World

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday the situation for his troops was improving having "halted" Russian advances on the front, as Kyiv rejected Pope Francis's suggestion to negotiate with Moscow.

More than two years since Russia launched its invasion, Kyiv has faced mounting pressure on the front line in recent months, losing ground to Moscow amid hold-ups to Western aid from its biggest ally Washington.

Airbnb on Monday said it is banning security cameras inside guest homes so as to prioritize privacy.

The home rental platform previously allowed indoor security cameras in common areas such as hallways and living rooms if they were clearly visible and disclosed in listings before people booked such properties.

Donald Trump Jr. made a shocking revelation Monday while discussing his much maligned position on Russia's war with Ukraine during an interview with former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.

"Apparently I'm stupid," Trump Jr. declared. "I'm a Putin apologist and a Russia lover. Basically I work for them according to the mainstream press."

Ukraine on Monday hailed its first Oscar, awarded to a harrowing documentary about Russia's assault on the city of Mariupol, as showing "the truth about Russian terrorism" to the world.

The film, "20 Days in Mariupol", won the Best Documentary Oscar for its raw portrayal of journalists trapped inside the southern port city as Russian forces pounded it with an intense aerial bombardment.

Sweden’s flag was raised at NATO headquarters on Monday, cementing the Nordic country’s place as the 32nd member two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine persuaded its reluctant public to seek safety under the alliance’s security umbrella.

Under a steady rain, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Crown Princess Victoria and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg looked on as two soldiers raised the blue banner emblazoned with a yellow cross among the official circle of national flags at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels.

A German court handed an American man a life sentence Monday for raping and killing a fellow US tourist near Bavaria's famed Neuschwanstein castle last year.

The district tribunal in the southern town of Kempten convicted the defendant, identified only as Troy Philipp B., 31, after he made a wide-ranging confession on the first day of his trial last month.

Envoys from key nations were set to meet Monday in Jamaica to address the spiraling instability in Haiti, where gang violence has crippled the impoverished nation's capital and forced foreign diplomats to evacuate over the weekend.

Armed groups, which already control much of Port-au-Prince as well as roads leading to the rest of the country, have unleashed havoc in recent days as they try to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry.

Joe Biden said Benjamin Netanyahu's approach to the war in Gaza was "hurting Israel more than helping Israel" in an interview aired Saturday, as the US leader's impatience with his Israeli counterpart grows increasingly visible.

With Gaza's humanitarian crisis growing more dire and Biden's left flank in uproar, the US president made contradictory remarks as to the question of a "red line" over Israel's threatened offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza.

President Vladimir Putin has no doubt he will secure another term in Russia's election. The vote that leaves him in suspense, and could do more to change his policies, will occur eight months later in the United States.

Putin has publicly said he prefers US President Joe Biden to his predecessor and aspiring successor Donald Trump, a remark widely interpreted to mean exactly the opposite, as the former KGB man hopes his notoriety will boost the Republican mogul.

"Oppenheimer" had a glittering night at the Oscars but in Hiroshima, devastated by the first nuclear bomb in 1945, the film about the weapon's creator is harder to stomach.

"Is this really a movie that people in Hiroshima can bear to watch?" said Kyoko Heya, president of the Japanese city's international film festival, on Monday after the blockbuster won seven Academy Awards including best picture.

Kyoto is cracking down after locals complained that Instagram-obsessed tourist "paparazzi" are harassing the Japanese city's famous, immaculately dressed geisha.

Real-life geisha, or "geiko" ("women of art") as they are known locally, work for a living -- as they have for centuries -- in teahouses in Kyoto's picturesque Gion district where they perform traditional Japanese dance, music and games.

At least four international news agencies – AFP, Associated Press, Getty Images and Reuters – on Sunday withdrew from their services the first official photo of Britain’s Princess Kate since her abdominal surgery, saying the image of Kate and her children released by Kensington Palace appears to have been manipulated. The concerns particularly relate to inconsistences with Princess Charlotte’s sleeve and hand. The news did little to put to bed speculation surrounding Kate’s condition, about which the palace has shared few details aside from saying it is not cancer-related.

The 42-year-old princess, whose husband Prince William is heir to the British throne, has been recovering mainly at their home in Windsor, west of London, since leaving hospital on January 29.