At least 15 police officers and several civilians, including an Orthodox priest, were killed and a dozen wounded when suspected Islamic gunmen opened fire at Russian synagogues, churches, and a police post in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan, several sources said.

Kyiv and Moscow say at least nearly a dozen people have died since Friday in Ukrainian-Russian clashes in eastern Ukraine, near Crimea, and in Russia itself. Additionally, officials say that in separate attacks, Russia launched a new barrage of missiles and drones overnight on Ukraine, damaging energy facilities in the country’s southeast and west and injuring at least two workers. The clashes come amid Western concerns about the increased support that Moscow is receiving from China, North Korea, and Iran to fuel its invasion of Ukraine.

Namibia’s high court has overturned a law that critics said criminalized gay sex in a ruling that the United Nations hopes will encourage broader testing for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

NATO’s incoming secretary-general said Friday that one of his main tasks would be “to keep military alliance united” at a time of divisions over the war in Ukraine.

Finland’s president says Russia has launched a “hybrid war” against Europe and the West using non-traditional methods to weaken their resolve.

An advocacy group has condemned the five-year jail term given to Belarusian journalist Alena Tsimashchuk on what her supporters suggest are trumped-up charges.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has withdrawn his bid for NATO’s leadership, clearing the way for Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to become the military alliance’s secretary-general.

A terminally ill Hungarian lawyer who lost his right-to-die case at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has met Hungary’s government, which refused to allow active euthanasia.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Wednesday that schools in France are threatened by the “scourge of antisemitism” after a 12-year-old Jewish girl was raped in what police called “a hate crime” amid ongoing attacks against Jewish people.

North Korea’s autocratic leader Kim Jong Un and his hardline Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin signed a new military pact Wednesday that includes a pledge of mutual defense if either is attacked.