Western sanctions have hit Russian banks, wealthy individuals and technology imports. But after a year of far-reaching restrictions aimed at degrading Moscow's war chest, economic life for ordinary Russians doesn't look all that different than it did before the invasion of Ukraine.

There's no mass unemployment, no plunging currency, no lines in front of failing banks. The assortment at the supermarket is little changed, with international brands still available or local substitutes taking their place.

Can Washington come to the rescue of the depositors of failed Silicon Valley Bank? Is it even politically possible?

That was one of the growing questions in Washington Sunday as policymakers tried to figure out whether the U.S. government — and its taxpayers — should bail out a failed bank that largely served Silicon Valley, with all its wealth and power.

Saudi Arabia's surprise move to restore ties with Iran adds a new, complicated layer to its delicate diplomatic dance with Israel, which craves a breakthrough normalization deal of its own, analysts said.

Riyadh and Tehran announced on Friday that after seven years of severed ties they would reopen embassies and missions within two months and implement security and economic cooperation agreements signed more than 20 years ago.

The pro-business track record of the man poised to become China's top economic official will make his term a test of whether he might moderate President Xi Jinping 's tendency to intervene.

Li Qiang, 63, who is expected to be chosen China's premier on Saturday, will have to grapple with a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy, which is dealing with emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, weak global demand for exports, lingering U.S. tariff hikes, a shrinking workforce and an aging population.

The British Embassy Beirut launched the Ambassador for a Day Lebanon competition in January this year. The competition was open to 15-18 year old girls across Lebanon and over 500 girls submitted entries on the International Women’s Day 2023 theme “Embrace Equity”. The creativity, passion and potential in their applications was inspiring.

Valerie Torres' mother has tried to shield her from the worst of Venezuela's protracted crisis — the deadly protests, the sick people begging for help, the malnourished children with protruding ribs. At school, her teachers don't even broach the subject.

But just shy of her 10th birthday this month, the girl is perceptive beyond her years. She knows her fourth-grade classmate lied to their teacher saying he forgot a book at home when in fact he was still saving up to buy it; that neighbors, friends and even her grandmother have all fled the country in search of a better life; that her mother is bringing home fewer groceries.

Former General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim has started “calm planning” for the role that he will play in the coming period, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Friday.

The scene signaled a grave national emergency — dozens of riot police charged through the streets of Tel Aviv as crowds of anti-government protesters howled and roared. Their mission: to rescue Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife from a swanky salon where she was getting her hair done.

The protesters' Wednesday night siege of the beauty parlor, accompanied by chants of "shame, shame," cast a spotlight on Sara Netanyahu, a divisive figure long intertwined with her husband's political career.

The stuttering blasts of M-16s shattered the quiet in a West Bank village, surrounded by barley fields and olive groves. Young Palestinian men in Jaba once wanted to farm, residents say, but now, more and more want to fight.

Last week, dozens of them, wearing balaclavas and brandishing rifles with photos of their dead comrades plastered on the clips, burst into a school playground — showcasing Jaba's new militant group and paying tribute to its founder and another gunman who were killed in an Israeli military raid last month.

In Israel's divisive debate over the government's planned legal overhaul, proponents claim that curtailing the power of judges and courts is good for the country.

But, as their opponents often counter, other factors may be in play: Some of the leading politicians clamoring for these changes either face legal problems or believe the courts are obstructing their ideological agendas.