Page 497 - Icks News Today

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has put Azerbaijan and Belarus at the highest level for COVID-19, warning Americans to avoid traveling to either country.

Highlights include Brad Paisley, pianist Christian Sands, new ‘Texas Chainsaw...

Moscow says it isn't "carrying out any unusual military activity." Analysts monitoring the buildup of forces on Russia's border with Ukraine disagree, saying the concentration of forces is "definitely not an exercise."

Iran's foreign minister says an agreement to restore the 2015 nuclear deal is "at hand," referring to forward momentum at negotiations in Vienna.

With Russian troops massing near Ukraine's borders, cities are taking stock of their bomb shelters. Many are being used for businesses such as barber shops, tattoo parlors, and at least one strip club. Others are too run-down to serve their purpose.

The United States is relocating its embassy operations from Kyiv to the western city of Lviv, says Secretary of State Antony Blinken, citing the "dramatic acceleration in the buildup of Russian forces."

The Central Election Commission has launched the first stage of Turkmenistan's campaign in an early presidential election, opening the process for the nomination of candidates from the Central Asian state's three registered political parties.

The wife of jailed Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has demanded to be allowed to be present at her husband's "illegal and shameful" trial inside the penal colony where the outspoken Kremlin critic is being held.

Belarusian authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet before the weekend as joint military maneuvers involving the two nations continue to stoke fears that Moscow may be planning to invade neighboring Ukraine. 

A 33-year-old interpreter who worked for NATO forces in Afghanistan managed to get to Ukraine with his large family after the Taliban takeover last summer. But delays in his Canadian visa application has him worried they'll all be trapped in Ukraine if Russian forces invade.