World News

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine appeared close to escalating into a broader military conflict Tuesday after nearby Lithuania blocked shipments of Russian goods subject to European Union sanctions.

The Russian editor-in-chief of independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta has auctioned off his Nobel Peace Prize medal for $103.5 million to help Ukraine’s child refugees.

Less than two months after re-election, Emmanuel Macron lost control of the French National Assembly in a political earthquake that showed a strong performance by a left alliance and the far right. The outcome underscored concerns within churches about growing social divisions in the country.

China launched its first supercarrier in a short and festive June 17 ceremony at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, marking a significant milestone in the growth of its naval power. The carrier was supposed to be launched on April 23 but delays in deliveries of critical components and workforce COVID-19 quarantines hindered progress.

A Japanese court ruled on Monday that a ban on same-sex marriage was not unconstitutional, dealing a setback to LGBTQ rights activists in the only Group of Seven nation that does not allow people of the same gender to marry.

Former guerrilla militant Gustavo Petro won Colombia’s runoff election on Sunday, becoming the country’s first leftist president with 50.47% of the vote.

Hungary’s recently elected President Katalin Novák has vowed to protect an amendment of the constitution that defines the family “as the union of a man and woman” with children.

Hungary has blocked the introduction of U.S. President Joe Biden’s proposed global minimum corporate of 15 percent in the European Union. The EU member state says the Biden tax would undermine its competitive edge in the region as Hungary has the bloc’s lowest corporate tax rate of just 9 percent.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made a second surprise visit to Kyiv, where he offered to launch a significant training operation for thousands of Ukrainian troops.

The prime minister of the Netherlands has apologized to soldiers who were sent as United Nations peacekeepers to defend the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica with what he believes was insufficient firepower and manpower to keep the peace. Mark Rutte made the remarks 27 years after thousands of Muslim men and boys were killed in Europe’s worst single atrocity since World War Two, a tragedy condemned by the Vatican.

Ukraine’s war-time President Volodymyr Zelensky has visited his nation’s southern city of Mykolaiv as concerns rise that his forces may suffer from fatigue while they lose territories due to the ongoing Russian invasion.

The Chinese parent company of TikTok had access to American users’ data for months even while U.S. employees did not have access themselves, according to leaked audio.

The worst drought in 40 years is combining with the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The war there may be thousands of miles away but it’s pushing up the prices of grain and fuel to unprecedented levels.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s party managed to shore up enough seats to form an official parliamentary group for the first time since 1986 in Sunday’s runoff parliamentary elections.

Britain’s government ordered WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition to the United States to face espionage and hacking charges, but his site said it would appeal.

Israeli and American intelligence officials have been watching each day as Iran digs a vast tunnel network just south of the Natanz nuclear production site, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

The leaders of the European Union’s three largest economies, Germany, France, and Italy, pledged Thursday to back Ukraine’s “immediate” candidacy to join the 27-member nation European Union.

Brazilian police say an illegal fisherman has confessed to killing British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira in the remote Amazon, where they investigated abuses and crime.

Iceland is the most peaceful country in the world, followed by New Zealand and Ireland, according to the latest Global Peace Index (GPI).

Chinese President Xi Jinping assured his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of Beijing’s support for Russia, which is invading Ukraine, prompting an angry response from Washington.