Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that the stability and certainty of China-Russia relations are particularly “precious” in the face of an international landscape intertwined with change and chaos. During a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Beijing, Xi said the strong vitality and exemplary significance of the friendship treaty between the two countries stand out even more under such a backdrop. Xi said China and Russia need to use closer and stronger strategic collaboration to defend the legitimate interests of both nations and safeguard the unity of Global South countries, the state broadcaster CCTV reported. He also...
UN Nuclear Chief Urges Strict Iran Checks In Any Deal To End War
The head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said Wednesday that “very detailed” measures to verify Iran’s nuclear activities must be included in a potential U.S.-Iran agreement to end their war in the Middle East. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi stressed the need for the thorough verification regime for Iran’s nuclear program, as U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that a second round of talks with Iran could happen over the next two days. The Trump administration has said that preventing Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon is a key war aim. Iran has previously said it isn’t...
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy Pursues More Arms Deals With Allies To Help Check Russia’s Invasion
Ukraine’s top diplomatic priority is securing its allies’ help to buy and build more air defense systems, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday between meetings with European leaders, as Russia kept up its deadly attacks on civilians and public infrastructure. Russian strikes hit more than a half-dozen areas of Ukraine behind the front line from Tuesday to Wednesday, killing an 8-year-old boy in the central Cherkasy region and a woman who was in a kiosk near a bus stop that was hit in southern Zaporizhzhia, according to Zelenskyy and local officials. “Every day we need air defense missiles — every day...
Sudan Enters A Fourth Year Of War As Officials Lament An ‘Abandoned Crisis’
Famine. Massacres. And now badly needed food and other supplies are under strain. Sudan on Wednesday enters a fourth year of war that’s being called an “abandoned crisis,” as a new conflict in the Middle East throws into shadow the fighting that has forced 13 million people to flee their homes. The North African country has been described as the world’s largest humanitarian challenge, notably in terms of displacement and hunger. There is no end in sight to the fighting between the military and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, which witnesses and aid groups say has laid...
Sexual Abuse Allegations Are Spurring Calls For A Broader Reckoning In Congress
Resignations came quickly this week from two congressmen accused of sexual misconduct toward staff members. Yet for many of the women of Capitol Hill, the moment of accountability was years in the making — and far from enough. Reps. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, and Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, both announced within hours of each other Monday that they were leaving Congress. Their decisions came the day before the House returned to Washington and as both faced the prospect of being expelled from the chamber by their colleagues. It was a reckoning of sorts for Capitol Hill, the most...
Pileup Of About 70 Vehicles On Interstate 70 In Colorado Sends 8 To The Hospital
Crashes involving about 70 vehicles snarled a section of a snowy Colorado highway and sent eight people to the hospital. The pileup Tuesday prompted officials to close the eastbound side of Interstate 70 in Clear Creek County, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Denver, the Colorado State Patrol said in a statement. Officials evaluated 19 people for injuries and took eight of them to the hospital, including one person who had “sustained serious bodily injuries,” according to the state patrol. Images online show multiple semitrucks involved in the pileup, with debris lining the roadway, fronts of vehicles smashed and...
New Trial Over Diego Maradona’s Death Resumes In Argentina Against 7 Health Care Professionals
The trial of seven health care professionals accused of negligence in the death of soccer great Diego Maradona resumed on Tuesday, nearly a year after the original proceedings collapsed when a presiding judge stepped down after appearing in a documentary about the case. The negligence case centers on seven medical professionals accused of failing to provide adequate care in the weeks leading up to Maradona’s death five years ago at a home outside Buenos Aires. Maradona, widely regarded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time, died at age 60 from cardiac arrest while recovering from a procedure...
Afghan Migrants In Poland Fear Forced Deportations As Asylum Applications Remain Suspended
Afghan migrants in Poland face forced deportations and fear for their lives at the hands of the Taliban-run government back home, concerns that rights groups say have soared after Poland last year moved to partially suspend the right to seek asylum. Rights groups warn the measure, introduced in March 2025, is now being overused by authorities. It’s based on an amended Polish law that imposed temporary restrictions on the right to apply for international protection at the border with Belarus for those who crossed into the NATO and European Union member state illegally. “I tried more than a billion times...