World News

In a sign of what his critics view as weak leadership, U.S. President Joe Biden could not get key Middle East leaders on the phone to talk about rising oil prices, several sources confirm.

Russia said Wednesday it is in complete control of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, but concerns remained about the future operations of Europe’s largest nuclear facility.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky gave mixed messages Tuesday, telling British legislators his nation would fight against Russia after admitting he no longer seeks membership of the NATO military alliance.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has spoken with the Vatican on ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vatican and Russian sources say.

China is engaged in a massive nuclear weapons buildup that includes hundreds of new strategic missiles, and Chinese President Xi Jinping is preparing the military to retake Taiwan, the nation’s most senior intelligence official told Congress on Tuesday.

The Pentagon on Tuesday rejected Poland‘s offer to give the United States its MiG-29 fighter jets for use by Ukraine, in a rare public display of disharmony by NATO allies seeking to boost Ukrainian fighters while avoiding getting caught up in a wider war with Russia.

The United States is “quite concerned” that invading Russian forces are attempting to obtain biological materials from Ukrainian research facilities, Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said on Tuesday during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace says Russia is getting “desperate” as its forces take heavy casualties in Ukraine, including generals and other senior officers.

Iran’s top diplomat at months-long talks aimed at restoring its tattered nuclear deal with world powers flew home late Monday for a sudden trip, a sign of the growing pressure on Tehran as the negotiations appear to be nearing their end.

The European Union agreed to start examining the membership bids of Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova on Monday as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine stretched into its 12th day.

Russia shattered ceasefire talks as it prepared for a massive assault on Kyiv, the capital, and continued shelling several cities, Ukrainian officials, and witnesses said.

Russia said Monday it would halt fire to allow civilians in the capital Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities to escape after being accused of shelling civilian targets in deadly attacks.

The United Nations says more than 1.5 million people have now fled Ukraine into neighboring countries as the country faces mounting attacks by some 200,000 Russian troops. The refugee crisis comes as Russian forces respond to Ukraine’s resistance by targeting “populated areas” in several cities, witnesses say.

Hungary’s government which maintains close ties with Moscow, has admitted it taunted European Union sanctions by allowing a Russian aircraft to land in Budapest for “humanitarian reasons.”

Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Saturday agreed to a three-month process that the watchdog hopes will resolve the long-stalled issue of Iran obfuscating its independent safeguard probes, after uranium particles were found several years ago at apparently old but undeclared sites in the country.

Russian police arrested over 3,000 people protesting against the country’s war with Ukraine on Sunday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that NATO member countries have a “green light” to send fighter jets as military aid to Ukraine.

As Russia works to counteract, and retaliate against, the effect of Western sanctions, President Vladimir Putin has compared the punitive measures imposed by the U.S. and its allies over his invasion of Ukraine to a “declaration of war.”

After Visa and Mastercard announced that their operations in Russia would be suspended, many Russian banks announced on Sunday that they would soon begin issuing cards using the Chinese UnionPay card operator’s system combined with Russia’s own Mir network. Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, as well as Alfa Bank and Tinkoff, all announced the transfer to UnionPay on Sunday.

Ukraine says Russian forces have seized Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, and there is concern about the use of cluster bombs in the ongoing Russian invasion. With the offensive escalating, many people flee the war-torn nation, including to the Hungarian- Ukrainian border.