

Kremlin mum on next moves after Putin article about Ukraine

At a press briefing, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world’s grotesque vaccine disparity was driven by “greed,” as he called on drugmakers to prioritize supplying their COVID-19 vaccines to poor countries instead of lobbying rich countries to use even more doses. His plea comes just as pharmaceutical companies are seeking authorization for third doses to be used as boosters in some Western countries, including the U.S.

In this Sunday, July 11, 2021 file photo, a doctor fills a syringe with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Kabul, Afghanistan. Top officials at the World Health Organization said Monday, July 12 there is not enough evidence to show that third doses of coronavirus vaccines are needed and appealed for the scarce shots to be shared with poor countries who have yet to immunize their populations instead of being used by rich countries as boosters. Photo: Rahmat Gul/AP

WHO dispute effect of third doses as boosters.