WORLD

Moscow, Russia | Xinhua | Russia announced that it successfully test-launched a Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile on Wednesday at a time when Moscow-West tensions have sharply escalated over Ukraine. The missile was fired from a silo at 15:12 Moscow Time (1212 GMT) at the Plesetsk state test cosmodrome in northwest Russia’s …

London, UK | Xinhua | Britain’s Westminster Magistrate’s Court issued a formal order on Wednesday to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to face espionage charges. The decision on whether to approve the extradition now rests with British Home Secretary Priti Patel, although Assange’s lawyers may still appeal …

United Nations | Xinhua | UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has asked both the Russian and Ukrainian leaders to receive him to discuss steps to bring about peace following Russia’s special military operation in its neighbor. Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the secretary-general, said on Wednesday in a statement that separate letters were …

New York, U.S. | Xinhua | U.S. pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday trimmed its forecasts on sales and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) in 2022 due to appreciation of the U.S. dollar, and suspended COVID-19 vaccine sales guidance due to a global supply surplus and demand uncertainty. Johnson & …

United Nations | Xinhua | Drought and Ukraine conflict fallout could increase hunger in the Horn of Africa from 14 million people to 20 million by year’s end, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday. Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said the hardest-hit countries face increasing hunger …

Washington, U.S. | Xinhua | The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday slashed global growth forecast for 2022 to 3.6 percent amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, 0.8 percentage points lower than the January projection, according to its newly released World Economic Outlook report. The Ukraine crisis unfolds while the global economy is …

Moscow, Russia | Xinhua | The second phase of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine has begun, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday. The operation in eastern Ukraine is aimed at “completely liberating” the populations of Donetsk and Lugansk, Lavrov said during an interview with India Today. “This operation will …

Washington, U.S. | Xinhua | Due to high debt and deficit levels, countries are “under severe financial stress,” and the debt crisis is expected to “continue to worsen” in 2022, World Bank Group President David Malpass said on Monday. Noting that debt is one of the two big problems facing global …

Kiev, Ukraine | Xinhua | Russian forces have begun the battle for the Donbas region, but Ukraine will defend itself, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address on Monday. “Now we can say that Russian troops have started the battle for Donbas, for which they have been preparing for …

Moscow, Russia | Xinhua | Western countries’ “economic blitzkrieg” strategy against Russia has failed, President Vladimir Putin said Monday at a government meeting on economic issues. The main negative factor for the Russian economy in recent years has been Western sanctions, which were aimed at “quickly undermining the financial and economic …