US State Department official Derek Chollet has warned that the US will impose “crippling” sanctions on Russia if it invades Ukraine. Such warning on Sunday came after a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden ended with no breakthrough

Police have started to clear a blockade of the main crossing between Canada and the United States. After days of protests by truckers against Covid rules at the Ambassador Bridge in Ontario, officers urged them to heed an injunction against the demonstration. The vital trade route

Russia has the troops in place to invade Ukraine "at any time" and American citizens should leave within the next 48 hours, the US has warned. An invasion could start with aerial bombing that would make departures difficult and endanger civilians, the White House said on

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has hit out at protests by truckers around the country as "unacceptable". Speaking to parliament in Ottawa, he defended the Covid restrictions that have prompted truckers to converge on the nation's capital. Ottawa police

Russia and Belarus have started 10 days of joint military drills amid ongoing fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Belarus is a close ally of Russia and has a long border with Ukraine. The US has called the drills - believed to be Russia's biggest deployment to Belarus since

India has revised guidelines for international arrivals recommending self-monitoring for 14 days for symptoms instead of the present seven-day home quarantine rule. The new guidelines announced on Thursday will take effect from February 14, the Federal Health Ministry said, Indian

Whether it is a bikini, a ‘ghoonghat’, a pair of jeans or a ‘hijab’, it is a woman’s right to decide what she wants to wear, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Wednesday amid the ongoing hijab row in Karnataka. She asserted that this right is

New Zealand has seen a second day of demonstrations against pandemic restrictions with protesters camping outside the nation's parliament. Inspired by large anti- vaccine rallies in Canada, hundreds of Kiwis arrived on Tuesday to stage new protests against vaccine mandates and

French President Emmanuel Macron has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him in their marathon talks a day earlier that Moscow would not further escalate the Ukraine crisis. Macron’s remarks on a visit to Kyiv on Tuesday came as the Kremlin denied that he and Putin

The United States and Germany are working in “lockstep” to deter Russian “aggression” in Europe, US President Joe Biden has said, as he met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House on Monday. Amid growing tensions in eastern Europe, Scholz held

French President Emmanuel Macron has said the coming days will be crucial to de-escalating the Ukraine standoff, after a meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin hinted that progress had been made during his first Moscow summit with a Western leader since Russian troops

The mayor of Canada's capital Ottawa has declared a state of emergency in response to more than a week of truckers' protests against Covid restrictions. Jim Watson said the city was "completely out of control", with demonstrators outnumbering police. He said the

Ukraine downplayed a possible incursion by Russia on Sunday saying do not to believe “apocalyptic predictions” after US officials said Moscow had assembled 70 percent of the military force needed for a full-scale invasion. Unnamed American officials were quoted as saying on

Russia has assembled about 70% of the military capability needed for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the coming weeks, US officials say. The ground is expected to freeze and harden from mid-February, enabling Moscow to bring in more heavy equipment, the unnamed officials said.

A five-year-old Moroccan boy who was trapped in a well for four days has died, despite painstaking efforts to rescue him. A royal statement announced his death soon after his removal from the well. The bid to free the boy, named as Rayan, had gripped the country, with hundreds of

A light plane carrying sightseers for a tour of the Nazca lines in the Peruvian desert has crashed, killing all seven people onboard. Local police said that the deceased included three Dutch tourists, two Chilean tourists and two Peruvian members of crew. The plane went down near

China has joined Russia in opposing further Nato expansion as the two countries move closer together in the face of Western pressure. Moscow and Beijing issued a statement showcasing their agreement on a raft of issues during a visit by Russia's Vladimir Putin for the Winter

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the country will start reopening its borders in a phased plan beginning with its own citizens, as it relaxes a strict quarantine system that was imposed at the start of the pandemic. The five-stage plan will start with fully vaccinated New

Russia has condemned a US decision to send extra troops to Europe to support its Nato allies amid continuing fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, BBC reports. Moscow said it was a "destructive" step which heightened tension and reduced the scope for a political solution.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has accused the US of trying to draw his country into a war in Ukraine. He said America's goal was to use a confrontation as a pretext to impose more sanctions on Russia. Mr Putin also said the US was ignoring Russia's concerns about