"We have reason to believe that China engaged Russia and said: 'Don't go there,'" outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Financial Times on Jan. 3.

The U.S. secretary of state told the Financial Times that pressure from Beijing dissuaded Vladimir Putin from using nuclear weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin continues seeking to expand his challenge of the West's order — this time in tech. The Russian leader has ordered his government and Russian banking giant Sberbank to work with China on artificial intelligence,

"He wants to meet. And we're setting it up," Trump said of the Russian leader before a meeting with Republican governors at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. He did not offer a timeline for the meeting.

The Russian president hobnobbed with world leaders and received a plethora of gifts, including a pair of hunting dogs.

In an exit interview with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly, CIA Director William Burns says he still thinks "there's a chance" for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed condolences to Chinese President Xi Jinping over the human casualties caused by the earthquake in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. This is reported by the Kremlin website.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Sberbank's CEO German Gref attend AI Journey, an international conference on artificial intelligence technology, in Moscow, Russia, on December 11, 2024. Photo: VCG Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government and Sberbank,

Western sanctions intended to restrict Moscow’s access to the technologies it needs to sustain its war against Ukraine have resulted in the world’s major producers of microchips halting exports to Russia,

The Russian president celebrated his 50th birthday at a winery in Moldova. After the invasion of Ukraine, it moved the bottles he was given away from public view.

Further raising the nuclear risk levels are advancing technologies. AI can dangerously automate the command and control of nuclear weapons. The increased role of nuclear energy to address climate change could increase the spread of nuclear weapons capability, unless diligently addressed.