Contemporary history

President Joe Biden's special envoy for North Korea said Friday the United States is "preparing for all contingencies" in close coordination with its South Korean and Japanese allies as it monitors North Korean arrangements for a possible nuclear test explosion that outside officials say could be imminent.

Turkey's exports increased by 15.2 percent on an annual basis to stand at $18.97 billion in May, preliminary data from the Trade Ministry showed on June 2.

The increase in the country's imports, which amounted to $29.65 billion last month, was faster at 43.8 percent.

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Russia has criticized the United States for sending artillery systems to Ukraine

Russia has condemned US plans to send more modern artillery systems to Ukraine and accused Washington of "adding fuel to the fire".

A failed push to move Ukrainian refugees from Black Sea hotels to state-owned complexes is indicative of the chaotic response of Bulgarian authorities to the humanitarian crisis unleashed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, activists say.

As the economy tanks and the number of Syrian refugees remains high, tensions between them and the host community are worsening.

Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian woman in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday who they said had approached them while carrying a knife. Another Palestinian was killed as the army went to demolish the family home of an attacker.

South Korean K-pop sensations BTS didn't sing a word but in a White House visit on May 31 to meet President Joe Biden the supergroup's message against anti-Asian racism came loud and clear.

The seven stars joined White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at the briefing room podium, a tiny, but a powerful stage.

The Biden administration says it will send Ukraine a small number of high-tech, medium-range rocket systems, a critical weapon that Ukrainian leaders have been begging for as they struggle to stall Russian progress in the Donbas region.

The PM said he was pleased with the results of the EU Summit

Efforts to evacuate civilians from Luhansk in eastern Ukraine came to a halt Monday after a French journalist was killed.
French President Emmanuel Macron said today, after the agreement of the leaders of the European Union on the sixth package of sanctions against Russia, that additional sanctions should not be written off in the coming weeks, Reuters reported.