Venezuela denounces Trump's order for ship blockade as 'warmongering threats'
US President Donald Trump has ordered "a total and complete" blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela - a move denounced by Caracas as "warmongering threats", BBC reported.
Trump wrote that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government had been designated a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO), which had also engaged in "Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking".
His remarks come after the US seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela last week, a significant action in light of the South American nation's reliance on oil, according to BBC.
Heavy rains worsen conditions for displaced Gazans, UN warns
Heavy rains over the past week have compounded the already dire living conditions of the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, UN agencies say, BBC reported.
Unicef spokesman Jonathan Crickx told the BBC that the weather overnight had been "horrendous", with the rain so intense that he had seen up to 15cm (6in) of water on the ground near his office.
He said he was extremely concerned that children living in tents and makeshift shelters in wet clothing would succumb to hypothermia and other illnesses, according to BBC.
EU leaders face crunch decision on loaning Russia's frozen cash to Ukraine
European Union leaders begin two days of talks in Brussels with a momentous decision to be taken on whether to loan tens of billions of euros in frozen Russian assets to Ukraine to fund its military and economic needs, BBC reported.
Most of Russia's €210bn (£185bn; $245bn) worth of assets in the EU are held by Belgium-based organisation Euroclear, and so far Belgium and some other members of the bloc have said they are opposed to using the cash.
Without a boost in funding, Ukraine's finances are set to run dry in a matter of months, according to BBC.
Pakistan's military chief Asim Munir in spotlight over Trump's Gaza plan
Pakistan's most powerful military chief in decades faces the toughest test of his newly amassed powers as Washington pushes Islamabad to contribute troops to the Gaza stabilisation force, a move analysts say could spark domestic backlash, Reuters reported.
Field Marshal Asim Munir is expected to fly to Washington to meet President Donald Trump in the coming weeks for a third meeting in six months that will likely focus on the Gaza force, two sources told Reuters, one of them a key player in the general's economic diplomacy.
Trump's 20-point Gaza plan calls for a force from Muslim nations to oversee a transition period for reconstruction and economic recovery in the war-torn Palestinian territory, decimated by over two years of Israeli military bombardment, according to Reuters.
