Russian President Vladimir Putin has publicly admitted that Russian air defenses were responsible for downing an Azerbaijani passenger jet last December, killing 38 people, in what analysts say marks a stunning acknowledgment that further erodes Moscow’s standing among former Soviet republics.

With a notoriously cold winter approaching, Russia has launched a major campaign to deny Ukraine heat, light, and running water, authorities said Wednesday.

A senior Russian diplomat said Wednesday that the momentum toward a Ukraine peace agreement—sparked after President Vladimir Putin’s August summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska—has “largely been exhausted,” blaming European allies of Kyiv for obstructing diplomatic progress.

President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met Tuesday at the White House for the second time since Carney’s election, as both leaders sought to navigate deepening trade tensions and a wave of tariffs that have strained one of the world’s closest alliances.

Gold surged to an unprecedented $4,000 a troy ounce on Tuesday, marking a milestone that underscores growing investor unease about the U.S. economy and the global financial order.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday warned Iran that any attempt to revive its nuclear weapons program would be met with swift military action, signaling that Washington is prepared to strike again if Tehran resumes enrichment activity.

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu resigned Monday after just 27 days in office, marking the shortest premiership in France since the founding of the Fifth Republic in 1958. His departure has thrown President Emmanuel Macron’s already fragile government into deeper turmoil amid widening divisions in parliament.

Tensions remained high in Tbilisi on Monday after Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze pledged to crack down on dissent following the attempted storming of the presidential palace in a protest sparked by his ruling party’s claimed victory in disputed local elections. Numerous people remained detained, and scores were recovering from injuries following the unrest.

At least hundreds of thousands of people marched through European cities Sunday in anti-Israel protests ahead of the second anniversary of the worst massacre against Jews since the Holocaust, but some rallies expressed support for the Jewish nation.

Aftershocks continued to shake parts of the central Philippines Sunday following last week’s massive earthquake, as Christian aid workers struggled to reach survivors amid growing humanitarian needs.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet early Friday approved a U.S.-brokered ceasefire framework that aims to end active hostilities in Gaza and secure the release of all remaining Israeli hostages, despite unified opposition from far-right coalition partners.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump confirmed Thursday that he will visit Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and deliver a major address to the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, amid rising hopes that his proposed ceasefire plan could end the devastating war with Hamas and bring peace to the Jewish nation and the region.

Hamas declared the end of more than two years of war between Israel and the Islamist group after both sides signed a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal aimed at establishing a permanent halt to hostilities in Gaza.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday night that Israel and Hamas have agreed to the first phase of a peace plan, signaling the possible end of the two-year-long war in Gaza that began after Hamas’ October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel.

Rocket sirens sounded in southern Israel on Tuesday after fire from Gaza as Israelis began to mark the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023, attack in which Hamas killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages.

Israeli archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a 1,500-year-old synagogue in the Yehudiya Nature Reserve, providing new evidence of Jewish continuity in the Golan region during the Roman and Byzantine periods, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the University of Haifa announced Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Monday that Iran is advancing intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of striking major U.S. cities, saying the Islamic Republic could soon “put New York City, Boston, Washington, or Miami under their atomic guns.”

Three Muslims who vandalized a church in Euless, Texas, argue doing so was their First Amendment right.

President Donald Trump said Monday he is considering invoking the Insurrection Act to send federal troops into Portland, Oregon, amid escalating protests over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in the city.

On the sixth day of the government shutdown, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) accused Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) of prolonging the funding impasse to appease his party’s far-left base, as both chambers failed again Monday to pass competing bills to reopen the government.

The U.S. Supreme Court opened its 2025-2026 term Monday with one of its most consequential dockets in years — a lineup that will test the limits of presidential power, reshape key civil rights laws, and weigh fundamental questions about faith, speech, guns, and life itself.

The state of Illinois is seeking a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration for plans to deploy the Illinois and Texas National Guard to the Chicago area.

President Donald Trump sharply criticized a federal judge’s decision to block his plan to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, calling the ruling “a disgrace” and accusing the court of undermining presidential authority amid ongoing protests against federal immigration enforcement.

The U.S. government shutdown entered its sixth day Monday, with little sign of progress as Democrats and Republicans remained entrenched in a bitter standoff over health care subsidies and immigration-related provisions tied to government funding.

Prison Fellowship International (PFI) and Bible League International (BLI) have announced a new five-year agreement to distribute 620,000 Bibles to prisoners in 20 countries, building on a long-standing partnership dedicated to transforming lives through God’s Word.

A Christian man who was released last week after 13 years in a Pakistani prison on false charges of blasphemy against Islam has died, his supporters told Worthy News Monday.

A Christian pastor has become the first person to be acquitted under the “anti-conversion” law of India’s state of Uttarakhand after a four-year legal battle, Christian sources confirmed Thursday.

Islamists are trying to take over a Christian school in Sudan despite hundreds of people displaced by war seeking refuge there, Christians said Thursday.

More than 8,000 college students filled the Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center Tuesday night for a UniteUS campus revival event, where worship, testimonies, and a call to faith in Jesus Christ led to hundreds of baptisms.

Evangelist Franklin Graham said Tuesday he was “encouraged” to learn that American actor, comedian, and bestselling writer Tim Allen has forgiven the man responsible for his father’s death in 1964.

Civil society groups in Rajasthan are raising alarm over a sharp rise in attacks on Christians just weeks after the state assembly passed one of India’s harshest anti-conversion bills.