Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he was ready to compromise over Ukraine in possible talks with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on ending the war and had no conditions for starting talks with the Ukrainian authorities.

The Sunshine State is not getting any sunnier, with more heavy showers and flooding on the horizon.

Australian rescue and medical teams have reached Vanuatu, authorities said, where at least 14 people including one French and two Chinese nationals were killed and hundreds were injured in a 7.3 magnitude earthquake two days ago.

A man who attempted to dissolve his pregnant wife’s body in a chemical-filled bath killed her out of anger because she might leave him, a court has been told.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided on Wednesday to hear a bid by TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, to block a law intended to force the sale of the short-video app by Jan. 19 or face a ban on national security grounds.

Vanuatu has experienced 30 magnitude 7-plus earthquakes in the last 25 years, says regional earthquake and GNS seismologist, Dr. John Ristau.

The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly for an $895 billion bill setting policy for the Pentagon on Wednesday, despite the inclusion of a controversial provision on transgender medical care for minors.

The U.S. Congress is set to vote in the coming days on legislation restricting U.S. investments in China as part of a bill to fund government operations through mid-March, lawmakers said late on Tuesday.

The World Bank said on Wednesday its executive board approved $2.05 billion in Development Policy Operation funding for Ukraine that includes the first grant from a new $20 billion U.S. loan fund for Kyiv that is backed by income from frozen Russian sovereign assets.

A major earthquake has struck Vanuatu, causing major damage across its capital city.

After a powerful magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck near Vanuatu’s capital earlier this week, 148 Australian citizens have been assisted back home.

Russia said it had detained an Uzbek man who had confessed to planting and detonating a bomb which killed a top general, Igor Kirillov, in Moscow on the instructions of Ukraine’s SBU security service.