Global News Round-Up: Putin's Warnings, Migrant Challenges, and Political Shifts

This summary covers key world news, including Putin's missile threats, Biden's new asylum policies, South Africa's ANC considering a unity government, and various international diplomatic and political updates. Topics range from migrant challenges at the U.S.-Mexico border to Hunter Biden's criminal trial and naval exercises by Russia in the Caribbean.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Putin says Russia could deploy missiles in striking distance of the West

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he could deploy conventional missiles within striking distance of the United States and its European allies if they allowed Ukraine to strike deeper into Russia with long-range Western weapons. Putin, in his first face-to-face meeting with senior editors of international news agencies since the war in Ukraine began, said the West was wrong to assume Russia would never use nuclear weapons, and said the Kremlin's nuclear doctrine should not be taken lightly.

New reality for migrants at U.S.-Mexico border as Biden asylum ban takes effect

Jessica Leon, an asylum-seeker from Ecuador, scaled a border wall on Tuesday with her 3-year-old daughter, setting foot on U.S. soil in San Diego, California, just hours before a new asylum ban took effect. She and about a dozen other migrants from Guatemala, Colombia and Vietnam who climbed the wall immediately turned themselves in to U.S. border agents. They were directed to walk to the place known as Whiskey 8 - a dusty strip of U.S. territory between two border walls, one dividing the U.S. from Mexico and the second a more imposing obstacle several yards further north.

South Africa's ANC leans towards unity government but meets resistance

The African National Congress is leaning towards trying to form a government of national unity for South Africa, it said on Wednesday, but the second-largest party said it would not join a government that included some of its smaller rivals. The ANC, which has run the country since Nelson Mandela led it to victory in the 1994 elections that marked the end of apartheid, lost its parliamentary majority in last week's election for the first time in the democratic era.

Ukrainian official in Beijing urges China to attend peace summit

Ukraine's first deputy foreign minister visited China on Wednesday and urged it to send a delegation to a planned summit on Ukraine this month in Switzerland, in the apparent hope it was still possible to persuade China to attend. Russia has not been invited to participate in the June 15-16 meeting. Beijing has so far said it will stay away, describing the attendance of both warring sides as a prerequisite for any substantive peace conference.

In apparent blow to Biden plan, Hamas leader demands full end to Gaza war

The leader of Hamas said on Wednesday the group would demand a permanent end to the war in Gaza and Israeli withdrawal as part of a ceasefire plan, dealing an apparent blow to a truce proposal touted last week by U.S. President Joe Biden. Israel, meanwhile, said there would be no halt to fighting during ceasefire talks, and launched a new assault on a central section of the Gaza Strip near the last city yet to be stormed by its tanks.

Hunter Biden's ex-girlfriend describes his drug use at his criminal trial

Hunter Biden's former girlfriend testified about his near-constant crack cocaine use at lavish hotels at the criminal trial where prosecutors are trying to prove that U.S. President Joe Biden's son lied about his addiction to illegally buy a gun.

Jurors heard that Hunter Biden would prepare crack at the ritzy Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles or spend days in hotel rooms getting high in the months before his 2018 gun purchase, according to his former girlfriend.

Indian PM Modi set to take oath for a third time at the weekend as allies pledge support

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's National Democratic Alliance (NDA) formally named him on Wednesday to lead a new coalition government for a third straight term, a day after it regained power with a surprisingly slim majority. Modi, a populist who has dominated Indian politics since 2014, will for the first time head a government dependent on the support of regional allies whose loyalties have wavered over time, which could complicate the new cabinet's reform agenda.

US expecting Russian naval exercises in Caribbean this summer

Russia plans to send combat vessels into the Caribbean region this summer as part of naval exercises that will likely include port calls in Cuba and possibly stops in Venezuela, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday. The United States does not see the move involving a relatively small number of vessels and planes as threatening, but the U.S. Navy will monitor the exercises, the official told a small group of reporters.

Macron pays tribute to civilian victims of D-Day bombings in Normandy

As world leaders gathered to celebrate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the thousands of civilian victims of Allied bombardments on that day and in the months-long Battle of Normandy that followed. Thousands of Allied soldiers died on June 6th, 1944, on the beaches of Normandy, but so did French civilians. Estimates of the numbers of civilians killed in Normandy as allies took back control of the region range from 13,000-20,000.

Biden's airing of Gaza ceasefire proposal pushes Netanyahu toward a deal

When U.S. President Joe Biden publicly aired a Gaza ceasefire proposal developed by Israel and the United States and sent to Hamas, he made the announcement without seeking agreement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said three U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter. The decision to announce unilaterally - an unusual step for the United States to take with a close ally - was deliberate, officials say, and narrowed the room for Israel or Hamas to back away from the deal.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)