Bulgarian President Iliana Yotova has appointed a senior central bank official as interim prime minister in a bid to steady the European Union nation after years of chronic political instability.

Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest bank, continued providing banking services to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein years after his 2008 conviction and months before his 2019 arrest, according to U.S. Justice Department documents released Thursday.

Hungary’s main opposition leader, 44-year-old Péter Magyar, said Thursday that he has become the target of what he described as a “Russian-style smear campaign” after he was secretly filmed during a consensual sexual encounter with a former girlfriend in 2024.

The Trump administration has finalized a sweeping reciprocal trade agreement with Taiwan, confirming a 15 percent U.S. tariff rate on Taiwanese imports while securing broad new market access and purchase commitments for American goods.

Christian rights activists have condemned Chinese and Hong Kong authorities after Catholic publisher and democracy advocate Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison under Hong Kong’s sweeping National Security Law.

Mourners in a remote Canadian town grappled Thursday with the aftermath of one of the country’s deadliest school shootings in decades, as families, survivors and leaders reacted to the tragedy that left eight victims — most of them children — dead, along with the 18-year-old suspect.

A gunman who opened fire at a school in southern Thailand’s Hat Yai city on Wednesday wounded a teacher and a student before being detained, authorities said, in a rare attack that sent students and staff into panic.

The Trump administration covertly delivered roughly 6,000 Starlink satellite internet terminals into Iran following last month’s violent government crackdown on nationwide protests, according to U.S. officials cited in a Wall Street Journal exclusive.

A Russian drone slammed into a home in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region overnight, killing a father and his three small children and wounding their pregnant mother, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday, in one of the deadliest single-family attacks in recent months.

Tropical Cyclone Gezani collapsed houses in Madagascar’s main port city of Toamasina and left at least 31 people dead as it tore across the Indian Ocean island with powerful winds and heavy rain, authorities said Wednesday.

Israel has delivered a stark warning to Hamas through international mediators: agree to the current ceasefire and hostage release proposal within days, or face the annexation of territory surrounding Gaza’s perimeter. The warning, reported by Channel 13, comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top advisors met to assess the stalled negotiations and evaluate next steps amid growing impatience in Jerusalem.

In a groundbreaking shift that could reshape the future of the Middle East, several Arab nations–including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt–joined Western allies Tuesday in calling for Hamas to disarm and relinquish its control over the Gaza Strip. The joint declaration, signed by 17 countries along with the European Union and the Arab League, marks a historic rebuke of the terror group by regional powers that have previously maintained more cautious stances.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday that Britain would formally recognize a Palestinian state by September, if Israel does not stop its war against Hamas in Gaza in a move that was due to anger Israeli politicians.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Sunday sharply criticized the United Nations, The New York Times, and Hamas for what he called a “complete balagan”–the Hebrew word for chaos–regarding the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza. In a post on X, Huckabee accused the three of spreading propaganda that derailed ceasefire efforts, discredited legitimate aid operations, and ultimately prolonged the suffering of hostages and civilians.

The United States issued a firm rebuke Monday of a United Nations-hosted conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling the effort a “publicity stunt” that undermines serious diplomatic efforts and emboldens Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu forcefully denied allegations of starvation in the Gaza Strip, labeling the accusations as “a bold-faced lie” during a high-profile address at a Daystar TV conference in Jerusalem, hosted by Pastor Paula White, former head of the White House Faith Office.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Sunday it will begin implementing daily “tactical pauses” in select areas of the Gaza Strip to facilitate the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid, following mounting international pressure over the growing humanitarian crisis.

President Donald J. Trump is moving to reshape the U.S. Navy under a bold new initiative called the “Golden Fleet,” an ambitious effort to build a next-generation maritime force designed to counter China and other emerging global threats.

Republicans’ attempts to avert the worst effects of the ongoing government shutdown failed Thursday after Senate Democrats blocked a bill that would ensure essential federal employees are paid on time.

The U.S. national debt has surpassed $38 trillion for the first time in history, according to new Treasury Department data released Wednesday — marking another alarming milestone in the government’s rapidly escalating borrowing spree.

More than 80 pro-life and faith-based organizations have sent a joint letter to Congress urging Republican lawmakers to resist Democrat demands for extending Obamacare subsidies they say fund abortion coverage.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has arrested more than 480,000 illegal immigrants in the past nine months — with 70% of them convicted of crimes or facing criminal charges — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday.

Thousands of people marched in Washington, D.C., on Saturday as part of the second “No Kings” Day, protesting President Donald Trump.

After a third week of making zero progress on a federal funding deal, lawmakers have headed home for the weekend with no hopes of ending the government shutdown anytime soon.

A British court has thrown out the prosecution of a Christian preacher who was surrounded by an angry Muslim mob for criticizing the Koran, deemed a holy book by Muslims.

The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Myanmar since a military coup overthrew the government was the focus of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) hearing held in late February, according to a leading Christian advocacy group.

An umbrella group of Nigeria’s main Christian denominations has condemned the Nigerian Supreme Court over upholding the death sentence for a Christian farmer who defended himself against an attack by Islamic Fulani herdsmen.

An Iranian court has sentenced a Christian woman pregnant with her first child to 16 years imprisonment while two other believers also received lengthy jail terms for activities related to the Christian faith, trial observers confirmed Wednesday.

Authorities in the most populous county of the United States have banned meetings of Church on the Beach, which had been holding public beach services for nearly two decades.

British Christian leaders and politicians fear a new working group advising the government on “anti-Muslim hatred /Islamophobia” will lead to blasphemy legislation that would further limit freedom of expression.

Police in Pakistan rescued a 12-year-old Christian girl who was abducted two month ago by a Muslim neighbor who forcibly converted her to Islam and coerced her into marrying him, the Morning Star News reported.