US approves sale of 48 F-35 stealth fighter jets to Saudi Arabia

The US government has approved the potential sale of 48 F-35 stealth fighter jets and related equipment to Saudi Arabia. The state department said the estimated total cost is 24.3 billion US dollars.

Elections for deputies to the ninth session of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, have kicked off across Russia, with the first polling stations opening in the country's easternmost regions.

China has received 58 cultural artifacts, artworks, and paleontological fossils returned by the United States. Among the returned artifacts is a statue of a bodhisattva, which was looted and taken overseas more than a century ago.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says new US sanctions on Russia will complicate efforts to reach a peaceful settlement in Ukraine, calling the move an unfriendly action by Washington.

Chinese runner Zhao Jiaju has won the Tor des Geants trail race in Italy, becoming the first Chinese champion and the first Asian runner to claim the title since the event began.

US President Donald Trump will reportedly meet leaders or foreign ministers from the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries in New York next Tuesday to discuss the next steps in the Iran war on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Event organizer say the 23rd China-ASEAN Expo will spotlight new business opportunities under the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 framework, with more than 3,400 companies from over 70 countries and regions set to participate.

UN humanitarians say funding shortfalls and Israeli restrictions on the import of critical items are slowing down the response to a deadly Gaza building collapse. Civil defense teams had retrieved 21 bodies and rescued dozens of people with injuries.

The US Federal Reserve has raised interest rates for the first time in more than three years in a renewed fight against inflation. Officials voted to raise their benchmark lending rate by a quarter point to a range of 3.75-4 percent.

In her State of the Union address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, European Commission President von der Leyen said the EU and Canada will seek to upgrade ties to an "Alliance for the Future," covering manufacturing, technology, the Arctic, and artificial intelligence. She also suggested creating a European Security Council involving EU leaders and partners such as Canada, Norway, Ukraine and Britain.