As his steel mill in Mariupol was being destroyed by Russian bombs, becoming the site of a last stand by the city’s defenders, the billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man, emerged as a staunch supporter of the country’s war effort. But even as Mr. Akhmetov pledged to help rebuild Ukraine, a large portion of his […]

Governments around the world are no better prepared today to address a new global disease threat than they were just before the coronavirus outbreak began in late 2019, a World Health Organization panel concluded in a report released on Wednesday. The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response has sought an overhaul of the world’s […]

Good morning. We’re covering Turkey’s move to stall NATO’s expansion, North Korea’s effort to follow China’s pandemic restrictions and China’s new tactic to censor online speech. Will Turkey block NATO’s expansion? Finland and Sweden formally asked to join NATO on Wednesday, heralding what could be the alliance’s biggest expansion in decades, and one that would […]

BRUSSELS — The world economy is heading into a potentially grim period as rising costs, shortages of food and other commodities and Russia’s continuing invasion of Ukraine threaten to slow economic growth and bring about a painful global slump. Two years after the coronavirus pandemic emerged and left much of the globe in a state […]

BUCHA, Ukraine — A breeze rustles through the cherry blossoms in bloom on almost every block in this small city, the white petals fluttering onto streets where new pavement covers damage left by Russian tanks just weeks ago. Spring has arrived in Bucha in the six weeks since Russian soldiers withdrew from this bedroom community […]

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian authorities announced late Monday an end to their combat operation in the besieged city of Mariupol, where Ukrainian fighters have held out for weeks in the face of near-constant Russian bombardment. The military ordered the remaining troops who had been sheltering beneath a steel factory there to focus on efforts “to […]

TALLINN, Estonia — Kaja Kallas, now 44, grew up in the Soviet Union, which had annexed her country, Estonia, after World War II. She remembers the Soviet occupation and a visit to East Berlin in 1988, when she was 11, and her father told her to “breathe in the air of freedom” from West Berlin. […]

A light wind laden with the scent of the sea softened the stifling heat: The temperature had reached 108 degrees Fahrenheit, and it was only 10 a.m. Salma’s house was at the end of the main road in Punta Chueca, a small town on the mainland coast of the Sea of Cortez, also known as […]

Good morning. North Korea’s outbreak grows, India bans most wheat exports and South Korea amends its surgery laws. North Korea’s outbreak grows State media reported 21 new deaths and a huge jump in suspected coronavirus cases on Saturday, as North Korea struggled to contain its first reported outbreak. State media said an additional 174,400 people […]

MELBOURNE, Australia — If the United States had the same Covid death rate as Australia, about 900,000 lives would have been saved. The Texas grandmother who made the perfect pumpkin pie might still be baking. The Red Sox-loving husband who ran marathons before Covid might still be cheering at Fenway Park. For many Americans, imagining […]