Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wanted to build a “reliable security architecture” in the Asia-Pacific region during a state visit to Vietnam, part of a trip to Asia seen as show of defiance to the West.

The Canadian Atlantic province of Newfoundland and Labrador imposed a partial fire ban after an out-of-control blaze forced the evacuation of a town close to a huge underground power plant.

Deadly heatwaves are scorching cities on four continents as the Northern Hemisphere marks the first day of summer.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia might supply weapons to North Korea in what he suggested would be a mirror response to the Western arming of Ukraine.

Urgent action must be taken in the Red Sea to stop attacks on merchant shipping by Yemen’s Houthis, leading industry groups said, after the sinking of a second ship.

The U.S. military’s on-again, off-again floating pier in Gaza is expected to resume operations to unload sorely needed humanitarian aid for Palestinians, two U.S. officials told Reuters.

Vladimir Putin, on his first visit to North Korea in 24 years, signed a mutual defence pledge with Kim Jong Un.

Global fossil fuel consumption and energy emissions hit all-time highs in 2023, even as fossil fuels’ share of the global energy mix decreased slightly on the year, the industry’s Statistical Review of World Energy report said.

Three opinion polls predicted a record defeat for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives at a July 4 election.

President Emmanuel Macron asked schools to hold a “discussion hour” on racism and antisemitism this week, after the rape of a Jewish girl in a Paris suburb added to France’s charged social climate ahead of elections.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin praised Vietnam for its “balanced” stance on the Ukraine war and listed progress on payments, energy and trade in an opinion piece published on Wednesday in the newspaper of Vietnam’s Communist Party.

At least one person died due to the wildfires in New Mexico which have also led to the evacuation of thousands of people and damaged hundreds of structures, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office said on Wednesday.