WORLD

London, UK | Xinhua | The Met Office of the United Kingdom (UK), the country’s national weather service, on Friday issued a red warning for extreme heat, the highest-level alert, that covers parts of England next Monday and Tuesday. The alert, issued for the first time ever, is an upgrade from …

Tehran, Iran | Xinhua | Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned on Thursday that any “mistakes” by the United States and its allies to stoke a regional crisis will receive a “decisive” response from Iran that will make them regret. “Unfortunately, some countries in the region are transiting insecurity and terrorism from …

Moscow, Russia | Xinhua | Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations have reached consensus on some issues regarding grain exports and the negotiation will continue, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday. There was a substantive discussion during the talks in Turkey’s Istanbul on Wednesday and some elements of possible agreements …

Colombo, Sri Lanka | Xinhua | Sri Lanka’s Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena on Friday announced the official resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be sworn in as an interim president. In a media briefing, Speaker Abeywardena said he has received the resignation letter of the president, …

Moscow, Russia | Xinhua | Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Thursday allowing the government to take special economic measures to support the armed forces during their counter-terrorism and other operations abroad. The Russian government is authorized to provide all necessary assistance to the armed forces, including “temporarily reactivating …

Tehran, Iran | Xinhua | Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday rejected a U.S. official’s claims as “lies” about Iran’s alleged involvement in the Ukraine conflict. The ministry’s spokesman Nasser Kanaani tweeted that “apparently, lying and cheating are contagious among U.S. politicians who resort to fabrication for evil ends.” Jake Sullivan, Biden’s …

Gaza, Palestine | Xinhua | As U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday for his first Middle East trip as president, some Palestinian political factions have voiced their rejection of the visit, and called for protests in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. During a seminar held in Gaza …

Frankfurt, Germany | Xinhua | The Euro on Wednesday briefly slipped below parity against the U.S. dollar in intraday trading after data released by the U.S. Department of Labor showed that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) surged 9.1 percent from a year ago in June. The exchange rate on Wednesday plunged …

Tehran, Iran | Xinhua | Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday stressed that Washington’s language of coercion doesn’t work on Iran, and Tehran will not back down from its “rightful and logical positions,” according to the Iranian presidency’s website. The U.S. “maximum pressure” campaign has “failed miserably,” Raisi said at a …

Kiev, Ukraine | Xinhua | Ukraine and Russia have made some progress at the talks on grain exports in Istanbul that also involved representatives of Turkey and the United Nations, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday. “The Ukrainian delegation informed me that there is some progress. We will agree on …