U.S.-Russia talks notch minor progress on arms control but remain stuck on NATO expansion
CBSN
Top diplomats from the United States and Russia each said Monday that bilateral, "business-like" talks in Geneva offered some openings for future engagement on missile systems and military exercises. But the two sides remained at an impasse on the future of NATO membership, which the Russians called a "top priority."
Speaking from Geneva, where the two delegations met to kick off a week of intensive diplomacy, deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said the U.S. had offered to meet again "soon" to discuss missile placement and a possible revival of the now-defunct Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. She also said the U.S. had signaled its openness to setting "reciprocal limits on the size and scope of military exercises, and to improve transparency about those exercises."
Two officials from the Department of Defense, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia Laura K. Cooper and Lieutenant General James J. Mingus, are accompanying Sherman during her meetings. Speaking from the Pentagon on Monday, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said the Department of Defense is aware of and supports discussing missile capabilities in Europe assuming that there would be reciprocity from Russia in negotiations on that point. The U.S. does not have intermediate-range missiles in Europe and has no plans to put them there, so there would likely need to be more concessions from Russia regarding missiles.
A radar image of a speed offender caught in central Switzerland last month revealed that the culprit was not only a duck, but likely a "repeat offender," local authorities said.
For the first time since the release Monday from Gaza of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander's by the militant group Hamas, his family spoke publicly about what their emotional reunion was like, and what their son went through.
Former Uruguayan President José Mujica, a one-time Marxist guerrilla and flower farmer whose brand of democracy, plain-spoken philosophy and simple lifestyle fascinated people around the world, has died. He was 89.
Twenty-one people have died in India and 10 are in the hospital after drinking tainted liquor, authorities said on Tuesday, updating the death toll. Nine people were in custody, police said.
Paris — French cinema icon Gérard Depardieu was convicted Tuesday of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in Paris in 2021 and handed an 18-month suspended sentence. The 76-year-old actor had denied the charges that he forcefully groped a set decorator and an assistant producer on the set of "Les Volets Verts" ("The Green Shutters").
Even though he is detained in The Hague, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was among candidates who vied for some 18,000 national and local seats in Monday's midterm elections that analysts say will decide if he and his family continue to hold political power.
Turkey's PKK Kurdish insurgents to lay down arms after deadly, decades-long fight against government
The Kurdish group PKK announced on Monday that it will fully disarm and disband, ending its decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state, according to the Firat News Agency, an outlet linked closely with the group. The PKK has long been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., Turkey, the European Union, NATO, and many other nations and entities.
The U.S. and China have agreed to a temporary but significant easing of the tariffs imposed over the last couple months, the country's said in a joint statement shared by the White House, heralding significant success in trade negotiations that ramped up over the weekend.
India's military strikes into Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Pakistan earlier this week killed more than 100 militants, including their prominent leadership, India's director general of military operations said on Sunday. His comments came just one day after India and Pakistan reached a ceasefire agreement following U.S.-led mediation talks.
At Mass on Sunday, the 267th pope called for peace in ongoing conflicts, and wished Happy Mother's Day. It represents both continuity and change for this two-thousand-year-old church, now – for the first time – led by an American pope.
Heavy flooding following torrential rains in eastern Congo washed away several villages along the shores of Lake Tanganyika, leaving at least 62 dead and 50 missing, authorities said Saturday.
Pope Leo XIV made a surprise visit Saturday to a sanctuary south of Rome that is dedicated to the Madonna and of significance to his Augustinian order.
Pakistan said India fired missiles at three air bases inside the country Saturday but most of the missiles were intercepted and that retaliatory strikes on India were underway. It's the latest escalation in a conflict triggered by a massacre last month that India blames on Pakistan.