China’s record imports of Iranian crude in recent months has squeezed out supply from rival producers, forcing sellers of oil from countries such as Brazil, Angola and Russia to slash prices and divert shipments to India and Europe.

The United States expects its relationship with Russia to remain a challenge but hopes that they can work together on arms control issues, the Iran nuclear deal and other issues, a White House spokeswoman said.

US President Joe Biden’s administration has told Congress it is proceeding with more than $23 billion in weapons sales to the United Arab Emirates, including advanced F-35 aircraft, armed drones and other equipment.

US President Joe Biden plans to withdraw the remaining 2,500 US troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021, 20 years to the day after the al Qaeda attacks that triggered America’s longest war.

“Fast & Furious” star Dwayne Johnson, known as “The Rock,” said on Monday that he would run for US President if he felt he had enough support from Americans.

Joshua Wong, one of Hong Kong’s most prominent democracy activists and among 47 people charged under a national security law, was sentenced to four months in jail yesterday for unauthorized assembly and violating an anti-mask law. Wong, 24, had pleaded guilty to both charges, including taking part in and using a facial covering at an unauthorized assembly in October 2019 during the height of anti-government protests, the court heard.

Reuters has announced Alessandra Galloni, 47, will take over as its new editor-in-chief from next week, becoming the first woman to head the global news agency in its 170-year history.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged governments on Monday to consider imposing a “solidarity or wealth tax” on the rich - who made money during the coronavirus pandemic - in a bid to cut extreme inequality.

Iran and Russia united against the United States and Europe yesterday warning on the eve of new nuclear talks that an attack on the Natanz atomic site and new EU sanctions could harm ongoing negotiations.

China yesterday told the United States to stop playing with fire over Taiwan and lodged a complaint after Washington issued guidelines that will enable US officials to meet more freely with officials from the island that China claims as its own.

The United States called on Russia to halt a military build-up on Ukraine’s border yesterday as Moscow, in words recalling the Cold War, said its “adversary” should keep US warships well away from annexed Crimea.

An uncommon calm prevailed around West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday as she sat in her wheelchair at the Gandhi Murti in Kolkata in protest against her being banned from campaigning for 24 hours.

Japan will release more than 1.3 million tonnes of contaminated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, the government said yesterday, a move China called “extremely irresponsible”, while South Korea summoned Tokyo’s ambassador in Seoul to protest.

Reuters News has named one of its top editors, Alessandra Galloni, as its next editor-in-chief, the first woman to lead the globe-spanning news agency in its 170-year history.

The safety committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has asked those receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine (called Covishield in India) and medical professionals to look out for cases of unusual blood clots with low platelets, a rare adverse event with the vaccine.

Thirty-four migrants drowned yesterday after their boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said, the second such accident in just over a month.

Mamata Banerjee has been “clean bowled” and her entire team has been asked to leave the field, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared yesterday.

A Hong Kong newspaper that is critical of Beijing said yesterday its printing presses were ransacked by a gang of men wielding sledgehammers.

An Austrian multiple sclerosis sufferer has sued his government in the European rights court for failing to protect the climate, saying global warming has worsened his condition, an activist group said yesterday.

An Egyptian court Sunday sentenced a man to eight years in prison for sexually harassing three minors and drug possession, in a case that sparked outrage on social media.