Fears of a radioactive "false flag"have sparked a rare flurry of phone calls between Washington and Moscow and between the U.S. and its allies as they warn the Kremlin against nuclear escalation.
Why it matters: Kyiv and Washington have both rejected the "absurd" claims from top Russian officials and state media that Ukraine intends to detonate a "dirty bomb" on its own soil. But both have noted that Moscow often accuses others of what it intends to do itself.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Axios that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu should "drink less dirty vodka" in response to Shoigu's claim that Ukraine is preparing to use a "dirty bomb."
Why it matters: Kuleba's comment comes a day after Shoigu raised the "dirty bomb" claim in calls with the defense ministers of the U.S., France, U.K. and Turkey.
The Chinese Communist Party's powerful Politburo will include no women for the first time since 1997, and instead be made up of 24 men with a top echelon packed with President Xi Jinping's loyalists.
Why it matters: Female representation among Party leadershiphas always been limited, but Sunday'sannouncement marks the first time in 25 years that a woman was not named to the Party's decision-making body.
Former finance minister Rishi Sunak has won the contest to replace Liz Truss as Conservative Party leader. He will become the U.K.'s first prime minister of color and of South Asian descent later this week.
Why it matters: The U.K. has faced extreme political and economic turmoil over the past several months, with Boris Johnson resigning due to a series of scandals and Truss then stepping down after just six weeks because her tax cuts plan caused a run on the British pound.
Driving the news: "Brittney does not expect any miracles to happen but hopes that the appeal court will hear the arguments of the defense and reduce the term," Griner's lawyers, Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday criticized Israel and suggested that Russia will help Iran with its nuclear program in exchange for providing Moscow with drones and missiles for its war in Ukraine.
Security forces in Qatar have "arbitrarily arrested lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people and "subjected them to ill-treatment in detention," Human Rights Watch said in a report published Monday ahead of next month's World Cup.
The big picture: Qatari officials denied the allegations in the HRW report, which come after rights groups and several European soccer teams raised concerns about human rights in the men's soccer World Cup host nation — where homosexuality is illegal.
The militaries of North and South Korea exchanged warning shots along their disputed maritime border on Monday, according to officials from both countries.
Why it matters: The exchange along the western sea boundary comes in the wake of the North Korean military's recent spate of missile tests.
