World

 The UK expelled a top Russian envoy and imposed new restrictions on the country’s diplomats, in one of the most high-profile responses yet to what allied officials describe as a coordinated espionage campaign to weaken support for Ukraine.

The Biden administration dispatched the head of the CIA to meet Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, part of an effort to limit Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah and push for a cease-fire deal with Hamas.

Russians are learning to live with the war that Vladimir Putin has unleashed in Ukraine. With Putin being sworn in on Tuesday for another six years as president, the invasion has become part of everyday life for many Russians, confounding expectations that the pressure of international sanctions and deepening isolation would eventually turn them against him. Far from protesting, many are rallying around the flag.

Israeli forces took control of the Rafah border-crossing in Gaza on Tuesday morning ahead of a possible assault on the city.

Hamas said Monday it agreed to a Qatari-Egyptian cease-fire proposal and Israel said it would send meditators to negotiate, reviving hopes of an extended pause to the fighting in Gaza even as Israel vowed to press on with its long-awaited military campaign in Rafah.

President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Monday as the Israel military urged civilians to move out of the southern Gazan city of Rafah, according to U.S and Israeli officials.

President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s military to carry out combat drills involving tactical nuclear weapons, ramping up his confrontation with the West just a day before his inauguration for a fifth term.

The latest round of negotiations between Israel and Hamas hit an impasse Sunday as mediators struggled to bridge remaining gaps and a Hamas delegation departed the talks in Cairo. An Israeli official also confirmed the negotiations had stalled and described them as being in "crisis."

An executive of Mexico’s Banco Azteca helped arrange payments to U.S. House Democrat Henry Cuellar of Texas and his wife in exchange for influence in Washington, according to court documents.

Israel’s government moved Sunday to shut down the Al Jazeera Media Network’s operations in Israel, clamping down on one of the few international broadcasters providing largely uninterrupted coverage of the Gaza war.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and key cabinet members arrived Sunday in the country’s south where record-breaking floods have shut down a main airport and submerged neighborhoods, leaving dozens dead and many others missing.

The lengthy, difficult process of obtaining official declaration of Ukrainian soldiers' deaths has emerged as another painful consequence of the 2-year-old war. Families, lawyers and rights groups say that the Ukrainian military is overloaded with casualties and unable to account for thousands of the dead.

It's not clear whether Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov had plans to visit Puget Sound this spring. But on April 29, the Amadea, a 348-foot, $300 million-plus superyacht said to be owned by Kerimov, arrived in the Port of Everett to have some work done at a local shipyard.

Months after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada accused India's government of plotting a murder on Canadian soil -- plunging diplomatic relations between the two countries to their lowest level ever -- the first arrests in the killing, which came Friday, did little to demystify the basis of his claim.

JERUSALEM – The leader of the World Food Program said parts of the Gaza Strip are experiencing a “full-blown famine” that is spreading across the territory after almost seven months of war that have made delivering aid extremely challenging.