DEVELOPING Live updates: Hurricane Milton downgraded as it nears Florida
Hurricane Milton has been downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane as it draws closer to Florida's west coast on Wednesday afternoon, according to The Associated Press.
The lower house of Russia's parliament on Wednesday gave its final approval to a bill revoking the ratification of a global nuclear test ban treaty, a move Moscow described as putting it on par with the United States.
The State Duma lawmakers voted unanimously to revoke the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in the third and final reading on Wednesday. The bill will now go to the upper house, the Federation Council, which will consider it next week. Federation Council lawmakers have already said they will support the bill.
The legislation was introduced to parliament following a statement from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who warned earlier this month that Moscow could revoke its 2000 decision to ratify the treaty to "mirror" the stand taken by the United States, which has signed but not ratified the nuclear test ban.
The treaty, adopted in 1996, bans all nuclear explosions anywhere in the world, although it has never fully entered into force. In addition to the U.S., it is yet to be ratified by China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, Iran and Egypt.
There are widespread concerns that Russia could resume nuclear tests to try to discourage the West from offering military support to Ukraine. Many Russian hawks have spoken in favour of a resumption.
Putin has said that while some experts have talked about the need to conduct nuclear tests, he hasn't yet formed an opinion on the issue.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said last week that Moscow will continue to respect the ban and will only resume nuclear tests if Washington does so first.
Even after de-ratifying the treaty, Russia will remain a signatory, which "means that they still agree to abide by the terms of the treaty," so "it's not clear that we're looking at the immediate restart of nuclear testing," said Patricia Lewis, research director for international security at Chatham House, a London-based think tank.
But the Russians are indeed challenging "the whole legislation that they helped set up on in terms of arms control, in terms of nonproliferation, in terms of stability, strategic stability, regional stability," Lewis said.
"From the bigger picture, what we're seeing is an unraveling of the constraints and the checks and balances that we have in the system for controlling these horrific, inhumane weapons," the analyst said.
Hurricane Milton has been downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane as it draws closer to Florida's west coast on Wednesday afternoon, according to The Associated Press.
A Turkish Airlines jetliner headed from Seattle to Istanbul made an emergency landing in New York on Wednesday after the captain died on board, an airline official said.
Hundreds of thousands of vehicles are being recalled in Canada due to a steering-related issue that could increase a driver's risk of crash.
The leader of the Bloc Quebecois says his party 'might play a role' in helping the Liberals get House of Commons business rolling again 鈥 after days of Conservative-led debate on a privilege matter 鈥 but that his assistance would come at a cost.
Dozens of cars were pulled out of the Detroit River in west Windsor on Tuesday, causing many questions for Windsorites.
A Claude Monet pastel painting stolen by Nazis during World War II, which vanished for decades only to show up with a Louisiana art dealer, was returned Wednesday in New Orleans to the descendants of its original owners.
Two Orange County women are speaking out after they say they were kicked off of a Spirit Airlines flight because of what they were wearing.
A 42-year-old Winnipeg man has been charged with human smuggling following an investigation near a Canada-U.S. border crossing in Manitoba.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that the administration of former U.S. president Donald Trump had sent COVID tests to Russia but it denied reports that Trump had spoken at all to Russian President Vladimir Putin since leaving office.
Saskatchewan鈥檚 Jessica Campbell has made hockey history, becoming the first ever female assistant coach in the National Hockey League (NHL).
Have you ever seen videos of hovercrafts online or on TV and thought, 'Wow, I wish I could ride one of those.' One Alberta man did, and then built his own.
A B.C. couple is getting desperate 鈥 and creative 鈥 in their search for their missing dog.
Videos of a meteor streaking across the skies of southern Ontario have surfaced and small bits of the outer space rock may have made it to land, one astronomy professor says.
A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.
Bernie Hicks, known as the 鈥楤atman of Amherst,鈥 always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.
Bubi鈥檚 Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.
Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.
Manitobans are in cleanup mode after intense winds barreled through southern parts of the province this weekend.