World News
At least 10 people, including four children, were injured in a Russian strike on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, Ukrainian authorities said Friday. In southern Ukraine, the State Emergency Service reported that one person was killed and four others were injured in a separate Russian attack on the Odesa region.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s statement following the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the United States is being viewed by analysts not as an embrace of peace, but as a carefully crafted declaration that preserves Tehran’s revolutionary posture while allowing the regime to regroup.
Ukraine launched one of its largest drone attacks on Moscow since the war began, hitting a key oil refinery and other targets around the Russian capital, leaving at least one person dead and numerous others injured, Russian officials said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Southeast Asian leaders in Kazan this week as Moscow moved to deepen ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and promote its vision of a “multipolar world order” aimed at countering U.S. global dominance.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told NATO leaders Thursday that the Pentagon is launching a six-month review of U.S. force posture and basing in Europe, signaling a major push by the Trump administration to ensure European allies assume primary responsibility for defending the continent.
Hundreds of employees have reportedly been dismissed from media outlets aligned with former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, highlighting growing turmoil within the country’s right-wing media landscape following his election defeat and the subsequent loss of political influence.
Journalists jailed, attacked, or otherwise targeted across several countries marked fresh setbacks for press freedom this month, with media advocates highlighting cases ranging from Azerbaijan and Iran to Russia and Armenia.
A new Canadian parliamentary committee report recommends that people with mental illness should be “indefinitely excluded” from eligibility for assisted dying, a recommendation that could set a precedent for other liberal countries dealing with this issue.
President Donald Trump has signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war with Iran, U.S. officials said, launching a 60-day diplomatic test that could determine whether the Middle East moves toward a fragile ceasefire or back toward confrontation.
Poland was investigating Thursday the killing of a Russian artist and outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin after Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the murder bore the hallmarks of a political assassination.
Israel News
Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto said his country would not pay the $1 billion fee for permanent membership in U.S. counterpart Donald J. Trump’s “Board of Peace” after coming under pressure for signing up.
Israel’s expanding military campaign inside Iran is now focusing on key pressure points within the regime’s internal control system—specifically targeting checkpoints and street-level enforcement units—in what analysts believe could open the door for a broader uprising against the Islamic government, according to an exclusive report by the Epoch Times.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday night was “a very difficult evening in the campaign for our future” after Iranian ballistic missiles struck the southern cities of Dimona and Arad, injuring at least 175 people and causing significant damage to civilian neighborhoods.
Israel signaled Thursday it would refrain from further attacks on energy infrastructure after a strike on Iran’s vast South Pars natural gas field triggered retaliatory strikes across the Middle East, sending oil and natural gas prices sharply higher and raising fears of a wider regional escalation.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Thursday that Iran has lost its ability to enrich uranium and manufacture ballistic missiles following nearly three weeks of coordinated U.S.-Israeli airstrikes, marking a significant escalation in the ongoing regional conflict.
Israel dramatically expanded its military campaign against Iran, striking Iranian Navy targets in the Caspian Sea for the first time since the launch of “Operation Roaring Lion,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed Thursday.
An Israeli family devastated by a recent missile strike near the central city of Beit Shemesh, west of Jerusalem, has received financial assistance from a U.S. evangelical leader, as the ongoing war involving Iran has slowed—but not halted—the arrival of Jewish immigrants to the country.
U.S. News
U.S. President Donald Trump has called on Jewish Americans — and citizens of all backgrounds — to observe a national Shabbat from sundown on May 15 through nightfall on May 16 as part of Jewish American Heritage Month and the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.
Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that a federal anti-fraud task force launched by President Donald Trump has uncovered widespread abuse within the nation’s food assistance system, including nearly 186,000 deceased individuals allegedly still receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
The United States has overtaken Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest exporter of crude oil over the past nine weeks, as Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz severely disrupted Middle Eastern energy exports and forced global buyers to seek alternative supplies.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is targeting multiple seats in Congress to take back the Democratic majority in November.
A tense calm returned Monday to a lakeside park in the U.S. state of Oklahoma after a shooting at a crowded outdoor party left nearly two dozen people injured, including several in critical condition, authorities said.
Ted Turner, the founder of the U.S.-based Cable News Network (CNN), the world’s first global 24-hour television news broadcaster, has died at the age of 87.
New York City’s latest crime data reveals a troubling trend: while overall hate crimes have declined, Jewish residents continue to bear the overwhelming brunt of these offenses.
Christian News
British police have banned a “Walk with Jesus” march through a predominantly Muslim part of London, citing concerns it could lead to “violence and serious disorder.”
An Irish Christian teacher has been jailed again for appearing at a central Ireland school despite being dismissed over “misgendering” a transgender student.
Islamic “terrorist groups” have stepped up “their rampage of death and destruction” across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) over the past year while “increasingly targeting children” from Christian communities “to use them as weapons for war and abuse,” according to new findings by a Christian advocacy group.
Nigerian police have confirmed that a large group of Christian worshippers were kidnapped by suspected Muslim gunmen from three churches in a remote area of Nigeria’s northern Kaduna State, reversing an earlier denial that authorities said had been “widely misinterpreted.”
The era of foreign missionaries in Turkey is drawing to a close as authorities increasingly detain, deport, or bar Christian workers from reentering the Muslim-majority nation, according to church leaders and human-rights advocates.
A record 388 million Christians faced persecution and were at risk of violence worldwide over the past year—eight million more than in previous periods—according to new findings by Christian charity Open Doors.
There was mounting concern Monday over the fate of an Egyptian Christian who hosts a channel on the video-sharing platform YouTube, after authorities sentenced him to five years of hard labor for content that rights groups say defended Christianity online.