The US is preparing to sanction some Chinese banks in an attempt to curb Beijing’s financing of Russia’s war in Ukraine‚ The Wall Street Journal reported. The proposed sanctions come as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to travel to China this week. Washington has been increasing pressure on Beijing regarding its facilitation of exports to Moscow‚ and views sanctions as an escalatory measure if China does not respond to talks.

An independent panel called on Monday for &;quot;immediate improvement&;quot; to maintain neutrality by  the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The assessment was ordered after Israel claimed 12 UNRWA aid workers may have participated in the October 7 terror attack on southern Israel. French diplomat Catherine Colonna‚ who headed the review‚ said that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had appointed the panel to...

Do you want to be Canadian&;#63; Quebecers may get to choose if the Parti Qu&;eacute;b&;eacute;cois wins the 2026 provincial election‚ as PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon‚ who is currently leading in the polls‚ has pledged to hold a referendum on sovereignty if he becomes premier. Polls suggest that roughly one in three Quebecers would vote to leave Canada. But federalists should not get too comfortable‚ as this is around the same proportion of Quebecers who indicated they would support sovereignty...

An independent review published Monday of the beleaguered UN agency for Palestinian refugees said that Israel had yet to provide supporting evidence for its claims that a significant number of agency staff were members of terrorist organizations and argued that UNRWA had “robust” policies in place to ensure staff neutrality. Israel rejected the findings‚ saying it only provided “cosmetic fixes‚” reasserting its position that the agency was intertwined with Hamas and could not play a future...

Israel has yet to present evidence backing its allegations that employees of U.N. relief agency UNRWA are affiliated with terrorist organizations‚ said an independent review published Monday. After Israel claimed in January that UNRWA staff were involved in the Oct. 7 attacks‚ several European countries cut funding to the agency‚ which is the main provider of aid to Palestinians. Since then‚ the humanitarian...

More and more people‚ including Pope Francis‚ are asking Ukraine to drop its defense and sit at the negotiation table with Russia. Citing the stalemate on the battlefield and Russia’s superior resources‚ they urge Ukraine’s leadership to consider a deal. What exactly that would involve is largely left unsaid. But it would clearly involve freezing the conflict‚ resigning Ukraine’s occupied territory to Russia in exchange for an end to the fighting. My country‚ Moldova‚ knows...

The British Parliament approved a controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda on Monday night after a marathon tussle between the upper and lower houses. The bill cleared its final hurdle when the House of Lords — which had repeatedly sent back the legislation — agreed not to make any further changes. Lawmakers in the House of Commons had already rejected two amendments made in the House of Lords last week. Hours before the vote‚ British Prime...

A jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case of Arizona rancher George Alan Kelly‚ who was accused of second-degree murder in connection to the death of a Mexican national found fatally shot on his borderland ranch in January 2023. The jury began deliberating April 18. After days of being unable to reach a verdict‚ the judge overseeing the trial declared a mistrial on Monday. The case centered around the death of Mexican national Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea‚ who was found...