World News

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has told Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin that the war in Ukraine must end as it impacts millions, including the African continent. He made the remarks while meeting Putin in the Russian city of St. Petersburg over the weekend as battles still raged in Ukraine, some 16 months after Russia’s military invasion of the country began.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing as part of efforts to ease military and political tensions.

The secretary-general of the United Nations has unveiled a “Global Digital Compact” to police “hate and lies” about issues such as climate change.

Greek authorities said Thursday that more than 500 migrants, including many children, were believed to have died after their overloaded fishing boat capsized and sank off southern Greece.

Ukraine says it has regained control over vast swathes of territory in its counteroffensive against Russian forces. The announcement comes despite Moscow claiming Ukraine’s counterattack is faltering.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees announced in its Global Trends Report for 2022 that a record-breaking 110 million people around the world have now been displaced because of wars, persecution, or human rights violations, the Associated Press reports. The UNHCR report was published Wednesday.

Sweden is not yet able to join NATO as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Wednesday he is not satisfied the Swedish government has been too lenient in its dealing with the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), AP reports. Described by Erdogan as a terror group, the PKK has fought an insurgency in Turkey, and attempted a coup in 2016.

Following a similar decision by the United Kingdom earlier this year, the US has decided to send the Ukrainian military a shipment of depleted uranium munitions that are so dense they can penetrate Russia’s tank armor and give Ukraine a significant edge in fighting the Russian invasion, Insider reports. The Biden administration had delayed sending the ammunition as it weighed concerns about the environmental and health impact of depleted uranium.

England’s National Health Service (NHS) announced Friday that, following a review of its current gender incongruence services for children and young people, puberty blockers will no longer be routinely available to minors, but will only be dispensed as part of clinical research, BBC News reports.

Russian ambassador to Cairo Georgy Borisenko on Wednesday announced that Egypt has applied to join BRICS.

The US announced Friday that it will be providing a further $2.1 billion to Ukraine for long-term weapons in its fight against Russia’s invasion, the Associated Press reports. The US has supported Ukraine with extensive military aid and other forms of assistance but has repeatedly asserted it will not send American soldiers to fight this war.

Local Christians asked for prayers as coastal areas in India and Pakistan prepare for the arrival of Cyclone Biparjoy after an earthquake struck the region.

Authorities in Greece said Wednesday that at least 59 migrants drowned, and more were feared missing after their overloaded boat capsized and sank off Greece in the country’s deadliest shipwreck this year. More than 100 have been rescued, but search and recovery operations continued.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Friday that he will deploy short-range tactical nuclear weapons to neighboring ally Belarus next month, the Times of Israel (TOI) reports.

U.S. investigators suspect that COVID was the product of Chinese military bioweapon research, according to a new report.

While official talks on reviving the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Iran nuclear deal have apparently stalled, US and Iranian officials held indirect talks in Oman last month, Axios reports.

Kyiv said Tuesday that Russia had carried out a “massive missile attack” on several civilian buildings in the home city of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, killing at least ten people and injuring 28 others.

Suspected Islamic gunmen have abducted a Catholic priest in northwest Nigeria, his church said after several other abductions and deadly attacks.

Kyiv says Ukraine’s counter-offensive has already liberated four villages from Russian occupation, but the advance is overshadowed by devastating flooding in the southern Kherson region. Rescue and relocation efforts continue for civilians driven from their homes by the flooding from the breach of the Kakhovka dam last week.

Indicating the end of a 30-year trend toward reducing stockpiles of nuclear warheads, a new report shows that China took the lead among several countries which actively expanded their arsenals in the last year, the Times of Israel (TOI) reports.