Bloomberg Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to cease fighting in Ukraine for 36 hours starting from Friday at noon, Moscow time, but Kyiv quickly dismissed the move as a ploy, unlikely to slow a conflict that’s heading for its second year. The Kremlin said Putin gave the order for Russian Orthodox Christmas. It follows an appeal by the ...

  Bloomberg The Taliban-led administration in Afghanistan signed its first international contract to extract oil from the northern Amu Darya basin as the beleaguered group seeks to increase revenue. The agreement with a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), was inked in Kabul in the presence of Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan, Wang Yu, and the Taliban’s Deputy Prime Minister ...

Bloomberg The second anniversary of the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol arrives with the building again in turmoil, this time as House Republicans quarrel over a speaker to lead the chamber. The chaos unfolding on the House floor threatens to tarnish the new GOP majority, which voters put back in power less than two years after a ...