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Jan. 8 (UPI) — Despite the Trump administration withdrawing the United States from 31 U.N. entities, the U.S. is obligated to continue providing assessed funding amounts, U.N. officials said on Thursday.

Despite the changes, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres the U.N.’s work will continue, and all member states, including the United States, are obligated to provide assessed contributions to the U.N.’s “regular and peacekeeping budgets” that have been approved by the General Assembly.

U.N. officials said they will continue to “deliver for those who depend on us” and “will continue to carry out our mandates with determination,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a prepared statement.

“The secretary-general regrets the announcement by the White House regarding the United States’ decision to withdraw from a number of United Nations entities,” Dujarric continued.

“Assessed contributions to the United Nations’ regular budget and peacekeeping budget, as approved by the General Assembly, are a legal obligation under the U.N. Charter for all member states, including the United States,” he said.

“All United Nations entities will go on with the implementation of their mandates as given by member states.”

President Donald Trump announced the U.S. is withdrawing its participation in and funding for 66 international organizations, treaties and conventions and signed an executive order proclaiming such on Wednesday.

The decision affects U.S. participation in 31 U.N. entities, including its Population Fund that supports maternal and child health and combats sexual and gender-based violence.

MADISON, Wis. — Can a team be in crisis just a handful of games into conference play?

UCLA is testing that possibility given what happened here Tuesday night as part of a larger downward trend.

Lacking one of their top players with guard Skyy Clark sidelined by a hamstring injury, the Bruins also were deficient in many other areas.

Defense. Heart. Toughness. Cohesion. Intelligence.

In a game that the Bruins needed to win to get their season back on track and have any realistic chance at an elite finish in the Big Ten, they fell flat once more.

Another terrible first half led to another failed comeback for UCLA during an 80-72 loss to Wisconsin on Tuesday night at the Kohl Center, leaving the Bruins in search of answers that seem elusive.

There was a dustup with 10 seconds left when UCLA’s Eric Dailey Jr. pushed Wisconsin’s Nolan Winter after absorbing a hard foul, forcing a scrum of players to congregate along the baseline. Winter was assessed a flagrant-1 foul and Dailey a technical foul that was offset by a technical foul on Badgers guard Nick Boyd.

About the only thing to celebrate for the Bruins was not giving up.

Thanks to a flurry of baskets from Dailey and a three-pointer from Trent Perry that broke his team’s 0-for-14 start from long range, UCLA pulled to within 63-56 midway through the second half. Making the Bruins’ rally all the more improbable was that much of it came with leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau on the bench with four fouls.

But Wisconsin countered with five consecutive points and the Bruins (10-5 overall, 2-2 Big Ten) never mounted another threat on the way to a second consecutive loss.

Dailey scored 18 points but missed all five of his three-pointers, fitting for a team that made just one of 17 shots (5.9%) from long range. Bilodeau added 16 points and Perry had 15.

Boyd scored 20 points to lead the Badgers (10-5, 2-2), who won in large part by their volume of three-pointers, making 10 of 30 attempts (33.3%) from beyond the arc.

Unveiling a turnover-choked, defensively challenged performance, UCLA played as if it were trying to top its awful first-half showing against Iowa from three days earlier.

It didn’t help that the Bruins were shorthanded from tipoff.

With Clark unavailable, UCLA coach Mick Cronin turned to Perry and pivoted to a smaller lineup featuring forward Brandon Williams alongside Bilodeau as the big men.

For the opening 10 minutes, it felt like a repeat of Wisconsin’s blowout victory over UCLA during the Big Ten tournament last March. The Badgers made seven of 11 three-pointers on the way to building a 20-point lead midway through the first half as Cronin continually tinkered with his lineup, trying to find a winning combination.

It never came.

He tried backup center Steven Jamerson II for a little more than a minute before yanking him after Jamerson committed a foul. He put in backup guard Jamar Brown and took him out after Brown gave up a basket and fumbled a pass out of bounds for a turnover. Backup guard Eric Freeny got his chance as well and airballed a three-pointer.

Wisconsin surged ahead with an early 13-0 run and nearly matched it with a separate 11-0 push. The Bruins then lost Perry for the rest of the first half after he hit his chin while diving for a loose ball, pounding the court in frustration with a balled fist before holding a towel firmly against his injured chin during a timeout. (He returned in the second half with a heavy bandage.)

Just when it seemed as if things couldn’t get worse, they did. Williams limped off the court with cramps late in the first half and the Bruins failed to box out Wisconsin’s Andrew Rohde on two possessions, leading to a putback and two free throws after he was fouled on another putback attempt.

UCLA almost seemed fortunate to be down only 45-31 by the game’s midpoint, though being on pace to give up 90 points couldn’t have pleased a coach known for defense.

Another comeback that came up short didn’t make things any better.

Macklin Celebrini became the third player with 60 points this season with a goal and two assists in the San José Sharks’ 5-4 victory over the Ducks on Monday night.

Mario Ferraro, Igor Chernyshov, William Eklund and Zach Ostapchuk also scored for the Sharks, who earned their second win since the holiday break despite getting outshot 43-13. Yaroslav Askarov made 38 saves.

Troy Terry scored two goals, Cutter Gauthier got his 19th goal and Pavel Mintyukov also scored for the Ducks, who have lost three straight and seven of nine while falling out of first place in the Pacific Division. Lukas Dostal allowed four goals on nine shots before Petr Mrazek replaced him during the second period.

With his seventh multipoint game of December, Celebrini needed just 39 games to get 60 points — the most scored by a teenager before New Year’s Day in the NHL. He also extended his points streak to eight games.

Celebrini left the ice after getting hit in the face by a deflected puck in the third period, but returned several minutes later.

Alexander Wennberg set up San José’s first two goals with exceptional passes, but Anaheim scored off an atrocious turnover by Askarov. He gave away the puck behind his net to Nikita Nesterenko, who found an uncontested Terry.

Celebrini scored his 21st goal late in the first, and he set up Chernyshov’s second career goal in the second. Eklund chased Dostal with his 10th goal after another clever pass by Celebrini.

Gauthier scored late in the second before setting up Mintyukov early in the third.

San José scored on two of its three shots in the second period, and it didn’t put the puck on Anaheim’s net in the first 11 minutes of the third. Ostapchuk still made it 5-3 on a long tip with 6:13 to play, but Terry scored moments later with Mrazek pulled.

Dec. 27 (UPI) — Russian attacks on Kyiv killed at least one and injured 27 early Saturday morning as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepares to meet with President Donald Trump on Sunday.

The Russian aerial assault started at 1:30 a.m. local time in Kyiv with missiles and attack drones dispatched in waves, causing Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko to warn residents to stay in air raid shelters, The New York Times reported.

An estimated 40 missiles and 500 drones knocked out power in much of the city during the aerial assault.

Zelensky said the attack is the latest example of why Ukraine needs its international partners to help guarantee the nation’s security before agreeing to end the war that started when Russia invaded on Feb. 24, 2022.

Zelensky and Trump are scheduled to meet in Florida on Sunday, and the Ukrainian president is hopeful of securing a legally binding security guarantee.

“This depends primarily on President Trump,” Zelensky told media. “The question is what security guarantees President Trump is ready to give Ukraine.”

The Ukrainian president has drafted a 20-point peace plan that includes the creation of a demilitarized zone between Russia and Ukraine.

He told Axios that he hopes it will lead to a framework for a cease-fire and a lasting peace that the Ukrainian people would support.

That framework might include a 60-day cease-fire to give Ukraine time to schedule and hold a national referendum, which may include territorial concessions to end the war.

Russian officials have said they understand the need for a referendum, but they want a shorter timeframe to get it done.

Before Sunday’s meeting, Zelensky is stopping in Canada on Saturday to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and hold virtual discussions with European leaders.

Carney and Zelensky will meet in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and have scheduled joint calls with leaders from the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany, according to Sky News.

The talks between the four countries lauded the first stage of the truce, including expanded humanitarian assistance, return of captives, force withdrawals and reduction in hostilities.

The United States, Egypt, Qatar and Turkiye have urged the parties to the Gaza ceasefire to honour their commitments and show restraint, the chief US envoy says after talks in the US city of Miami.

Senior officials from the four mediator countries met Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, on Friday to review the first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which took effect on October 10, according to a joint statement released on Saturday.

The meeting was held against the backdrop of ongoing Israeli attacks on the enclave. The Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza said that six people were killed on Friday when an Israeli strike hit a school housing displaced people, raising the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire since the deal took effect to about 400.

“We reaffirm our full commitment to the entirety of the President’s [Trump’s] 20-point peace plan and call on all parties to uphold their obligations, exercise restraint, and cooperate with monitoring arrangements,” Witkoff said in a statement posted on X.

First phase of truce

Saturday’s statement cited progress yielded in the first stage of the peace agreement, including expanded humanitarian assistance, the return of captives’ bodies, partial force withdrawals and a reduction in hostilities.

It called for “the near-term establishment and operationalisation” of a transitional administration, which is due to happen in the second phase of the agreement, and said that consultations would continue in the coming weeks over its implementation.

Under the truce deal’s terms, Israel is supposed to withdraw from its positions in Gaza, an interim authority is to govern the Palestinian territory instead of Hamas, and an international stabilisation force is to be deployed.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed hope that countries would contribute troops for the stabilisation force, but also urged the disarmament of Hamas, warning the process would unravel unless that happened.

Hamas statement

A meeting was also held between Hamas’s chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin in Istanbul on Saturday.

In a statement from Hamas after the meeting, the group said it was committed to abiding by the ceasefire agreement, despite Israeli violations.

“The delegation stressed the urgent need to halt these continuous violations,” the statement added.

“The delegation also reviewed the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip with the onset of winter, emphasising the critical priority of urgently bringing in tents, caravans, and heavy equipment to save our people from death by cold and drowning, given the destruction of infrastructure and homes.”

Winter storms have been worsening the conditions for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in Gaza, as aid agencies warn that Israeli restrictions are preventing lifesaving assistance from reaching people across the besieged enclave.

Bodies recovered, Israeli strikes continue

On Saturday, an Israeli air strike targeted two people in northern Gaza, according to a statement from the military, which alleged that they “posed an immediate threat” to Israeli troops after crossing the so-called yellow line, which separates areas under Israeli army control from those where Palestinians are permitted to move.

No details were yet available on whether the two people were killed or injured.

Gaza’s Civil Defence on Saturday also said it recovered the bodies of 94 Palestinians from the rubble in the enclave.

The bodies were retrieved in central Gaza City and transferred to the forensic department at Al-Shifa Medical Complex to arrange their burial in the Martyrs’ Cemetery in the central city of Deir el-Balah, according to a statement from the Civil Defence.

Thousands of Palestinians are believed to still be buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza.

The Israeli army has killed more than 70,700 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, and injured more than 171,000 others since it began its genocidal war on the enclave in October 2023.

Dec. 19 (UPI) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was determined to continue the war in Ukraine until his conditions are met, which include taking Ukrainian territory.

Putin spoke at his annual press conference and touted Russia’s recent gains in the region.

“The strategic initiative is completely in the hands of the Russian forces,” Putin said. He added that Russia is “ready to end the conflict peacefully” if Ukraine cedes large areas of its eastern territories.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine won’t give up its land, which is set by the country’s constitution.

Russia has also demanded that Ukraine give up its bid to join NATO and said that if NATO members sent troops, Russia would view them as “legitimate targets.”

“The ball is entirely in the court of our Western opponents,” he said, adding that Russia had agreed to compromises proposed by the United States in its peace plan negotiated by the President Donald Trump administration.

Earlier this week, Zelensky was asked if Kyiv would give up its attempts to join NATO. He said Ukraine’s “position remains unchanged.”

“The United States don’t see us in NATO, for now,” he said. “Politicians change.”

European leaders have agreed to continue funding Ukraine in its fight against Russia with a two-year, $105 billion loan for munitions in the ongoing war.

European leaders couldn’t agree on their first choice to arm Ukraine using frozen Russian state assets to back the loan.

The plan to use frozen Russian assets fell apart in the final moments after Belgium pushed back, fearful that it would be at legal and financial risk. The bank holding the assets is in Belgium, and Russia has sued to block the plan.

European leaders announced Thursday that they will instead use money from the EU budget. The new plan could be more costly and difficult to mobilize.