Tehran, Iran – China, Iran and Russia conducted joint naval drills Tuesday in the Middle East, offering a show of force in a region still uneasy over Tehran's rapidly expanding nuclear program and as Yemen's Houthi rebels threaten new attacks on ships.

The pair - a British diplomat and the spouse of another - were accused of engaging in intelligence activity under cover of the embassy in Moscow.

Trump reiterates his stance that the US could withdraw support for countries that don’t raise their defence spending

Asked whether there is now more of a real prospect of Britain being at war with Russia, Sir Keir Starmer said: “The reason I’ve been forward-leaning on this is because I want to avoid conflict, because I do not want conflict in Ukraine, in Europe...I want stability in the United Kingdom.

Four people were killed when a Russian missile struck a hotel in Volodymyr Zelensky's home town but some American humanitarian volunteers survived the attack.

London, 12 EU countries, Canada, and Turkey seek a peace plan to convince the United States and provide guarantees to Kiev, while Starmer promises new aid that will fund over 5,000 missiles. The European NATO countries and Canada have decided to increase military aid to Ukraine and economic sanctions on Russia so that the Kiev government can negotiate with Moscow "from a position of strength,

In the UK, gov’t funds billions to Ukraine The United Kingdom will provide Ukraine with billions in aid via 5,000 air-defense missiles — worth over $2 billion total — and a $2.8 billion loan funded by freezing some of the country’s investments in Russian government bonds,

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned "Western elites" against trying to sabotage a potential rapprochement between Russia and the United States, saying Moscow would use its diplomats and intelligence services to thwart such efforts.