The Kremlin said on Thursday it saw nothing particularly new in a threat by US President Donald Trump to hit Russia with new sanctions and tariffs if it did not agree to end the war in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Trump had often applied sanctions against Russia in his first term as president. Peskov reiterated that Russia was ready for an equal and mutually respectful dialogue with the US.
Referring to Russia and the war, Trump said on Wednesday: "If we don't make a 'deal,' and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of taxes, tariffs, and sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries."
Trump said he would do a very big favour to Russia and President Vladimir Putin by getting them to bring an end to "this ridiculous war". Earlier this week, he said the conflict, which is nearing the end of its third year, was "destroying" Russia.
US President Donald Trump substantially raised tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to a flat 25 per cent "without exceptions or exemptions" in a move to aid the struggling industries but which increases the risk of a multi-front trade war.
Armed rebels killed more than 35 civilians during an attack on a cluster of villages in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri province on Monday night, a village chief said on Tuesday.
A teacher at a South Korean elementary school has admitted to stabbing an eight-year-old girl who was found in cardiac arrest and later died in hospital, a police official said on Tuesday.
Campaigning for the Philippines' midterm elections kicked off on Tuesday against a fractured political backdrop, heightened by a high-profile row among warring elites that culminated in last week's impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.