During his visit to Tehran on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin received strong backing for the war in Ukraine from Iran’s supreme leader.
Driving the news: Putin was in Iran — his second foreign trip since launching the invasion in February — for a meeting with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as a summit with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
The U.S. has intelligence indicating the Kremlin is "reviewing detailed plans" to annex multiple Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said Tuesday.
Why it matters: The four regions — Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk — are contiguous and together would connect Russia with the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow occupied and annexed in 2014.
Driving the news: Multiple homes and buildings were destroyed by a blaze in Wennington, England, while 110 fire engines were responding to at least 10 fires across London on Tuesday afternoon.
The Chinese government warned on Tuesday that China would be forced to take "strong and resolute measures" if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan.
Driving the news: Pelosi plans to lead a delegation to the island nation in August, the Financial Times reported, making her the highest ranking U.S. lawmaker to visit the country since former Speaker Newt Gingrich made the trip in 1997.
In the midst of an unprecedented heat wave, the U.K. on Tuesday broke its national record for the highest temperature ever registered, with a provisional reading of 104.36°F (40.2°C) at London's Heathrow Airport, according to the country's weather service.
Why it matters: This is the first time the U.K. has breached this temperature that is more common in tropical and desert climates, and studies point to climate change as a key factor behind the scorchingly hot temperatures.
Firefighters in France, Portugal, Spain, the U.K. and other parts of Europe on Tuesday continued to battle raging wildfires that have forced thousands to flee and caused several deaths.
Colombian President-electGustavo Petro is planning to push for major police and justice system reforms when he takes office next month.
The big picture: Petro will be inaugurated Aug. 7 as the country’s first leftist president, which has generated massive expectations — and fears among some critics — about his many proposed changes.
The shoddy responseto the Uvalde shooting that left 19 children and their two teachers dead will likely lead to policy changes, but it's still unclear whether individual police officers will be held accountable.
The big picture: An investigative report released Sunday by a Texas House of Representatives committee found a total 376 officers who responded to the scene — most of whom were state and federal police — lacked clear leadership and communication as well as urgency to stop the gunman.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Tuesday that the FBI and Department of Justice recently "disrupted" a ransomware group backed by the North Korean government that targeted U.S. medical facilities.
Why it matters: In one of the group's attacks, Monaco said a Kansas hospital made a $500,000 payment to the cyber group after being hit by ransomware known as “Maui.”
Axios China reporter Bethany Allen-Ebrahimianis now on the ground in Taipei, Taiwan, covering U.S.-China competition in the Indo-Pacific, a region the U.S. has identified as a "priority theater."
Why it matters: The pace of news coming out of the Indo-Pacific is only going to accelerate as Beijing hopes to push the U.S. out of the region and establish its own authoritarian sphere of influence.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Tehran on Tuesday for a summit with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
Why it matters: With Syria, Ukraine and oil on the agenda, all three leaders have something to gain from the summit. So, potentially, does the world, as Putin and Erdoğan will discuss a deal to resume grain exports from Ukraine that is reportedly close to completion but doesn't yet have Putin's explicit backing.
Conservative members of Parliament held their penultimate vote on the party's next leader on Tuesday, with former finance minister Rishi Sunak (118 votes) finishing first and right-winger Kemi Badenoch (59 votes) eliminated.
State of play: Trade minister Penny Mordaunt (92 votes) and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (86 votes) also survived. The last round of voting on Wednesday will trim the field down to the final two, before the party's roughly 200,000-strong membership selects the next Conservative leader and thus the U.K.'s next prime minister.
The U.K. has likely endured its "warmest night," and its hottest day ever is forecast to follow on Tuesday as Europe's historic heat wave spreads north.
What's happening: Temperatures were above 25°C (77°F) in some parts of the U.K. overnight, per provisional Met Office data, as its first-ever Red warning for heat covers much of England. Temperatures could exceed 40°C (104°F) for the first time Tuesday. Southern Germany and eastern France were forecast to see similar temperatures.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday called for the modernization of world trading practices in order to be less dependent on countries like China for products, which she said has "benefited enormously" from the current system.
Driving the news: "We cannot allow countries like China to use their market position in key raw materials, technologies or products to disrupt our economy or exercise unwanted geopolitical leverage," Yellen said in a speech in Seoul.
Ukraine's first lady, Olena Zelenska, met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday as part of her trip to the U.S. this week, during which she will address members of Congress at the Capitol.
