The US State Department has ordered some diplomats and family members to depart ‌from its missions in Saudi Arabia and plans to withdraw family members from a number of other US missions in the region, US officials said. The order came as attacks in Saudi Arabia killed at least one person and injured eight others at a civilian airport in Dammam, and two people were killed in a drone attack on an oilfield. US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a post on social media ⁠that the...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to resume US-mediated peace talks with Ukraine as soon as next month, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, after Putin met US envoy Steve Witkoff in Washington’s latest push to stop Europe’s bloodiest conflict since second world war. The talks in a grand imperial palace in St Petersburg, the ninth time that Witkoff has met Putin in person, began with a goodwill gesture from Russia – the release of Stephen Hubbard, a retired US teacher held in...