Blog Verité

The statement by the president and prime minister comes a day after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited both Finland and Sweden to sign a military cooperation agreement. (Image credit: Frank Augstein/AP)

The White House and U.S. politicians join others around the world in calling for the release of a retired archbishop, singer and others in the Chinese territory. (Image credit: Kin Cheung/AP)

Membership of the alliance would be a major break from decades of nonaligned defense policy and deal a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambition to divide and weaken the Western alliance.

Finland’s leaders say country should apply for NATO membership ‘without delay’  CNBC Watch again: Boris Johnson and Finnish President give update after Ukraine meeting  The Independent Finland president, prime minister, urge the country to apply for NATO membership ‘without delay’  Fox News Finland’s

N.Korea reports first COVID-19 outbreak, orders lockdown in “gravest emergency”  Reuters.com North Korea reports its first Covid outbreak.  The New York Times North Korea declares ‘major national emergency’ as first case of Covid-19 identified, state media reports  CNN North Korea confirms 1st COVID

The cash was part of a fund-raising blitz that helped propel Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s party to victory in 2019. Records track $630,225 to a Russian bank account.

While the scale of the outbreak isn’t known, it could have serious consequences because the country has a poor health care system and its 26 million people are believed to be mostly unvaccinated. (Image credit: Lee Jin-man/AP)

Coastal Fire reaches 200 acres in Southern California’s Laguna Niguel  The Washington Post Southern California fire torches million-dollar coastal homes as blaze continues to grow  Fox News Dozens of homes destroyed as Coastal Fire rips through affluence Laguna Niguel neighborhood  KTLA 5 Coastal

Russia’s president is calculating that Western leaders will tire before he does of a protracted struggle in Ukraine, especially if the price is turbocharged inflation and energy shortages.

As Russia’s invasion chokes off Ukrainian wheat exports, pushing up bread and noodle prices, the global harvest faces an added test: extreme weather. Droughts, flooding and heatwaves threaten output from the U.S. to France and India, compounding shrinking production in