May 18, 2022 11:38 PMMOSCOW (REUTERS) - Russia's defence spending was up nearly 40 per cent in the first four months of the year, according to preliminary data released by the finance ministry on Wednesday (May 18), almost three months into Moscow's large-scale military campaign in Ukraine.

May 18, 2022 11:47 PMMARIUPOL, UKRAINE (AFP) - More than 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers including senior commanders remain inside the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Ukraine's port city of Mariupol, a pro-Russian separatist leader said on Wednesday (May 18).

May 18, 2022 11:22 PMAntonina Samoilova's father and brother are in the army, defending their country against Russia's invasion.

May 18, 2022 10:53 PMWASHINGTON - The tech world needs more diverse perspectives, from psychologists, sociologists, writers and artists who deal with real human nature and understand the dynamics of human interaction, says award-winning Chinese science-fiction writer Stanley Chen Qiufan.

May 18, 2022 10:18 PMLONDON - The foreign minister of Luxembourg has publicly accused Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of behaving like a hawker after he repeated his threats to veto the bid of Sweden and Finland to join the Nato military alliance.

May 18, 2022 9:39 PMLONDON (REUTERS) - Russia said on Wednesday (May 18) it was expelling a total of 85 embassy staff from France, Spain and Italy in response to similar moves by those countries, highlighting the damage to relations with leading EU members since it launched its war on Ukraine.

May 18, 2022 9:26 PMLONDON (REUTERS) - Russia on Wednesday (May 18) said it was using a new generation of powerful laser weapons in Ukraine to burn up drones, deploying some of Moscow's secret weapons to counter a flood of Western arms supplied to its former Soviet neighbour.

May 18, 2022 4:58 PMGENEVA (BLOOMBERG) - Last year brought new records for sea-level rise, ocean temperature, greenhouse gas concentrations and ocean acidification, according to a new UN World Meteorological Organisation climate report card.

May 18, 2022 4:25 PMLONDON (AFP) - British police said on Wednesday (May 18) they had released on bail a lawmaker from the ruling Conservative party the day after he was arrested on suspicion of multiple sexual offences, including rape.

May 18, 2022 2:14 PMIt sets in motion an accession process that is expected to take only a few weeks.