The Biden administration on Tuesday announced that the U.S. would send a $325 million weapons package to Ukraine after the country earlier this month launched a counter-offensive in the war against Russia.
Driving the news: The latest aid comes as Russian missile strikes hit the south and east of the country, Axios' Dave Lawler writes.
Six months since taking office, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's major environmental and reform initiatives are in peril because of an uncooperative Congress.
Why it matters: Lula came topower in part by promising to reverse record levels of deforestation in the Amazon, which affect the entire world, and to protect Indigenous communities hurt by illegal mining and logging.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset foreign relations and security committee that the Biden administration has held indirect talks with Iran on a “mini agreement” or “an understanding” related to Iran's nuclear program, according to five lawmakers who attended the meeting.
Why it matters: The Biden administration has so far not publicly confirmed that it recently held indirect talks with Iran in Oman, as Axios previously reported. The administration has also denied that it is working on an interim agreement with Tehran.
A cascade of sexual assault allegations is unfolding in Taiwan, with accusations directed at staffers in the country’s ruling party, the dissident community and a Polish diplomat.
The big picture: This is the first #MeToo-style movement in Taiwan, widely perceived as one of the most progressive countries in Asia, with legal same-sex marriage and a female president.
As the headlinerat a recent Friday night performance at Taipei's bilingual Two Three Comedy Club, Chinese comedian Jamie Wang brought down the house with her deadpan humor and biting sarcasm.
The big picture: Comedy helps her deal with the discrimination and painful stereotypes she faces as a Chinese person in Taiwan, Wang told Axios in an interview.
At least 11 people were killed and 28 injured overnight in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih when a Russian missile struck a residential building, according to the regional governor.
Driving the news: The strikes on Kryvyi Rih, which is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's hometown, also knocked out power to around 6,000 residents. Russia also conducted strikes on Kyiv, as they have repeatedly for more than a month, though no deaths were reported in the capital.
A helicopter "mishap" in northeastern Syria left 22 American service members injured, the U.S. Central Command said late Monday.
Details: The service members had "injuries of varying degrees" and 10 of them were evacuated to higher care facilities outside the Central Command area of responsibility, according to a U.S. Central Command statement on Sunday's incident.
The U.S. and UN are reiterating their calls for an international intervention in Haiti to break the stranglehold of violent gangs that have terrorized the capital city and paralyzed the country's economy.
Why it matters: It's been eight months since interim HaitianPresident Ariel Henry first requested an armed intervention. The government now controls only small pockets of Port-au-Prince, and violence has spread out of the slums into virtually every corner of the city.
The U.S. last week privately notified the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) that it has decided to rejoin the agency nearly six years after the Trump administration announced it was withdrawing U.S. membership, a State Department spokesperson told Axios.
Why it matters: Rejoining UNESCO is one of the Biden administration's foreign policy goals — mainly in an effort to counter what it sees as the growing influence of the Chinese government on the UN agency's agenda.
The Israeli government told the Biden administration it intends to announce later this month the building and planning of thousands of new housing units in the settlements in the occupied West Bank, three Israeli and U.S. officials told Axios.
Why it matters: The Biden administration has said it is vehemently opposed to new building in the Israeli settlements, which it sees as undermining the prospects for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani confirmed on Monday Axios’ report that Iran and the U.S. held indirect talks last month in Oman.
Why it matters: The “proximity talks” represented the first known indirect engagement between the U.S. and Iran in this way in several months. They took place amid growing concerns in the White House about Iran’s nuclear advances.
Former Italian Prime Minister and billionaire media mogul Silvio Berlusconi died on Monday at the age of 86.
The big picture: A right-wing provocateur who blazed a trail other populists would follow, Berlusconi thrice served as prime minister between 1994 and 2011 and led his Forza Italia party right up until his death. His political career survived multiple criminal trials and one conviction, for tax fraud, as well as scandals over "bunga bunga" sex parties and accusations of economic mismanagement.
Some 435 wildfires were burning across Canada overnight as smoke from the blazes lingered in New York City and other parts of the U.S.
State of play: The fires forced officials in British Columbia to order fresh evacuations over the weekend and evacuation orders remained in place for thousands of people in Alberta and Quebec.
