Members of the Council on Foreign Relations

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged China to oppose Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Blinken spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during the G20 summit on the Indonesian island of Bali.

The United States economy remains strong but a series of aggressive rate hikes meant to cool soaring inflation could eventually trigger a recession, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has cautioned.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has pledged to do whatever it takes to curb inflation, now raging at a four-decade high and defying the Fed's efforts so far to tame it.

Increasingly, it seems, doing so might require the one painful thing the Fed has sought to avoid: A recession.

The Federal Reserve on May 4 announced its biggest rate hike since 2000, with a half percentage point increase as it works to crush soaring US inflation.

The Federal Reserve this week is set to redouble its assault against record U.S. inflation while facing an array of shocks both internal and external that analysts fear may one day put the world's largest economy into a recession.

The United States and NATO have rejected Russia's demand that the alliance close the door on Ukraine's future membership, as well as abandon any further enlargement. In addition, Nord Stream 2 will not operate if Russia invades Ukraine.

Blinken immediately warned that Russia could carry out the attack "in a very short time".
"As you all know, in the last few months we have been engaged in an intensive focus on Ukraine due to the significant accumulation of Russian forces we saw near the Ukrainian border," Blinken said in a conversation with Ukrainian diplomats at the US Embassy in Kiev, Reuters reports.

The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday to choose "a peaceful path" as the top U.S. diplomat paid a solidarity visit to Ukraine amid invasion fears.

"I strongly, strongly hope that we can keep this on a diplomatic and peaceful path, but ultimately, that's going to be President Putin's decision," Blinken said at the U.S. embassy.

A prominent U.S. art collector and billionaire philanthropist has returned 180 works of art and antiquities stolen from around the world -- some from ancient Greece -- that are estimated to be worth $70 million, Justice Department officials in New York said on Dec. 6.

Ghislaine Maxwell tightly regulated every detail in Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach mansion as "lady of the house," a former employee testified on Dec. 2 during the British heiress' sex trafficking trial.