Western governments yesterday lined up to condemn Vladimir Putin’s landslide election victory as unfair and undemocratic, but China, India, Iran and North Korea congratulated the veteran Russian leader on extending his rule by a further six years.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West yesterday that a direct conflict between Russia and the US-led Nato military alliance would mean the planet was one step away from World War Three but said hardly anyone wanted such a scenario.

With more than 80 percent of voting stations having submitted results, Putin had secured 87.2 percent of all votes cast, official election data showed

Ukraine said yesterday that Russian forces had pounded the Black Sea port city of Odesa with missiles, killing more than a dozen people including a paramedic and a rescue worker.

Russia arrested at least 13 people yesterday for vandalising polling stations on the first day of its presidential elections, officials said.

At least 3,000 more chemicals exist in plastics than previously estimated by environmental agencies, a report published on Thursday found, raising questions over pollution and consumer safety.

EU chief Charles Michel yesterday sarcastically congratulated Russia’s Vladimir Putin on winning reelection against no real opposition -- as voting was only just beginning.

Conditions affecting the nervous system -- such as strokes, migraines and dementia -- have surged past

The UK government yesterday unveiled a new definition of extremism to determine which organisations get public funds and meetings with officials, prompting criticism from civic, political and religious groups.

Russia’s national guard yesterday said it was fighting off attacks from pro-Ukrainian groups in the region of Kursk, the latest in a recent string of clashes at the border.

President Vladimir Putin yesterday urged Russians to stay the course in the face of a “difficult period”, hours before polls open in a vote set to extend his hardline rule.

The EU yesterday wielded a powerful new digital law to press TikTok and seven other platforms on the AI risks for upcoming elections in the 27-nation bloc, including from deepfakes.

The European Parliament yesterday gave final approval to the world’s most far-reaching rules to govern artificial intelligence, including powerful systems like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria will visit Bangladesh from March 18 to 21 to get a glimpse of the country’s development journey as well as to study the progress and ongoing challenges in the implementation of the SDGs.

President Vladimir Putin yesterday told the West that Russia was technically ready for nuclear war and that if the US sent troops to Ukraine, it would be considered a significant escalation of the conflict.

Russia yesterday congratulated Pope Francis on 11 years in office, hailing his support for “humanism and peace” after the pontiff caused outrage by urging Ukraine to “raise the white flag”.

Covid-19 caused the average life expectancy of people worldwide to fall by 1.6 years during the first two years of the pandemic, a major study said yesterday. 

Europe could suffer “catastrophic” consequences from climate change if it fails to take urgent and decisive action to adapt to risks, a new EU analysis warned yesterday.

Ukrainian director Mstyslav Chernov, who on Sunday won the first Academy Award for his country for the “20 Days in Mariupol” documentary about the Russian siege of the port city, said he would rather have no Oscar and no war waged against his country.

President Vladimir Putin’s foreign intelligence service yesterday accused the United States of trying to meddle in Russia’s presidential election and said that Washington even had plans to launch a cyberattack on the online voting system.