First Run News

Volvo Cars on Wednesday became the first mainstream automaker to sound the death knell of the internal combustion engine, saying that all the models it introduces starting in 2019 will be either hybrids or powered solely by batteries. The decision is the boldest commitment by any major car company to technologies that currently represent a small share of the total vehicle market but are increasingly viewed as essential to combating climate change and urban pollution. While most m

CORPUS CHRISTI, Tex.

A new president inexperienced in the intricacies of superpower politics meets his Russian rival for the first time. There are disputes over Crimea, nuclear weapons and completely different conceptions of an acceptable status quo as Washington and Moscow vie for global influence. The Americans arrive with an unclear agenda; the Russians have a very clear one. While it sounds like the coming encounter between President Trump and the current Russian leader, John F.

Western European efforts to isolate President Trump for rejecting the Paris climate change agreement appear to be faltering as leaders gather for a summit meeting in Hamburg, Germany, at the end of the week. The gulf between Mr. Trump’s worldview and that of most European leaders on topics from trade to immigration will be on display in the coming days. But nowhere is the difference as stark as it is on climate change, which Mr.

WARSAW — President Trump arrived in Europe on Wednesday for three days of diplomacy that will culminate in a meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, which has the potential for global repercussions and political fallout back home. Even his top aides do not know precisely what Mr. Trump will decide to say or do when he and Mr.

Right Now: President Trump is holding a news conference in Warsaw with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda. • Mr. Trump will deliver a speech later in the day in Warsaw in which he is expected to say that the West must remain resolute in the face of terrorism. • After his visit to Poland, Mr. Trump will head to Hamburg, Germany, for a Group of 20 summit meeting with leaders of other major economies. • The stop in Poland is a chance for Mr.

UNITED NATIONS — The United States toughened its military pressure and invective against nuclear-armed North Korea on Wednesday, conducting a missile maneuver with South Korea, hinting of a possible return to war with the North and proposing wider United Nations sanctions against “any country that does business with this outlaw regime.” The American actions came a day after North Korea

UNITED NATIONS — The United States toughened its military pressure and invective against nuclear-armed North Korea on Wednesday, conducting a missile maneuver with South Korea, hinting of a possible return to war with the North and proposing wider United Nations sanctions against “any country that does business with this outlaw regime.” The American actions came a day after North Korea

BEIJING — Xi Jinping, China’s leader, is known as the Chairman of Everything. He makes decisions daily on the economy, the military, foreign policy, human rights and more. Yet on North Korea he is stuck. A strongman who usually acts with precision and boldness, Mr.

SEOUL, South Korea — The standoff over North Korea’s nuclear program has long been shaped by the view that the United States has no viable military option to destroy it.