A Russian court has sentenced U.S.-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to six and a half years in prison for spreading "false information" about the military, a court spokesperson told AFP on Monday.

"Alsu Kurmasheva was sentenced. Six years, six months," Natalya Loseva, a spokesperson for the Supreme Court of Tatarstan, told AFP. Her employer, RFE/RL slammed the trial as a "mockery of justice".

A barrage of Ukrainian drones sparked a blaze overnight at an oil refinery and separately killed one person in southern Russia, officials in Russia and Ukraine said Monday.

Kyiv and Moscow have intensified fatal cross-border missile and drone attacks over recent months with both sides primarily targeting energy infrastructure.

Joe Biden's withdrawal from the U.S. presidential race injects greater uncertainty into the world at a time when Western leaders are grappling with wars in Ukraine and Gaza, a more assertive China in Asia and the rise of the far-right in Europe.

During a five-decade career in politics, Biden developed extensive personal relationships with multiple foreign leaders that none of the potential replacements on the Democratic ticket can match. After his announcement, messages of support and gratitude for his years of service poured in from near and far.

President Joe Biden's decision to step down as the Democratic Party's nominee for president opens the door for other contenders to become the Democratic nominee in November. The president has thrown his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris, and other prominent Democrats moved quickly to rally around her candidacy, but it's unclear just how smooth her path to the party's nomination is. Here are some of the leading contenders for a spot on the Democratic ticket:

Kamala Harris

Joe Biden on Sunday dropped out of the U.S. presidential election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party's new nominee, in a stunning move that upends the 2024 race for the White House.

The 81-year-old Biden stepped aside after weeks of pressure from Democrats following a disastrous debate performance, throwing the election battle against Republican Donald Trump into unprecedented turmoil.

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Friday he had spoken by telephone with Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky, and pledged to end the European country's war with Russia.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was convicted Friday of espionage and sentenced to 16 years on charges that his employer and the U.S. have rejected as fabricated.

The conclusion of his swift and secretive trial in the country's highly politicized legal system perhaps cleared the way for a prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington.

A widespread Microsoft outage was disrupting flights, banks, media outlets and companies around the world on Friday.

Escalating disruptions continued hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services.

As President Joe Biden faces a growing drumbeat of pressure to drop his reelection bid, a majority of Democrats think his vice president would make a good president herself.

A new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 6 in 10 Democrats believe Kamala Harris would do a good job in the top slot. About 2 in 10 Democrats don't believe she would, and another 2 in 10 say they don't know enough to say.

Critical days ahead, President Joe Biden is facing the stark reality that many Democrats at the highest levels want him to consider how stepping aside from the 2024 election to make way for a new nominee atop the ticket could be the party's best chance of preventing widespread losses in November.

Isolated as he battles a COVID infection at his beach house in Delaware, Biden's already small circle of confidants before his debate fumbling has downsized further. The president, who has insisted he can beat Republican Donald Trump, is with family and relying on a few longtime aides as he weighs whether to bow to the mounting pressure to drop out.