UKRAINE

Dissenting voices in Russia are rare, but one well-known military analyst gave a damning assessment of the invasion this week.

Germany’s three governing parties plan to strip former Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of his office and staff after he maintained and defended his long-standing ties with Russia despite the war in Ukraine.

The 30 member countries of the military alliance are expected to take up to two weeks to evaluate the applications.

The moves, driven by security concerns over Russia's war in Ukraine​, come despite Kremlin warnings that doing so would be a "grave mistake."

The two countries have dramatically shifted their thinking on security since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Eastern Europe wants big new deployments of NATO troops to defend against Russia, but some other alliance members are skeptical of then need for shifting major forces east, particulalry after seeing Russian forces struggle in Ukraine.

North Carolina voters went to the polls Tuesday, and for some it was a referendum on former President Donald Trump. (May 17)

The city of Mariupol looks like it will be in Russian hands shortly after hundreds of the remaining Ukrainian soldiers were ordered to evacuate.

Finland and Sweden will join the alliance, spurring debate about the move’s long-term consequences.

Shortages due to sanctions over the Ukraine war see safety requirements dropped and environmental standards reverted to what they were in 1988.

Experts fear climate change-driven food shortages and inflation could lead to famine, insecurity and economic recession across the globe.

New exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York takes a deep look at modernist architecture in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Turkey, which joined the alliance in 1952, is a crucial player in NATO, boating the second-largest military in the 30-member group after the United States.

Sweden and Finland have pushed ahead with their bids to join NATO even as Turkey insists it won’t let the previously nonaligned Nordic countries into the alliance because of their alleged support for Kurdish militants.

Some 260 Ukrainian fighters have left the Azovstal steel plant, but it’s unclear how many more remain.

Patrick Sly, the president of global nutrition at Reckitt, said the company has increased production in recent months.

Putin said Finland and Sweden’s entry into NATO did not represent an imminent danger to Russia, but he warned the same would not be true if NATO staged a military buildup in the two countries.

Media reports say bus drivers in Tehran went on strike on two major bus lines to demand a 10% wage increase, causing hours of delays in public transportation in the Iranian capital

How Bellingcat is using social media to track alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine; Man unknowingly buys former plantation house where his ancestors were enslaved.

SVITLANA KIZILOVA - Monday, 16 May 2022, 17:50 According to the CSTO General Secretary, at a summit meeting of the organisation the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, talked about Ukraine but reportedly did not raise the question of using CSTO forces against Kyiv.

As Finland and Sweden's leaders seek the reassurance of NATO defense, CBS News tours a nuclear bunker in Helsinki – part of the legacy of Russia's last invasion.

Public opinion in both countries was firmly against joining NATO before Russia invaded Ukraine, but support for NATO membership surged shortly after.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party says it sees no need for changes to the German leader’s often-criticized approach to the war in Ukraine after an election in Germany’s most populous state brought a clear defeat for his center-left Social Democrats.

The European Union has slashed its forecasts for economic growth in the 27-nation bloc amid the prospect of a drawn-out Russian war in Ukraine and disruptions to energy supplies.

Boris Johnson grapples with a four dimensional diplomacy dilemma in Northern Ireland.

McDonald's said Monday that it would sell its business in Russia, a little more than two months after it paused operations in the country due to its invasion of Ukraine. "The humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, and the precipitating unpredictable operating environment, have led McDonald's to conclude that continued ownership of the business in Russia is no longer tenable, nor is it consistent with McDonald's values," the company said in a news release. McDonald's has more than 800 restaurants and 62,000 employees in Russia. McDonald's exit from Russia is a bitter end to an era. The company, among the most recognizable symbols of American capitalism, opened its first restaurant in Russia over 30 years ago as the communist Soviet regime was falling apart and Western businesses and ideas infiltrated the Iron Curtain.

Sweden’s prime minister has told her country’s parliament that seeking NATO membership represents “a historic change in our country’s security policy line.”

The European Union's efforts to impose new sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine appear bogged down.

VALENTYNA ROMANENKO - MONDAY, MAY 16, 2022, 12:21 The Security Service of Ukraine has intercepted telephone conversations between the occupying troops, which show that the only thing they dream of is to survive, retire from the army and never return to Ukraine.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey is not “favorable” toward Finland and Sweden joining NATO, but he hasn't ruled it out.

Despite their orientation toward the US and western Europe, Finland and Sweden since the Cold War have bet that their national security was best protected by staying out of NATO. They had aimed to avoid disturbing the military balance in the Baltic Sea region and provoking Russia. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its demands to stop NATO expansion have now pushed both countries to seek entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels say the first commercial flight in six years has taken off Monday from the country’s rebel-held capital

G-7 foreign ministers warned over the weekend that the war in Ukraine is increasing the risk of a global hunger crisis.

The BBC's Sarah Rainsford investigates the killing of civilians in a summer camp in Bucha, Ukraine.

Scott Pelley reports on the innovative group that's been exposing Vladimir Putin since 2014.

Watching the recent news from Ukraine is “very upsetting," No. 2-ranked tennis player Daniil Medvedev said Sunday of the war that led Wimbledon organizers to ban him and other Russians from their tournament. The U.S. Open champion spoke at the Geneva Open where he returns to action after a five-week absence from the ATP Tour for surgery on a hernia injury. “I had some time to follow what is happening, yeah, it’s very upsetting,” Medvedev said when asked if he could monitor the conflict in Ukraine more closely while not playing.

The chef and his non-profit World Central Kitchen have provided a vital lifeline in disaster areas, serving more than 60 million meals. Now they are giving aid in Ukraine, the first time operating under fire.

'Voting is a duty,' says a Beirut citizen as she casts her ballot in the first election since multiple crises dragged Lebanon to the brink of failed statehood. The vote is a major test for new opposition groups bent on removing the ruling elite.

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Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., discusses abortion activists protesting outside Supreme Court Justices’ homes.

VALENTYNA ROMANENKO - SUNDAY, 15 MAY 2022, 14: 22 The Russian invaders confirm that they are using phosphorus and cluster weapons in Ukraine, which are prohibited by international conventions. Source: another intercept of the invaders' conversation by the Security Service of Ukraine Details: These are particularly dangerous and inhumane types of weapons.

Finland changed its policy toward the military alliance after troops invaded Ukraine. Sweden has avoided all military alliances, but like Finland, has also grown closer and closer to NATO over time.

With Finland and Sweden taking steps to join NATO, the list of “neutral” countries in Europe appears poised to shrink

With Finland and Sweden taking steps to join NATO, the list of “neutral” countries in Europe appears poised to shrink.

Oil giant Saudi Aramco says its profits soared more than 80% in the first three months of the year, as the state-backed company cashes in on the volatility in global energy markets and soaring oil prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Moscow has a history of falsely accusing its enemies of attacks that could be defined as war crimes.

Public support helped push Kalush Orchestra and their song Stefania on to win with 631 points.

Ukraine's Kalush orchestra triumphs, while Sam Ryder gives the UK its best result since 1998.

Russia withdrew troops from the border with Finland to send them to Ukraine, leaving Moscow with a significantly reduced capacity to threaten Finland militarily.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the visit a signal of bipartisan support from the U.S. Congress. The meeting took place as Ukraine said it had forced Russian troops away from Kharkiv.

The U.S. promised to slash its emissions and send tens of billions of dollars to low-lying and less well-off nations. The war in Ukraine is delaying that even as the toll from climate change rises.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned his Finnish counterpart that relations between the two neighbors could be “negatively affected” if Finland follows through with plans to apply for NATO membership.

Calling Russia’s president a war criminal was a form of “strategic madness,” says a leading Israeli foreign-policy scholar.

India has banned exports of wheat effective immediately.

North Korea says 21 people died and 174,440 people were newly found with fever symptoms on Friday alone as the country scrambles to slow the spread of COVID-19 across its unvaccinated population

Oksana Zamfira and her friend Camelia Catruc live in Miami-Dade County. They have teamed up to help Zamfira’s brother who is fighting in Ukraine, his unit, and nonprofit organizations that are offering relief during the war.

"We are following developments concerning Sweden and Finland, but we are not of a favorable opinion," Erdogan told reporters.

A couple in India are taking legal action against their son and his wife, accusing the younger couple of inflicting "mental cruelty" on them by not producing a grandchild.

Russia’s war in Ukraine is one of the biggest considerations in the U.S. Treasury’s latest strategy document outlining how the agency plans to combat significant illicit finance threats to the U.S. financial system.

Austin urged an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and emphasized maintaining open lines of communication.

OLENA ROSHCHINA - FRIDAY, 13 MAY 2022, 21:39 All seaworthy submarines of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, from which the Russian Federation can launch missiles across Ukraine, are now at sea. Source: Crimea.

President Biden's administration announced the U.S. would commit to more than $150 million in new projects in Southeast Asia.

As the war between Russia and Ukraine shows no signs of slowing down, Ukrainians across their country to to heal as the bury the dead and salvage what is left of villages, towns and cities that have been destroyed by Russians.

Finland appears on the cusp of joining NATO.

The Senate has confirmed economist Phillip Jefferson to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.

Inflation has been caused by the supply chain challenges because of this historic pandemic and more recently because of Putin’s unprovoked war in Ukraine, according to Heather Boushey, who is a part of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Poland’s ambassador in Moscow has been summoned to Russia’s Foreign Ministry two days after Russia’s ambassador to Poland was splattered with red paint thrown at him by protesters opposed to the war in Ukraine.

It’s easy to tell the delivery room from the rest of the main maternity hospital in Ukraine’s western city of Lviv, even from the outside.

The House has approved a resolution that will pave the way for letting congressional staff join a union and engage in collective bargaining.

President Joe Biden has hosted Italian Premier Mario Draghi at the White House as the U.S. works to maintain trans-Atlantic unity over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Top U.S. intelligence officials acknowledge they misjudged the durability of the governments in both Afghanistan and Ukraine.

The Federal Reserve no longer views the coronavirus pandemic as the biggest threat to the global financial system.

Lithuania’s top diplomat says that removing Russian President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle from power is the only way to protect the West and its allies from future threats from Moscow, urging an even tougher stance than the U.S. and many NATO allies have been willing to pursue.

A question for you, readers and viewers: Can you relate to what’s happening in Ukraine right now?

Italian Premier Mario Draghi meets with U.S. President Biden this week in Washington as Europe faces another “whatever it takes” moment, with war raging on its eastern flank in Ukraine.

President Joe Biden on Friday authorized the shipment of another $150 million in military assistance for Ukraine for artillery rounds and radar systems in its fight against Russia’s invading forces.

Amnesty International says it has documented extensive war crimes by Russian forces in communities around the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, including arbitrary executions, bombardments of residences and torture.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says he accepted an apology from Russian President Vladimir Putin for controversial remarks about the Holocaust made by Moscow’s top diplomat.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged international donors to sustain funding for humanitarian operations in Africa and across the world even as they respond to the Ukraine crisis.

Britain and Japan have unveiled a new defense agreement against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.

Russian forces pounded targets across Ukraine, taking aim at supply lines for foreign weapons in the west and intensifying an offensive in the east, as the European Union moved Wednesday to further punish Moscow for the war with a proposed ban on oil imports.

The White House has announced a conference on hunger, nutrition and health in September to make progress on the Biden administration's goal of ending hunger, improving nutrition and physical activity, and reducing diet-related diseases.

Singer Michael Feinstein, violinists Itzhak Perlman and Midori, and pianist Evgeny Kissin will perform at a Carnegie Hall benefit concert for Ukraine on May 23.

Slovakia and Hungary say they will not support sanctions against Russian energy that the European Union is preparing over the war in Ukraine.

Swimmers at Berlin’s outdoor pools need to brace themselves for chillier water this summer.

A former U.S. Marine who died last week in Ukraine was believed to be the first American citizen killed while fighting there.

Inflation has hit a record for the 19 countries that use the euro.

India is in the throes of a record-shattering heat wave that is stunting wheat production.

President Joe Biden said he is considering forgiving some federal student debt, a step that would help him fulfill a campaign promise and provide relief to borrowers who took out thousands of dollars in loans to finance their higher education.

Britain is postponing until the end of 2023 some checks on imports from the European Union that are required under post-Brexit trade rules.

Asian shares have logged moderate gains after Wall Street stabilized following a sell-off in tech stocks a day earlier.

Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot activists say uncertainty over the safety of war-wracked Ukraine’s nuclear power plants has reignited concerns over a Russian-owned nuclear power station being built in a quake-prone area on Turkey’s southern coast.

Drone company DJI Technology Co has temporarily suspended business activities in Russia and Ukraine to ensure its products are not used during the hostilities in a rare example of a Chinese company publicly withdrawing from Russia due to the war.

Asian shares mostly have retreated, echoing a broad decline on Wall Street and driven by worries about how the war in Ukraine may push prices for oil and other commodities higher.

Officials in Poland and Bulgaria say Russia is suspending deliveries of natural gas to their countries starting Wednesday.

Heavy fighting has taken place in the regions of Donetsk and Lukansk, with attacks taking place in cities such as Avdiivka, Popasna, Krasnohorivka and Mariinka.

Russia has engaged in under-the-radar military operations in at least half a dozen countries in Africa in the last five years using a shadowy mercenary force analysts say is loyal to President Vladimir Putin.

Despite Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Moscow's membership in the Group of 20 remains firmly intact.

The United Nations says Secretary-General Antonio Guterres plans to meet separately with the presidents of Russia and Ukraine next week to make an urgent plea for peace.

Russian authorities have opened a criminal case against a prominent opposition activist and remanded him in pre-trial detention for allegedly spreading “false information” about the country’s armed forces.