resident Vladimir Putin said that his deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, something he confirmed for the first time had already happened, was a reminder to the West that it could not inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.

The United States has imposed visa restrictions on Uganda officials after the African nation passed an anti-LGBTQ law that was condemned by many countries and the United Nations, the U.S. State Department said.

U.S. rights groups plan protests next week against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Washington over what they call India’s deteriorating human rights record, even though experts do not expect Washington to be publicly critical of New Delhi.

Ukrainian forces are advancing in southern sectors of their counter-offensive against Russian occupation troops, Ukrainian military officials said.

An earthquake of magnitude 4.8 struck France, the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) said.

Pope Francis has ordered Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, the private secretary and long-time aide of the late Pope Benedict, to return to his native Germany by the end of the month without any new assignment, the Vatican said on Thursday.

Russia announced plans on Thursday to stage elections in occupied parts of Ukraine in just three months, Moscow’s latest bid to signal it is in control even as a Ukrainian counteroffensive has pushed its forces back in some areas.

At least 15 people were killed in the Canadian prairie province of Manitoba on Thursday after a semi-trailer truck hit a small bus that was carrying a group of mainly elderly people, local police said.

Strong winds, heavy rain and high tides lashed India’s Gujarat coast late on Thursday as cyclone Biparjoy made landfall after authorities there and in neighbouring Pakistan had evacuated more than 180,000 people to safety.

The conflict in Sudan hit the two-month mark on Thursday with no sign of a resolution as diplomatic peace efforts hit roadblocks and the risk of a broader ethnic war rises.

India’s outgoing wrestling chief has been charged in court after months of protests by the country’s top wrestlers who accuse him of sexual harassment.

Australia has blocked Russia from building a new embassy near its parliament, citing a spying risk.