The Russian parliament passed a bill on Wednesday to scrap the upper age limit for those who want to serve in the army under a contract.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that he doesn't expect that the West will decide to unblock the Black Sea by force, the Ukrinform news agency reported Wednesday.

Financial stability conditions in the eurozone have worsened as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine pushes prices higher and increases risks to inflation and economic growth, the European Central Bank (ECB) said on Wednesday.

Russian passports have been distributed in the city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine that had been taken under control by Russian forces earlier this month, Petro Andryushchenko, an advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, said on Wednesday.

Right after seeing off US President Joe Biden who was visiting Tokyo for the second in-person Quad summit in Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida prepared to meet a different group of leaders including Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Malaysia Prime Minister Sabri Yaakob.

The deadly shooting at an elementary school in Texas on Tuesday which killed 21 people has shocked not only the US but also the world. It was the deadliest shooting at a US grade school since the attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 and it came just 10 days after the mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, that claimed 10 lives.

Anti-sanctions lobby group Broad Alliance Against Sanctions (BAAS) on Tuesday handed over letters to the American Embassy in Zimbabwe inviting African-American congressional members to visit the country and witness the negative impact of US imposed sanctions.

Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Tuesday he will present an interim budget within six weeks, slashing infrastructure projects to re-route funds into a two-year relief program for the crisis-hit island nation.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban declared a state of emergency immediately after his new government was sworn in on Tuesday. The special legal order takes effect at 12 midnight on Tuesday.

The UN Security Council on Tuesday expressed deep concern about the increasing erosion of respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls in Afghanistan by the Taliban.

The outbreak of monkeypox cases outside of Africa can be contained, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, as more governments said they would launch limited vaccinations to combat rising infections of the virus.

Egypt will position itself as an impartial arbiter while hosting 2022's COP27 UN climate summit, as it pushes other nations to act on climate pledges while promoting the interests of the developing world, a senior Egyptian official said in a statement.

Coronavirus survivors have twice the risk of developing dangerous blood clots that travel to their lungs compared to people who weren't infected, as well double the chance of respiratory symptoms, a new study said Tuesday.

After the shooting case at the elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, two Republican senators from Texas and long-time anti-China politicians, once again fell into the whirlpool of public opinion and became the object of many people's criticism.

Russia has imposed personal sanctions against 154 members of the British House of Lords in a retaliatory move, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

A gunman walked into an elementary school in Uvalde in U.S. state of Texas on Tuesday afternoon and killed at least 18 children and three adults, local officials said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has once again dodged an invitation by US President Joe Biden to openly criticize Russia at their bilateral meeting shortly after the summit of the four-nation Quad in Tokyo on Tuesday.

The number of births in the US rose slightly in 2021, the first increase in seven years, according to preliminary data published by authorities Tuesday.

New photographs of Prime Minister Boris Johnson drinking at a leaving party at his Downing Street residence have been published, reigniting opposition accusations that he breached his own COVID-19 lockdown rules.

The World Health Organization does not have evidence that the monkeypox virus has mutated, a senior executive at the UN agency said on Monday, noting the infectious disease that has been endemic in west and central Africa has tended not to change.

Rich countries are creating unsafe living conditions for children both at home and around the world, a UNICEF report released Tuesday said, calling on states to reduce waste and cut pollution.

Sales of electric cars accelerated in 2021 but the availability of critical raw materials such as lithium risked slowing the sector's growth, a report warned Monday.

Iraq closed public buildings and temporarily shut airports Monday as another sandstorm – the ninth since mid-April – hit the country.

Like many teenagers in foster care, Korah Loyd dreaded her 18th birthday – a milestone that leaves thousands of vulnerable young people facing homelessness and an uncertain future in the US each year.

Indigenous Australians are “almost entirely absent” from corporate executive roles, a report has found.

Thirty years after being killed by the Sicilian mafia, iconic anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino were honored with a variety of initiatives across Italy on Monday.

The UK's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 showed “systemic failures of leadership, planning and preparation,” according to a scathing inquiry by MPs published on Tuesday.

The Russian economy is withstanding the blow of Western sanctions "quite well" despite all the difficulties, as was evidenced by all the key macroeconomic indicators, President Vladimir Putin said Monday.

Monkeypox has caught the attention of US President Joe Biden, who said Sunday that people should be on guard against the disease which has the potential for “consequential” impact, if it were to spread further.

A shortage of medicine caused by an economic crisis in Sri Lanka could soon cause deaths, doctors said, as hospitals are forced to postpone life-saving procedures for their patients because they do not have the necessary drugs.

The 75th World Health Assembly (WHA) kicked off in Geneva, Switzerland, on Sunday to focus on major issues including the response to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and the global health for peace initiative.

The US State Department's decision to remove the Israeli extremist “Kach” movement from the list of foreign terrorist organizations has sparked condemnation and outrage among the Palestinians.

The leaders of arch-foes Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed in a Brussels meeting Sunday to “advance discussions” on a peace treaty over a troubled region that saw a war break out in 2020, the European Council's president said.

Britain has insisted it is up to the European Union to unblock political paralysis in Northern Ireland, after assuring a delegation from the US Congress of its “cast-iron” commitment to peace in the province.

As the scorching sun beat down on his fruit cart, Mohammad Ikrar dreaded another day of tossing out dozens of rotting mangoes and melons – a regular practice now as India grapples with an unprecedented heat wave.

As the global community marked the International Day for Biological Diversity on Sunday, Ethiopia sought to accelerate its sustainable biodiversity conservation endeavors.

Heavy rains lashed South Africa, forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes on the east coast, officials said on Sunday, only a month after the worst floods in living memory killed more than 400.

At least seven people were killed and scores plucked to safety in the Philippines Monday after a fire ripped through a ferry and forced passengers to jump overboard, the coast guard and witnesses said.

An American writer who penned a piece called How To Murder Your Husband is on trial for murdering her husband.

US President Joe Biden arrived in Japan on Sunday, his first visit to the country since taking office, and the second leg of his Asia tour where he is expected to meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and attend the summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, known as the Quad. Biden was greeted by a heated demonstration in Tokyo's bustling area of Shinjuku, where anti-war groups protested against the Quad clique and the meeting of the two heads of state.

At the US-ASEAN Summit held earlier this month, US President Joe Biden promised to enhance security cooperation with Southeast Asian countries with an obvious intent to actively rope in ASEAN member states into the malicious US strategy of containing China.

The presidents of Serbia and Hungary Aleksandar Vucic and Viktor Orban warned on Saturday the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on regional and global food security at the opening of the 89th International Agricultural fair in Novi Sad, a city in northern Serbia.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Swedish and Finnish leaders in separate phone calls Saturday to abandon financial and political support for “terrorist” groups threatening Turkey's national security.

US attempts to solicit support from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are being hampered by the limited scope of Washington's engagement and a lack of meaningful alternatives, a Malaysian political analyst said.

In Cairo's busy streets, towering palms, purple-blossomed jacarandas and mature sycamore trees provide precious respite from the midday sun and a glimpse of green in the tangle of concrete and cars.

The 130th birthday of Yugoslavia leader Josip Broz Tito was celebrated at his hometown here in Croatia on Saturday, as thousands of people from across Croatia as well as Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and other former Yugoslavian states arrived here for this gathering.

An enraged mob went on a rampage in the northern Nigerian state of Bauchi over alleged blasphemy by a Christian resident, the third such incident in days in the predominantly Muslim part of the country, police said Saturday.

Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian teenage militant when clashes broke out during a Saturday raid in the flashpoint Jenin area of the occupied West Bank, Palestinian sources and the army said.

Drivers sleep at a bus station in Lahore, Pakistan on May 22, 2022. Since April, an unpredictable heat wave has hit South Asian nations that have seen temperatures reach up to 50 C.

The US will increase aid to Latin America to combat HIV/AIDS, First Lady Jill Biden said on Saturday during a visit to Panama.

Scientists at the National Autonomous University of Mexico have developed a new technique that can clean up oil as well as radioactive substances, fertilizers, drugs, and other pollutants dumped in the ocean.

Heavy rains have caused widespread flooding in parts of Bangladesh and India, leaving millions stranded and at least 57 dead, officials said Saturday.

France's former foreign affairs minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said he's pleased that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison lost Saturday's election, showing lingering bad blood following the controversial termination of a $90 billion submarine contract.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday unveiled a long list of 963 US citizens who are permanently barred from entering Russia, including previously named US President Joe Biden.

Russian energy giant Gazprom confirmed a complete suspension of gas supply to the Finland's state-owned gas company Gasum starting Saturday due to its non-payment in rubles.

Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly announced on Friday a ban on the export of targeted luxury goods to Russia as well as a ban on the import of targeted luxury goods from Russia.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Friday that Russia would create 12 new military units in its Western Military District in response to increased military activity of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the potential accession of Finland and Sweden.

Russian forces have "completely liberated" the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday.

The work on clearing the territory of Ukraine from the landmines scattered during the conflict with Russia would take between five and seven years, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported Friday, citing a senior Ukrainian official.

Ukraine has received the second tranche of 600 million euros (634 million U.S. dollars) of the European Union's (EU's) emergency macro-financial assistance program, the Ukrainian Finance Ministry said Friday.

Russia's Pacific Fleet will receive two nuclear submarines and one diesel-electric submarine in 2022, Fleet Commander Admiral Sergei Avakyants said Friday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for efforts to reintegrate the agricultural production of both Russia and Ukraine into world markets.

Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov and U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley held a phone call on Thursday to discuss issues of mutual interest, including the situation in Ukraine.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday confirmed she is pushing for the Biden administration to roll back some China tariffs in her at least fifth public appeal against additional tariffs on Chinese goods since the former Federal Reserve chair was sworn in as the first woman to head the US Treasury.

Health authorities in North America and Europe have detected dozens of suspected or confirmed cases of monkeypox since early May, sparking concern the disease endemic in parts of Africa is spreading.

Several southern French towns sizzled in record high temperatures for May on Wednesday, while the month as whole is on track to be the hottest since records began, the national weather service said.

Only two of the world's 12 top automakers plan to make enough electric vehicles by 2030 to stay in step with Paris Agreement climate goals, experts said Wednesday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Wednesday for concerted and quick action to combat the current surge in global food insecurity.

Thousands of Jewish faithful converged on Israel's Mount Meron on Wednesday for an annual pilgrimage, amid tightened safety measures a year after 45 people were crushed to death in a stampede.

Australia's political leaders raced to get their message out to undecided voters in marginal seats on Thursday, two days before a general election, with economic problems dominating the last stretch of a tough campaign.

An independent United Nations expert said Wednesday that the impact of sanctions imposed by the US on Iran was “devastating,” describing them as illegal and urging they be lifted.

COVID-19 is on the rise again in the Americas as many countries have abandoned measures like masking and social distancing and many lag in vaccination rates, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday Sweden should not expect Turkey to approve its NATO bid without returning “terrorists,” and Swedish and Finnish delegations should not come to Turkey to convince it to back their membership in the alliance.

“It was war and we all felt called up. No one could afford to look away any longer,” says Marzia Sabella, remembering the assassination of anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone 30 years ago.

The United States reopened its embassy in Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday, three months after it ceased operation in anticipation that Russia would launch a military operation in the country.

In the past few decades, "neo-Nazism" deeply entangled with populism and racism, has been growing across Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, under the protection of so-called freedom, democracy and human rights of the West, becoming the poison of society and causing violence, hatred and turmoil.

The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev received Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Zhang Ming, who visited Uzbekistan.

Lawmakers in Mexico's southwestern state of Guerrero voted on Tuesday to allow abortions, making it the ninth of the country's 32 federal entities where women can legally end pregnancies amid a recent wave of loosening restrictions around the procedure.

Hundreds of people gathered in front of the British Home Office on Tuesday to protest against the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the US, denouncing it as politically motivated and a grave threat to freedom of press.

Previously unknown species of dolphin swam the oceans 20 million years ago, including in waters that covered Switzerland, today a land-locked country at the heart of Europe, researchers said Tuesday.

After some four years probing Mars' interior, NASA's InSight lander will likely retire in the summer of 2022 as accumulated dust on its solar panels saps its power.

Pollution caused some 9 million people to die prematurely in 2019, according to a new global report published Wednesday, with experts raising alarm over increasing deaths from breathing outside air and the “horrifying” toll of lead poisoning.

Pratibha Kumbhar, a 35-year-old mother of two, is making up for lost time.

The US is easing some of its tough sanctions on Venezuela to encourage dialogue between President Nicolas Maduro's regime and its opponents, a senior official said Tuesday.

Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) granted an initial approval on Wednesday for a Tokyo Electric Power's plan for releasing water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant into sea, citing there are no safety issues.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday called on the international community to rescue the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and make it a top priority.

​A gang of thieves have returned more than a dozen idols they stole from an ancient Hindu temple in India, saying they had been haunted by nightmares ever since the crime, according to police.

Less than three weeks before the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, it is unclear whether some major Latin American heads, including the presidents of Mexico and Brazil, will show up, creating yet another PR debacle for President Joe Biden.

Ukraine will not exchange its territories for a peace deal with Russia, the government-run Ukrinform news agency reported on Tuesday, citing Mykhailo Podolyak, a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the peace talks with Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday held separate phone talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron.

The evacuation of Ukrainian troops from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol was the only possible formula for their rescue, Ukraine's government-run Ukrinform news agency reported Tuesday, citing Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar.

Russian and Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday that negotiations on a solution to the current crisis have been suspended as the process is mired in stalemate.

Australia's ruling coalition on Tuesday pledged to fund A$2.3 billion ($1.6 billion) worth of its election promises by curbing public sector spending over the next four years, which it said would also further reduce the budget deficit.

An election in crisis-hit Lebanon appears to have dealt a setback to the biggest bloc, led by the Iran-backed Shiite Muslim Hezbollah party, and boosted reformists, provisional results showed Monday.

Britain will detail Tuesday how it plans to overhaul post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland which have sparked a political crisis in the province, amid fears it is risking a UK-EU trade war.

A woman is seen holding her child walking in an air-polluted area as smoke rises from a re-rolling mill in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on May 16, 2022. Based on a recent study published in Science Advances in April 2022, air pollution responsible for 24,000 premature deaths in Dhaka from 2005 to 2018, according to local news.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday confirmed Turkey's opposition to NATO membership for Finland and Sweden, again accusing them of failing to take a clear stance against terrorism

Wheat prices surged to a new record high in European trading on Monday after India decided to ban exports of the commodity as a heat wave hit production.

The US on Monday announced a series of steps to revise its policy toward Cuba, including easing some Trump-era restrictions on family remittances and travel to the island and sharply increasing the processing of US visas for Cubans.

Soldiers stand guard near the parliament building in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on May 17, 2022. The country has seen violent scenes targeting prominent political figures over past several days as it faces its worst economic crisis in over 70 years.