- 'Yes' vote prevails in Kazakhstan nuclear plant vote: TV
- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Lewandowski hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- 'Nothing gets in way of team,' says Celtics' MVP hopeful Tatum
- India maintain Pakistan stranglehold as Windies cruise at Women's T20 World Cup
- 'We will win!': Mozambique's ruling party confident at final vote rally
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Florida braces for Milton, FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation
- Postecoglou slams 'unacceptable' Spurs after 'terrible' loss at Brighton
- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- Maresca hails Chelsea's 'fighting' spirit after draw with 10-man Forest
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Arshdeep, Chakravarthy help India hammer Bangladesh in T20 opener
- Lewandowski's quickfire hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Toddler among 4 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
Biden to sound out Putin as US warns of Ukraine war 'any day'
US President Joe Biden and France's Emmanuel Macron prepared to sound out Russia's Vladimir Putin on Saturday and Ukraine urged its citizens not to panic after Washington warned that an all-out invasion could begin "any day".
Weeks of tensions that have seen Russia surround its western neighbour with more than 100,000 troops revved up another notch when the Kremlin launched its biggest naval drills in years across the Black Sea.
The exercises off the coast of Ukraine's Odessa added urgency to a hastily arranged call Saturday between Biden and Putin aimed at defusing one of the gravest crises in East-West relations since the Cold War.
The Russian leader is also due to speak later Saturday with Macron. The talks come after a week of frantic shuttle diplomacy by the French leader and European officials did little to ease fears of war breaking out in eastern Europe.
Russia on Saturday added to the ominous tone by pulling some of its diplomatic staff out of Ukraine.
The foreign ministry in Moscow said its decision was prompted by fears of "possible provocations from the Kyiv regime".
But Washington and a host of European countries cited the growing threat of a Russian invasion as they called on their citizens to leave Ukraine as soon possible.
Germany became the latest European country to advise its citizens to leave Ukraine while the US embassy in Kyiv ordered non-emergency staff to leave Ukraine.
The prospect of frightened Westerners fleeing their country prompted Ukraine's foreign ministry to issue an appeal to its citizens to keep calm.
"At the moment, it is critically important to remain calm, to consolidate inside the country, to avoid destabilising actions and those that sow panic," the ministry said.
"Ukrainian diplomats are in constant contact with all its key partners, swiftly receiving the information needed to prepare a well-timed response."
- 'Any day now' -
Washington on Friday issued its most dire warning yet that Russia had assembled enough forces to launch a serious assault at any moment.
"Our view that military action could occur any day now, and could occur before the end of the Olympics, is only growing in terms of its robustness," US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan warned.
US military assessments had earlier said the Kremlin may want to wait for the Beijing Winter Olympic Games to end on February 20 before launching an offensive so as not to offend Russia's ally China.
Sullivan stopped short of saying that the United States has concluded that Putin has made the decision to attack.
But some US media cited intelligence sources and officials as saying that Washington believes that a war could begin at some point after Putin concludes talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Moscow on Tuesday.
The German leader is due to travel to Kyiv on Monday and then visit Putin as part of Europe's efforts to keep the lines of communication open with Moscow.
Russia is demanding binding security guarantees from the West that includes a pledge to roll NATO forces out of eastern Europe and to never expand into Ukraine.
Washington has flatly rejected the demands while offering to discuss a new European disarmament agreement with Moscow.
Russia has called the US proposal woefully insufficient.
- 'Pivotal moment' -
The diplomatic push will continue on Saturday with talks between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Blinken told a press conference in Fiji that the crisis had entered "a pivotal moment".
"If Russia is genuinely interested in resolving this crisis of its own making through diplomacy and dialogue, we're prepared to do that," Blinken said.
He added that dialogue would only be possible if accompanied by "de-escalation."
"So far, we've only seen escalation from Moscow," he said.
Blinken said the United States was also still waiting for a response to "some of the ideas" floated by Washington.
Macron's talks with Putin came after a visit to Moscow last Monday during which he said he had secured a pledge "that there will be no degradation nor escalation" from the Kremlin.
- Western, NATO unity -
Sullivan repeated warnings that Russia risks severe Western sanctions and said that NATO is now "more cohesive, more purposeful, more dynamic than any time in recent memory."
The Pentagon announced it was sending 3,000 more troops to bolster ally Poland.
European leaders also resolved to punish Russia with severe economic sanctions if it attacks.
"The aim is to prevent a war in Europe," Scholz's spokesman said after a call between US and European leaders.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the sanctions would target the financial and energy sectors.
Sullivan spoke to von der Leyen's chief of staff by video call to coordinate "the details of a potential transatlantic response, including both financial sanctions and export controls," the White House said.
burs-zak/as/gw
H.E.Young--AMWN