Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday he plans to present to other Group of Seven countries a set of "new ideas" for sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine when he hosts an online G-7 summit later in the day to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the invasion.
Kishida, as this year's G-7 president, told a news conference he also planned to call on other countries to stop providing military support to Russia.

North Korea said Friday it test-fired long-range cruise missiles off its eastern coast a day earlier, adding to a provocative streak in weapons demonstrations as its rivals step up military training.
The launches, which were later confirmed by South Korea's military, were intended to verify the reliability of the missiles and the rapid-response capabilities of the unit that operates those weapons, North Korean state media said.

Winter storms sowed more chaos across the U.S., shutting down much of Oregon's largest city with almost a foot of snow and paralyzing travel from parts of the Pacific Coast all the way to the northern Plains.
The nearly 11 inches (28 centimeters) that fell in Portland amounted to the second snowiest day in the city's history. It took drivers by surprise, stalling traffic during the Wednesday evening rush hour and trapping motorists on freeways for hours.

Russia launched a rescue ship on Friday for two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut whose original ride home sprang a dangerous leak while parked at the International Space Station.
The new, empty Soyuz capsule should arrive at the orbiting lab on Sunday.

A coast-to-coast storm that paralyzed roads and blacked out nearly 1 million homes and businesses was set to pound California on Friday, sparking warnings about floods and blizzards.
The National Weather Service warned of a "cold and dangerous winter storm" through Saturday. As much as 5 feet (1.5 meters) of snow could fall in some mountains near Los Angeles, which could create whiteout conditions as winds gust to 75 mph (120 kph) and an increased risk of avalanches, forecasters said.

Work crews trying to find 47 people missing after a collapse at an open-pit mine in northern China have had to change their excavation methods to avoid causing more landslides, state media reported Friday.
Six people have been confirmed dead and six injured people have been rescued at the mine in Inner Mongolia's Alxa League as of Thursday night, broadcaster CCTV said.

Ukraine's leader pledged to push for victory in 2023 as he and other Ukrainians on Friday marked the somber anniversary of the Russian invasion that upended their lives and Europe's security.
It was Ukraine's "longest day," President Volodymyr Zelensky said, but the country's dogged resistance a year on has proven that "every tomorrow is worth fighting for."

Israel's foreign minister has said that the Gulf Arab state of Oman has decided to allow Israeli planes to fly through its airspace. The announcement was another sign of closer ties between Israel and some Arab countries.
Oman's Civil Aviation Authority tweeted that it "affirms that the Sultanate's airspace is open for all carriers that meet the requirements of the Authority for overflying," without directly mentioning Israel.

One Russian soldier tells his mother that the young Ukrainians dead from his first firefight looked just like him. Another explains to his wife that he's drunk because alcohol makes it easier to kill civilians. A third wants his girlfriend to know that in all the horror, he dreams about just being with her.
About 2,000 secret recordings of intercepted conversations between Russian soldiers in Ukraine and their loved ones back home offer a harrowing new perspective on Vladimir Putin's year-old war. There is a human mystery at the heart of this conversations heard in intercepted phone calls: How do people raised with a sense of right and wrong end up accepting and perpetrating terrible acts of violence?

On February 24, 2022, Europe wakes up to a war on its eastern flank as Russia invades neighboring Ukraine, sparking the worst conflict on the continent since World War II.
After weeks of speculation about President Vladimir Putin's intentions following a massive troop build-up on the border, AFP reports in a high-priority alert shortly before 6:00 am (0300 GMT): "Russia's Putin announces a 'military operation' in Ukraine".
