Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have joined in a videoconference to initiate a series of nuclear energy projects, an event intended to display warming ties between two nations that are the chief geopolitical rivals to the United States. Chinese state media showed Xi and Putin greeting each other via video link and announcing the start of construction of Russia-designed reactors at two Chinese nuclear power plants. China has being seeking to reduce its reliance on coal for electricity, but the political aspects of the event were as important as the economic

Canada is calling for a ceasefire in the more than week-old flare-up of violence between Israel and the Palestinians. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the violence needs to stop. Trudeau says Canada will work with the international community to de-escalate the situation so there is no more loss of civilian life. At least 212 Palestinians have died and 10 people in Israel have been killed since both sides renewed attacks eight days ago. U.S. President Joe Biden expressed support for a ceasefire during a call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday.

Palestinian families grabbed their children and belongings and fled neighborhoods on the outskirts of Gaza City as Israel unleashed heavy artillery fire and airstrikes. A family of six was killed inside their home. Israel says it was clearing a network of militant tunnels ahead of a possible ground invasion. It has massed troops along the border and called up nine-thousand reservists as fighting intensifies with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. Israeli aircraft have leveled a multistory building housing a bank affiliated with the Hamas militant group in Gaza C

U.S. President Joe Biden is calling it "a great day for America" and a major step toward returning to pre-pandemic life.Biden says the Centers for Disease Control has announced that some Americans can stop wearing a mask.The new CDC guidance still calls for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings - but it clears the way for reopening workplaces and schools.Public health officials in this country suggest a different approach will be taken here and that physical distancing, mask wearing and frequent hand washing remain key.

The California Highway Patrol says a Tesla driver was arrested after an officer saw him in the backseat as the car drove on a San Francisco Bay Area freeway. Authorities say 25-year-old Param Sharma was arrested for alleged reckless driving and disobeying an officer. The arrest followed 911 calls Monday reporting a person seated in the backseat of a Tesla Model 3 without no one in the driver's seat while the vehicle traveled Interstate 80 across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Sharma was released from jail Tuesday and told the KTVU television station that what he did was not dangerous a

Israeli fighter jets have dropped two bombs on a 14-story building in Gaza City and destroyed it. The building housed businesses as well as offices for Hamas' Al-Aqsa satellite TV channel. It was located in the old Roman neighborhood, on the busiest shopping street in Gaza. Hamas says it has fired 130 rockets toward Israel in response for the attack on Wednesday.Israeli TV channels broadcast the collapse of most of a massive high-rise building in central Gaza City targeted by airstrikes. The latest escalation in fighting between Israel and Hamas had commentators predicting Gaza militants would

Business leaders in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin have joined forces with their Canadian counterparts in the legal fight over the Line 5 pipeline. The U.S. and Canadian chambers of commerce are also included in a new legal brief filed with the U.S. District Court in Michigan.The filing comes after a similar brief was submitted yesterday by the federal Liberal government urging the court to keep the cross-border pipeline operating.The chambers spell out in detail a cascade of likely "severe, nationwide and international" consequences if the line running through Michigan is shut down.They argue

The White House says President Joe Biden is being briefed daily on developments in Jerusalem and Gaza, and has directed his team to engage intensively with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials as well as leaders throughout the Middle East. Press secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday that Biden's team is communicating a clear and consistent message in support of de escalation. ``That is our primary focus,'' she said, adding that Biden supports Israel's ``legitimate right to defend itself and its people'' and at the same time condemns ongoing ``rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist grou

A man in Austria has been convicted of intentionally infecting his ex-wife with the coronavirus by coughing at her. A spokesman for the Linz regional court said Tuesday that the 63-year-old was given a nine-month sentence, suspended for three years. Judges had convicted the man Monday of attempted serious bodily harm for giving the victim COVID-19 while they were still living in the same house pending the finalization of their divorce last November. The defendant had coughed at the 70-year-old woman after learning that he had tested positive for COVID-19. He was also convicted of threatening