A Russian attack on Ukraine is "still very much a possibility" and the human cost would be "immense", US President Joe Biden has said. In remarks televised nationally, he said the US was ready to respond decisively to such a move. The US president said Russia had now massed some 150,000 troops on the border with Ukraine. Russia's defence minister has said some forces have withdrawn. Mr Biden said…

The United States is closing the US Embassy in Kyiv and “temporarily relocating” the small number of remaining diplomatic personnel in the country to Lviv, a city in western Ukraine, “due to the dramatic acceleration in the buildup of Russian forces,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Monday. “I have ordered these measures for one reason -- the safety of our…

Moroccan entrepreneur Aimrane Bouziane sighs with relief after seeing the "boarding" sign for his flight light up at Kyiv's main airport despite fears that airspace may soon close over Ukraine. "I think the soundest choice to make is to leave Ukraine now," the 23-year-old said before heading off to passport control."I am leaving because of the situation, because I value my life." The ex-Soviet state's…

Whether it is a bikini, a ‘ghoonghat’, a pair of jeans or a ‘hijab’, it is a woman’s right to decide what she wants to wear, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Wednesday amid the ongoing hijab row in Karnataka. She asserted that this right is guaranteed by the Constitution. Incidents of stone pelting and use of force by police were reported on Tuesday as the…

US troops arrived in Poland on Saturday as part of NATO moves to send in extra troops over fears that Russia could invade Ukraine, a Polish army spokesman told AFP. "The first batch has arrived at the airport in Jesionka" in southwestern Poland, Major Przemyslaw Lipczynski said, adding that the bulk of a contingent of 1,700 US soldiers would come "soon". He said the soldiers who arrived Saturday were…

Ice on a glacier near the summit of Mount Everest that took millennia to form has shrunk dramatically in the last three decades due to climate change, a new study has shown, reports AFP. The South Col formation may already have lost around 180ft of thickness in the last 25 years, according to research led by the University of Maine and published this week by the journal Nature. Carbon dating showed…

The US death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic surpassed 900,000 on Friday, according to the Johns HopkinsUniversity coronavirus tracker. The toll had hit 800,000 dead in mid-December, just a month and a half ago. New cases linked to the Omicron variant are falling, but daily deaths are still rising, with an average of 2,400 now, according to government figures, report AFP. "Hospitalizations remain…

Jeff Zucker said on Wednesday he is resigning as president of CNN and chairman of WarnerMedia's news and sports division, issuing a staff memo in which he acknowledged he failed to disclose a consensual relationship with a close colleague. "As part of the investigation into Chris Cuomo's tenure at CNN, I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague," Zucker wrote in the memo.…

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday he has tested positive for COVID-19 but is "feeling fine" and will continue to work remotely from home. Trudeau said two of his children have COVID-19 and a test Monday revealed he has been infected as well, reports AP. The prime minister, who has received two vaccine shots and a booster shot, used a televised virtual news conference to denounce anti-vaccine…

Iraq air strikes kill nine suspects in deadly attack by IS Iraqi air strikes on Saturday killed nine suspected "terrorists" implicated in a deadly Islamic State group attack on an army base earlier this month, the military said. The January 21 attack, which killed 11 soldiers in Hawi al-Azim in the eastern province of Diyala, was the deadliest claimed by the jihadists in Iraq this year, reports AFP.…

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 40,858,241 on Saturday as 235,532 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the health ministry's latest data. Besides, as many as 871 deaths due to the pandemic since Friday morning took the total death toll to 493,198. There are still 2,004,333 active COVID-19 cases in the country despite a fall of 101,278 active cases during the…

A nor’easter with hurricane-force wind gusts battered much of the East Coast on Saturday, flinging heavy snow that made travel treacherous or impossible, flooding coastlines, and threatening to leave bitter cold in its wake. The storm thrashed parts of 10 states, with blizzard warnings that stretched from Virginia to Maine. Philadelphia and New York saw plenty of wind and snow, but Boston was…

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators agreed that a permanent ceasefire in eastern Ukraine must be observed "unconditionally" following hours-long talks in Paris on Wednesday. The announcement came after a meeting at the Elysee Palace of the so-called Normandy Format -- a four-way conversation between representatives from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France -- that has been trying to broker peace in eastern…