- A senior Russian diplomat warned Thursday that increasing Western support for Ukraine could trigger an open conflict between nuclear powers. Speaking at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov denounced the US and its allies for openly declaring the goal of defeating Russia in a hybrid war.
- Italian prosecutors have closed a COVID-19 investigation that accuses officials, including a former premier and a regional governor, of wrongdoing for failing to extend the lockdown zone in the early days of the pandemic to the northern city of Bergamo and adjacent industrial valleys.
- US Ambassador Sidney McCain was appointed head Thursday of the UN World Food Program, world's largest humanitarian organization which aims to help nearly 150 million people confronting conflicts, disasters, and impacts of climate change this year.
