Iran warned Wednesday that its missile capabilities are “non-negotiable” as tensions increased with the United States, which appears to be preparing military options, even as the Islamic Republic faces unrest at home following a deadly nationwide protest crackdown.

As diplomatic talks continue between Washington and Tehran, new reports from inside Iran describe intensifying repression and widespread fear among ordinary citizens.

The Pentagon has instructed a second aircraft carrier strike group to prepare for potential deployment to the Middle East as the United States increases military readiness in response to rising tensions with Iran, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Nine people were killed Tuesday in a mass shooting in the western Canadian province of British Columbia, and at least 27 others were injured, authorities confirmed late Tuesday, marking one of the deadliest attacks in Canada in recent years.

British police say a 13-year-old former pupil who allegedly shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“Allah is Greatest”) before stabbing two boys, aged 12 and 13, at his former northwest London school has been detained at a nearby mosque.

A passenger aircraft carrying 55 people made an emergency landing in shallow water near the main airport in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, on Tuesday after suffering technical problems shortly after takeoff, but all aboard miraculously survived without serious injuries, authorities said.

Saudi Arabia has launched the largest reconstruction initiative in Syria since U.S. sanctions were lifted, positioning the kingdom as a central driver of Syria’s postwar recovery.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the United States has given Kyiv and Moscow another deadline to reach a peace agreement, proposing that the nearly four-year war should end by June, as Russia escalates air strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

President Donald Trump is weighing deploying a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East as the U.S. continues talks with Iran over its nuclear program.

Kenya has condemned as “unacceptable” the recruitment of its citizens to fight for Russia in Ukraine, amid reports that several Kenyans have been killed or wounded on the battlefield as the war approaches its fourth anniversary.

Israel says it has started airdrops with humanitarian aid in Gaza to prevent mass starvation in the enclave after the United Nations allegedly refused to distribute food on Israeli terms.

Britain, France, and Germany blamed Israel for the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and demanded that Israel lift “restrictions” on aid.

French President Emmanuel Macron sparked a diplomatic firestorm Thursday by announcing that France will formally recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly this September.

After nearly three weeks of intensive U.S.- and Qatari-mediated negotiations with Hamas in Doha, both Israel and the United States have recalled their negotiating teams, citing a lack of genuine progress and deep-rooted ideological obstacles from the terror group that continue to stall a potential deal.

A disturbing wave of antisemitic incidents has erupted across Europe in recent weeks, targeting Israeli tourists and Jewish communities with increasing frequency and violence. From Greece to Germany, Switzerland to Belgium, attacks, threats, and legal actions against Israelis are raising alarms among Jewish leaders and government officials alike.

In a decisive political statement, the Israeli Knesset voted overwhelmingly Wednesday in favor of a non-binding resolution declaring support for the application of full Israeli sovereignty over Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley — territories comprising what is internationally referred to as the West Bank. The symbolic resolution passed 71-13, reflecting wide backing among the governing coalition and some members of the opposition.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters blocked Israeli tourists from disembarking in Greece on Tuesday, forcing an Israeli-owned cruise ship carrying 1,600 passengers to reroute to Cyprus.

The U.S. government shutdown is set to continue after the Senate again failed to advance a short-term spending measure Thursday, deepening the impasse between Republicans and Democrats over health care subsidies and spending priorities.

Oklahoma’s new State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Lindel Fields, announced this week that his administration will not move forward with a mandate to place Bibles in public school classrooms — a policy championed by his predecessor, Ryan Walters.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump has posthumously awarded America’s highest civilian honor to Charlie Kirk, the assassinated born-again Christian activist who inspired a generation of young Americans and others worldwide to embrace their faith and conservative values.

An investigation was underway Monday after a mass shooting at Willie’s Bar and Grill on St. Helena Island in the U.S. state of South Carolina claimed four lives and injured at least 20 others, authorities said.

The United States is barreling toward what could become the longest government shutdown in American history, now entering its third week with no end in sight and both sides dug in over a partisan spending standoff.

The United States and Qatar have signed a landmark defense agreement that will see Qatari F-15 fighter jets and pilots stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho — a move underscoring both nations’ expanding military and diplomatic ties following the Gaza ceasefire deal.

A U.S. military team of 200 personnel will be deployed across the Middle East to help oversee the newly brokered Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, senior U.S. officials confirmed Thursday, marking the next phase of President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace initiative.

A Catholic priest has been killed in Nigeria’s northwest by suspected Islamic criminals, also known as “bandits”, Christians confirmed Thursday.

Hungary says it is rushing aid to families of 70 Christians who were beheaded by Islamist fighters in a Protestant church in the north-eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and urges the world “not to ignore” the massacre.

A Christian family held as modern-day enslaved people by a Muslim brick kiln owner in Pakistan has been rescued, Christians involved in the case told Worthy News Tuesday.

Hungary’s anti-migration government says it will step up support for Christians in the Middle East to enable them “to remain in their homeland” despite concern about persecution and wars.

More than 10 Christians were recently arrested in various regions of Uttar Pradesh, a northern state in India, on charges of illegal religious conversions under the Uttar Pradesh Unlawful Religious Conversion Prohibition Act, according to a prominent Christian persecution advocacy group.

Muslims in eastern Uganda attacked and stabbed an evangelist who, along with his team, had converted a Muslim widow to Christianity during an open-air preaching session on February 15, according to Morning Star News.

A Nigerian pastor was recovering from his injuries Wednesday after gunmen shot him and severed his fingers while abducting six worshipers from a Pentecostal church in Nigeria’s southern Delta state, his wife and other sources said.