Ukraine yesterday said its forces were managing to push back against Russian troops in fierce fighting in Severodonetsk despite Russia “throwing all its power” into capturing the strategic eastern city.

The death toll in an explosion in a coal mine in northeastern Colombia has risen to seven, while eight workers remain unaccounted for, the National Mining Agency (ANM) said yesterday.

An escaped murderer suspected of killing five people while on the run was gunned down by Texas police, bringing an end to a three-week-long manhunt after the fugitive’s dramatic escape from a prison bus.

Saudi Arabia yesterday welcomed its first batch of hajj pilgrims since before the coronavirus pandemic, which prompted authorities to sharply restrict the annual ritual.

French President Emmanuel Macron said it is vital that Russia is not humiliated so that when the fighting stops in Ukraine a diplomatic solution can be found, adding that he believed Paris would play a mediating role to end the conflict.

Heavy rains from the remnants of Hurricane Agatha flooded much of western Cuba on Friday, killing at least three people in Havana.

Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in May were 50 percent higher than during the pre-industrial era, reaching levels not seen on Earth for about four million years, the main US climate agency said on Friday.

Saudi Arabia on Saturday welcomed its first batch of hajj pilgrims since before the coronavirus pandemic, which prompted authorities to sharply restrict the annual ritual.

Two Reuters journalists were injured and a driver killed on Friday after the vehicle they were in came under fire while heading to the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, the latest battle line in Russia's assault on its neighbour.

US President Joe Biden compared Tesla (TSLA.O) unfavorably to Ford (F.N) on Friday, while sarcastically wishing Chief Executive Elon Musk "lots of luck" on his "trip to the moon" after the billionaire expressed reservations about the economy.

Ohio is set to enact a law that allows teachers and other staff to be armed with guns in schools once they have completed up to 24 hours of initial training.

Four people were killed and 30 injured when a busy regional train derailed near a popular ski resort and hiking destination in southern Germany on Friday, police said.

The United Nations said yesterday there would be no victor from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the conflict entered its 100th day and Moscow’s forces pressed deeper into the eastern Donbas region.

World food prices fell slightly for the second consecutive month in May but wheat prices rose again as Russia’s war in Ukraine rages on and India banned exports of the commodity, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said yesterday.

The US yesterday urged Bangladesh to adopt a transparent regulatory environment and implement reforms in the labour sector to secure foreign investments.

The famous snow-capped peaks of the Alps are fading fast and being replaced by vegetation cover -- a process called “greening” that is expected to accelerate climate change, a study said Thursday.

US President Joe Biden will visit Saudi Arabia this month, reports said Thursday, a stark reversal for a leader who once called for the kingdom to be made a pariah.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a “super bad feeling” about the economy and needs to cut about 10 percent of jobs at the electric carmaker, he said in an email to executives seen by Reuters.

A world severely blighted by plastic pollution is on track to see the use of plastics nearly triple in less than four decades, according to findings released yesterday.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett yesterday warned the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency that Israel was prepared to use it’s “right to self defense” to stop Iran’s nuclear programme.