Palau

Pacific Island leaders endorsed a landmark regional policing plan Wednesday at a summit in Tonga, a contentious move seen as an attempt to limit China's security role in the region.

Leaders unveiled a plan to create up to four regional police training centers and a multinational crisis reaction force, backed by $271 million in initial funding from Australia.

For the first time, Bulgaria has been classified among the countries with high national income according to the World Bank's classification, as reported by bTV. The World Bank Group categorizes the world's economies into four income groups: low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high.

The island nation of Palau made history this week when it became the first country to ratify last year's historic United Nations treaty for the protection of the Earth's oceans.

The so-called High Seas Treaty was adopted by U.N. member states in June, after more than 15 years of discussions.

The ferry "Slavyanin" has collided with another vessel east of Cape Shabla and is currently sailing towards Varna. No one was injured in the incident, and there was no fuel spillage.

"Slavyanin" sails under the flag of the Russian Federation. It transports gas in railway tanks from Russia to Bulgaria, and after its stay in Varna it left for the Caucasus.

Türkiye warned Moscow to avoid further escalations after a Turkish-owned cargo vessel was attacked by the Russian navy last weekend, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's office said on Aug. 17. 

Ukraine downed three waves of Russian missiles and drones targeting Odesa, its army said early on Monday, the latest in a string of attacks in the southern region on the Black Sea coast.

A Russian patrol vessel opened warning fire at a merchant ship in the Black Sea that was sailing towards the Ukrainian Danube port of Izmail, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow said.

Whether they realize it or not, some 7.6 billion people - 96% of humanity - have felt the impact of global warming on temperatures in the past 12 months, researchers say.

But some regions have felt it much more strongly and more often than others, according to a report by Climate Central, a climate science think tank.

As of Thursday, February 17, the list of countries by color zones is updated, according to which the order of entry into Bulgaria is determined.

The red zone will include France, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland, Cyprus, the Maldives, Armenia, Belarus, Russia, Japan and others.

Bulgaria on August 16 signed a joint statement saying Afghans and international citizens who want to leave Afghanistan must be allowed to depart and that airports and border crossings must remain open.