In the longest presidential address to Congress in modern U.S. history, President Donald J. Trump kept the door open to signing a minerals deal with Ukraine despite his feud last week with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Christians anxiously watch a decision by Nicaragua’s autocratic president to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he is ready to work under U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s “strong leadership” on peace talks with Russia and wants a minerals and security agreement with the United States.

A Russian airstrike on a military training ground in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region likely killed dozens, sources say.

Australia is on high alert, and people have been warned to leave or prepare for the worst as a tropical cyclone is on track to cross a densely populated part of the country’s coast for the first time in 50 years.

The U.S. pledged over $65 billion in military aid to Ukraine under former U.S. President Joe Biden, but President Trump suspended it temporarily after a heated Oval Office clash with Ukraine’s president, casting doubt on support from its key ally.

At least two people were killed and 11 injured when a car drove into a crowd in Germany’s western city of Mannheim, following warnings about possible Islamic attacks here and elsewhere in Europe, authorities confirmed late Monday.

Pope Francis, who has been hospitalized amid mounting concerns about his health, managed to urge prayers for peace in Ukraine, where many long for an end to the war amid ongoing clashes.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday he still hopes for “constructive” talks with the United States after his made-for-tv verbal clash with U.S. President Donald J. Trump and signaled his readiness to sign a $500 billion minerals deal with Washington.

The main European Union countries and NATO military allies Canada, Norway, and Turkey will attend a historic security summit in London on Sunday without the United States amid mounting transatlantic tensions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday, he was “committed to U.S. President [Donald J.] Trump’s plan for the creation of a different Gaza,” but he warned “there will be neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority” ruling the coastal territory.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed on Monday that troops will stay in five strategic locations in southern Lebanon beyond Tuesday’s withdrawal deadline under a ceasefire with Hezbollah, despite Lebanon’s government expressing frustration over the delay.

On the 500th day since the war’s start, thousands across Israel participated in rallies, underscored by 500-minute fasts organized by relatives of those taken in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, to press for the release of hostages.

Arab countries will unveil a plan to reconstruct Gaza within three to five years without displacing the Palestinian population and without Hamas control over the territory, sources said Sunday.

Saudi Arabia will host an Arab summit to offer an alternative to American President Donald J. Trump’s U.S. ‘takeover’ plan for the Gaza Strip, several sources confirmed Saturday.

Hamas, designated as a terrorist organization by Israel and most of its allies, has released three hostages, including Alexander Troufanov, Argentine-Israeli Yair Horn, and American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, officials say.

The Trump administration will back Israel’s efforts to maintain a buffer zone in Syria for the foreseeable future, the Jerusalm Post reported.

Donald J. Trump became the first sitting U.S. president to attend a Super Bowl, accompanied by a large entourage, including his daughter Ivanka and son Eric.

Smurf-seized LGBTQ+ “rainbow” flags have not yet been spotted in laboratories, but U.S. Congress members are outraged that taxpayer money funded experiments using “transgender lab rats.”

U.S. President Donald J. Trump has directly called for the closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) after his eccentric government efficiency czar Elon Musk uncovered that more than 6,000 journalists at some 700 media outlets worldwide were paid to allegedly spread its liberal agenda.

Late last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order restricting “transgender” procedures on youth, including puberty blockers and surgeries such as mastectomies and penile reconstruction. In response, many medical providers including some of the top in the nation for performing them have announced they will comply with the EO.

Residents in western Alaska plunged into mourning on Saturday after one of the deadliest air crashes in the U.S. state in the last 25 years killed all 10 people on board.

President Donald Trump addressed a gathering of the nation’s spiritual leaders and lawmakers at the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday, when he promised to create a religious liberty commission and end anti-Christian bias.

The U.S. Department of Defense was pressured Thursday to explain why it paid over $9 million to the company that owns the Reuters news agency for activities that included “active social engineering” and “large-scale social deception.”

A pastor who was tortured and imprisoned in Cuba for protesting the government’s violation of human rights was released last week after serving three and half years in jail, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. Communist Cuba ranks 26 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2025 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

A new annual report by the Article 18 Iranian persecution watchdog a dramatic increase in the number and length of prison terms handed to Christians in the Islamic Republic of Iran last year compared to 2023.

A pastor in Ohio has been fined $200 and sentenced to a 60-day suspended jail term after being convicted of violating a municipal fire code order at his church.

Pepperdine University, a Christian college in Malibu, California provided essential assistance in the fight against the horrific Los Angeles Palisades and Kenneth wildfires earlier this month by allowing firefighters access to the school’s Recycled Water Irrigation Reservoir and acting as a hub for coordinating an emergency response for the affected community, Christianity Today reports.

A major human rights group in Pakistan has demanded the immediate release from prison of Christian Anwar Kenneth, who it says has been arbitrarily detained on trumped-up blasphemy charges for over 20 years and faces the death penalty.

A Christian convert in Sudan’s West Darfur state has been made to divorce his Muslim wife and has been shunned by his Muslim family on account of his new faith in Christ, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. Devastated by ongoing civil war, Muslim-majority Sudan ranks 5 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2025 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

At least five people were believed to be in Pakistani police custody Monday over the Christmas Day shooting of Christians in Pakistan.