The French government faced mounting political pressure Thursday after nearly 3,000 people were evacuated from wildfires in southern France, prompting Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to warn that this year’s fire season had begun weeks earlier than usual following a record-breaking heatwave blamed for killing thousands of people in France and neighboring Spain.

A period of national mourning was underway in Venezuela on Thursday as hope of finding survivors faded following last week’s devastating twin earthquakes, with the official death toll nearing 2,000 and tens of thousands of people still unaccounted for.

Researchers say they have taken a major step toward creating life from scratch after building tiny synthetic cell-like structures that can feed, grow, copy genetic material, and divide in a laboratory dish.

Numerous people have been killed and injured in a massive overnight Russian attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv that forced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to cut short his visit to Ireland, officials said early Thursday.

The Council of Europe’s top constitutional advisory body arrives in Hungary on Thursday to assess a controversial constitutional amendment that would remove President Tamás Sulyok from office, amid growing domestic and international concern over the country’s democratic institutions.

The Catholic Church faced one of its most serious internal confrontations in decades Wednesday after the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) consecrated four bishops without papal approval, despite an emotional last-minute appeal from Pope Leo XIV.

Thousands of police officers were deployed across South Africa this week after large-scale protests against illegal immigration erupted into violence, looting, and clashes with authorities across multiple cities.

Russian drone developers and operators are openly framing their next major gathering around preparation for a possible war with NATO, raising fresh concerns across Europe as the Kremlin continues to deny any intention of attacking the alliance.

Ukraine’s war against Russia is entering a sharper and more economically painful phase, as Kyiv’s long-range drone campaign continues to hammer Russian oil infrastructure, triggering fuel shortages across parts of the country and placing growing political pressure on President Vladimir Putin.

President Donald Trump has discussed the possibility of resuming full-scale military strikes against Iran but has decided, for now, to continue pursuing diplomacy, according to U.S. officials cited in an exclusive report by The Wall Street Journal.

Israel entered one of its most solemn national observances Monday evening as sirens sounded across the country, marking the beginning of Memorial Day with a unified moment of silence to honor fallen soldiers and victims of terror.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly condemned the actions of an Israeli soldier who vandalized a Catholic religious icon in southern Lebanon, calling the incident “stunning” and “deeply saddening” to both himself and the overwhelming majority of Israelis.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed Saturday that it has established a “Yellow Line” security perimeter across southern Lebanon, creating a controlled buffer zone during the current 10-day ceasefire. The move is aimed at maintaining operational security while preventing renewed hostilities along Israel’s northern border.

A 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon took effect at midnight local time after being announced by U.S. President Donald J. Trump, though skepticism remained over whether the truce would hold.

Péter Magyar, Hungary’s incoming prime minister, has reached out to the Jewish community and invited Israel’s government leader to Budapest despite an arrest warrant against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

A major diplomatic breakthrough emerged Thursday as U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Lebanon have agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, a move that could significantly advance regional peace efforts and ongoing negotiations involving Iran.

Israel will expand its buffer zone in southern Lebanon while continuing military operations against Hezbollah, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Wednesday, following a security cabinet meeting that ended without a ceasefire agreement.

U.S. weapons inventories depleted by the Iran war and continued military aid to Ukraine could take three or more years to fully replenish, raising fresh concerns about America’s readiness for a potential conflict with China, according to a new analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton decisively defeated four-term incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary runoff, delivering one of the clearest signs yet that President Donald Trump’s GOP is rapidly replacing the party’s old guard with candidates aligned more closely with the MAGA movement.

A panel of federal district court judges temporarily blocked Alabama’s plan to enact its 2023 congressional map for upcoming elections.

A federal appeals court is weighing whether Kansas City can use its public accommodation ordinance to require Christian counselors to counsel gay married couples despite the counselors’ biblical convictions on marriage and sexuality.

A gunman who opened fire outside the White House over the weekend before being fatally shot by federal agents was already known to the U.S. Secret Service after he previously tried to enter the presidential complex claiming to be “Jesus Christ,” court records showed Sunday.

More than half of the federal budget will go toward benefits for Americans 65 years and older by 2036, and that percentage is set to only grow, a recent congressional report finds.

Two people were shot, including the suspected gunman, in a shooting outside the White House Saturday night.

Hundreds of Christians, including family members, have protested the killing of a young Christian agricultural worker by one or more Muslims in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province and the alleged reluctance by authorities to properly investigate the case.

An 11-year-old Christian girl was abducted and killed by her Muslim neighbor in the Pakistani city of Gujranwala, the latest in a series of attacks targeting members of the country’s Christian minority, investigators told Worthy News on Tuesday.

A Christian sanitation worker employed by the legislature of Pakistan’s Punjab province was found shot dead late Friday at a government hostel in Lahore, police and Christian rights advocates confirmed early Saturday.

Evangelist Franklin Graham, who has close ties to the White House, urged Americans on Saturday to pray for the U.S. military, which together with Israel’s forces began striking Iran earlier in the day.

A young Christian woman alleges she was abducted at gunpoint and forced to convert to Islam and marry a Muslim man four years ago after meeting him through her job at a beauty salon in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province. Now in her 20s, she fled this month and is in hiding with her young daughter, fearing retaliation.

A Spanish-language evangelical congregation in Houston, Texas, home to one of America’s largest Hispanic communities, is mourning its founding pastor after he was accidentally shot and killed during a reported burglary attempt.

A Christian sanitation worker in eastern Pakistan has alleged he was brutally beaten while performing municipal cleaning duties in what advocacy groups describe as part of mounting pressure on Christians in the Muslim-majority nation.