Australia's prime minister on Tuesday urged China to denounce Russian threats against Ukraine, as the crisis between the U.S.-led allies and Moscow raises the specter of a broader conflict.

Scott Morrison noted that Beijing and Moscow had announced they were pursuing closer relations since more than 100,000 Russian troops were sent to the Ukrainian border.

While the U.S. warns that Russia could invade Ukraine any day, the drumbeat of war is all but unheard in Moscow, where pundits and ordinary people alike don't expect President Vladimir Putin to launch an attack on its ex-Soviet neighbor.

The Kremlin has cast the U.S. warnings of an imminent attack as "hysteria" and "absurdity," and many Russians believe that Washington is deliberately stoking panic and fomenting tensions to trigger a conflict for domestic reasons.

Even if a Russian invasion of Ukraine doesn't happen in the next few days, the crisis is reaching a critical inflection point with European stability and the future of East-West relations hanging in the balance.

A convergence of events over the coming week could determine whether the stalemate is resolved peacefully or Europe is at war. At stake are Europe's post-Cold War security architecture and long-agreed limits on the deployment of conventional military and nuclear forces there.

Scientists and governments will meet Monday to finish a major United Nations report on how global warming disrupts people's lives, their natural environment and the Earth itself. Don't expect a flowery valentine to the planet: instead an activist group predicted "a nightmare painted in the dry language of science."

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a collection of hundreds of the world's top scientists, issues three huge reports on climate change every five to seven years. The latest update, which won't be finished until the end of February, will explain how climate change already affects humans and the planet, what to expect in the future, and the risks and benefits of adapting to a warmer world.

Iraq's top court has banned a veteran Kurdish politician from the country's presidency, citing lingering corruption allegations.

Hoshyar Zebari, a former foreign minister and longtime Iraqi diplomat, had been a front-runner competing against the sitting president, Barham Salih. In Iraq's political system, parliament votes to pick the president who in turn appoints the prime minister.

The busiest U.S.-Canada border crossing was open Monday after protesters demonstrating against COVID-19 measures blocked it for nearly a week, but a larger protest in the capital, Ottawa, persisted as city residents seethed over authorities' inability to reclaim the streets.

Demonstrations against COVID-19 restrictions and other issues have blocked several crossings along the U.S.-Canada border and hurt the economies of both nations. They also inspired similar convoys in France, New Zealand and the Netherlands. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned that truck convoys may be in the works in the United States.

As a political novice making an unlikely run to be Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to reach out to Russia-backed rebels in the east who were fighting Ukrainian forces and make strides toward resolving the conflict. The assurances contributed to his landslide victory in 2019.

But after 2½ years in office, Zelenskyy is watching his once-enormous support dissolve as Ukraine stands on what many fear is the verge of a Russian invasion that would not only take the rebel regions but possibly the rest of the country.

Saudi Arabia views Cyprus as a "bridge" between the Middle East and the European Union, helping the 27-nation bloc "understand what's going on" in the region, the Saudi foreign minister has said.

Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, speaking after talks with his Cypriot counterpart Ioannis Kasoulides, said that Cyprus helps "really focus the attention" on all the opportunities and challenges in the Middle East.

Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian during clashes in the occupied West Bank late Sunday, hours after police fanned out in a tense east Jerusalem neighborhood trying to contain violence between ultranationalist Jewish activists and Palestinian residents.

Early Monday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Akram Abu Salah, 17, died from a gunshot to his head.

After years of behind-the-scenes activity in the Gaza Strip, Egypt is going public.

Since mediating a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group, Egypt has sent crews to clear rubble and is promising to build vast new apartment complexes. Egyptian flags and billboards praising President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi have sprung up across the Palestinian territory.