World News

Russia and China are set to sign a set of bilateral agreements on Wednesday during the Russian prime minister’s trip to Beijing as the two giant neighbors pledge closer cooperation even as the West remains critical of their ties amid the war in Ukraine.

The US Pacific territory of Guam was hit on Wednesday with Super Typhoon Mawar, the strongest storm to impact the area in decades, the Associated Press reports. US President Joe Biden has approved an emergency declaration that will mobilize aid to the territory.

A Russian court has extended until August 30 the detention of Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich on spying charges he denies.

There were concerns Tuesday about the whereabouts of a Catholic priest who was kidnapped in Nigeria‘s southeastern Imo State, several sources confirmed.

An Iranian official said on Tuesday that an attack on nuclear facilities would mean a widespread war that Israel would bear responsibility for. Speaking to the Qatari-based Al Jazeera network the official said Israeli threats would not change the course of things.

Moscow said Tuesday it had pushed back armed insurgents who crossed the border from Ukraine to launch attacks in Russia’s Belgorod region in the deadliest cross-border confrontation since the war began 15 months ago.

In an extremely rare joint move, the respective chiefs of the US, British and French navies transited through the Strait of Hormuz aboard the USS Paul Hamilton American warship on Friday in a signal to Iran to cease attacking foreign ships passing through this waterway, the Associated Press reports. A strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, the Hormuz is one of the world’s most strategically critical waterways.

A leading Belarusian opposition activist who was detained after his Ryanair flight was forced to land in the capital Minsk says he has been pardoned following mounting Western pressure.

A tense calm has returned to Moldova’s capital Chisinau, after a massive pro-European Union rally here over fears that Russia may invade the country after a similar move in nearby Ukraine.

The United Nations on Friday issued an urgent call to member states to step up out of their inertia and take immediate action against outbreaks of cholera that are putting 1 billion poor people in over 40 countries at risk of being killed by the deadly disease, i24News reports.

Ukraine’s war rapidly escalated and expanded into neighboring Russia on Monday as Kyiv and Moscow confirmed cross-border clashes which injured and perhaps killed several people.

Orcas have attacked and sunk a third boat off the Iberian coast of Europe, and experts now believe the behavior is being copied by the rest of the population.

Early COVID-19 vaccine patents filed by Chinese scientists and patents meant to prevent the escape of pathogens from labs is the latest evidence to emerge suggesting that the coronavirus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology as early as August 2019.

Iran is building a new nuclear site so deep underground it will likely be beyond the scope of destruction by Western powers, the Associated Press reports. The new site is being built five years after the US unilaterally pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Iran deal; international talks on reviving the deal have so far failed.

Ukraine’s President Zelensky says Russia does not occupy the embattled city of Bakhmut after Moscow claimed victory. Zelensky spoke at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Japan, where the United States and other countries offered massive military support.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Arab leaders of ignoring the horrors of Russia’s invasion of his nation and urged them to help him end the war.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s New Democracy party did not win enough votes to form a one-party government. But he appeared to rule out talks to form a coalition, setting the stage for a second vote in weeks.

Sudan’s army on Sunday was resisting attempts by paramilitaries to advance towards its main airbase near Sudan’s capital, residents said.

Russia has warned the West of “colossal risks” if it supplies Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets. The warning came after the United States announced it would allies to deliver the military planes to Ukraine, which is preparing a counter-offensive against the ongoing Russian invasion of the country. The announcement came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was welcomed Saturday at the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan.

The Group of Seven (G7) of the world’s leading economies gathered Friday in Japan’s city of Hiroshima, nearly wiped off the map by the world’s first atomic bomb in World War Two.