RUSSIA

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting key regional ally South Korea on Thursday for talks set to focus on security, as North Korea ramps up military cooperation with Russia.

The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) on Wednesday issued a red alert to the financial sector warning that Russia was using gold to evade sanctions imposed after it invaded Ukraine.

The International Seabed Authority meets this week in Jamaica to discuss allowing the beginning of large-scale deep sea mining.

An announcement could come in the next few weeks, the Reuters news agency reported.

With the war between Israel and Hamas raging, a UN humanitarian official urged the Security Council on Tuesday to "not lose focus" on Ukraine, especially as another brutal winter looms.

The librarian scans the shelves and quickly picks out a few works -- Orwell, Sorokin, Dostoevsky -- the authors she thinks can best help cast some light in a dark time for Russia.

South Korea, Japan and the United States "strongly condemn" North Korea supplying arms to Moscow, the allies said in a joint statement Thursday, adding that "several" such deliveries have been made by Pyongyang.

Russia claimed Wednesday it was exhausting Ukraine's army, 20 months into a conflict in which neither side has made recent significant gains.

The sister of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained in Russia since March on spying charges, appealed for his release on Tuesday ahead of his upcoming 32nd birthday.

Russia's central bank halted the circulation of a new 1,000 ruble note Wednesday after Orthodox priests complained that the image of a church dome lacked a cross, even though it does not have one in real life.

The Treasury Secretary spoke about coordination policies with the European Union on Ukraine and China.

Grieving families buried their loved ones on Monday in the eastern Ukraine village of Groza, which was targetted by Russian missiles in an attack that killed more than 50 people.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called India a "powerful country" growing under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and slammed the West for branding anyone who doesn't abide by their norms an "enemy."

Twenty-year-old Erika Martyniuk only had five days together with her newly-wed husband before he was killed fighting Russian forces in southern Ukraine.

France's far-right National Rally (RN) party said it has repaid a loan originally from a Czech-Russian bank that political opponents argued demonstrated its ties to the Kremlin.

The prospect of recovering funds stolen from crypto businesses and laundered on these exchanges is nearly impossible, as per a recent report from Chainalysis.

Russia's central bank raised its key interest rate for the third time in two months on Friday as it grapples with higher inflation and a weaker ruble.

Putin lauded India for its "Make in India" initiative, which is part of New Delhi's efforts to galvanize the country's domestic manufacturing capabilities and increase export competitiveness.

NASA has spotted a small new crater on the Moon that was likely caused by a Russian probe crash landing on the surface around two weeks ago.

The Kremlin said Wednesday that investigators were probing all possible scenarios surrounding the death last week of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash, including premeditated murder.

One subject that is likely to be discussed is the expansion of the BRICS group, as countries like Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt and many others have shown interest in becoming members.