Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said Tuesday that his security team aborted a planned helicopter landing over fears he could be assassinated, as the South American nation faces renewed political violence ahead of key elections. He also urged rebels to release an abducted senator.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Tuesday called for “a thorough investigation” after a Russian strike in eastern Ukraine wounded a Ukrainian television journalist, underscoring the risks faced by media workers as the war approaches its fourth year.

Japan’s first-ever female prime minister was effectively re-elected as her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) recorded its strongest performance in snap parliamentary elections in the country’s post-war history.

Authorities across North Africa and southern Europe remained on high alert Monday after powerful storms killed numerous people and forced the evacuation of more than 160,000 residents.

Ukraine’s foreign minister has warned that intensified Russian attacks on his country’s energy infrastructure are creating a direct risk of a nuclear incident that could affect all of Europe.

Official results confirmed Monday that Socialist Party candidate António José Seguro won Portugal’s presidential election with 66.7 percent of the vote, defeating André Ventura of the right-wing nationalist Chega (“Enough”) party.

Pakistani Christians on Friday condemned a suicide bombing during weekly prayers at a Shiite mosque on the outskirts of Islamabad that killed at least 31 people and injured 169 others in what officials described as the deadliest attack on Pakistan’s capital in more than a decade.

Europe reeled Sunday after newly released U.S. Justice Department files detailing the late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s global contacts shook royal houses and governments, triggering resignations, investigations and political fallout across several European countries.

The Trump administration announced it will no longer abide by the expired New START nuclear arms agreement, arguing the treaty fails to restrain Russia’s expanding arsenal and excludes China’s rapidly growing nuclear forces, according to a senior State Department official.

Hungary’s main opposition leader is demanding answers over 650 billion forints ($2 billion) in disputed funds linked to foundation structures created by the Hungarian National Bank (MNB), branding the case “the world’s biggest bank robbery.”

Senior officials from the United States, Israel, and Syria are due to meet Thursday to negotiate urgent security arrangements in southern Syria, after a week of deadly sectarian violence and Israeli military strikes targeting Syrian forces near Damascus.

The United States will once again withdraw from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), President Donald Trump’s administration announced Tuesday, citing the agency’s “anti-Israel rhetoric,” “divisive cultural agenda,” and “pro-Palestinian bias.” The decision follows a 90-day review ordered by Trump earlier this year, and marks the third major withdrawal from a UN agency during his current term.

A simmering diplomatic dispute over visa delays for Christian organizations in Israel has been resolved, following high-level intervention from U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee and pressure from American faith leaders.

The Israeli Air Force conducted drone strikes on Yemen’s Houthi-controlled Hodeida port on Monday, targeting military infrastructure used by the Iran-backed group to launch attacks on Israel. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), the operation was carried out in direct response to ongoing Houthi missile and drone assaults, marking the thirteenth such Israeli strike on Yemen.

Israel’s military pledged to investigate claims by Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry that at least 85 Palestinians were killed Sunday while trying to get food, but the army expressed doubts about the reported death toll.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Sunday it will begin ground operations in Deir al-Balah for the first time since the start of the Gaza conflict, expanding its military campaign into one of the last remaining areas of the Strip untouched by ground forces. The move comes with a new evacuation warning to civilians in the southwest of the city, directing them to seek refuge in the overcrowded coastal zone of al-Mawasi.

Pope Leo XIV has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to achieve a ceasefire and “protect places of worship” after Gaza’s only Catholic Church was reportedly struck by Israel’s military, killing three people and injuring 10, including the parish priest, the Vatican said.

The U.S. federal government ended fiscal year 2025 with a $1.8 trillion budget deficit, according to estimates released Wednesday by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO)–a figure only marginally smaller than last year’s record shortfall, even as tariff revenue surged under President Donald Trump’s trade policies.

During a round table discussion with independent journalists at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, President Donald Trump said his administration would designate Antifa a foreign terror organization.

Democratic U.S. Senators voted against opening the federal government for a sixth time Wednesday afternoon, dimming hopes that Congress will reach a funding deal in time for thousands of federal workers to receive their next paychecks.

Despite the ongoing federal government shutdown, Senate Republicans on Tuesday confirmed 107 of President Donald Trump’s nominees in a 51-47 party-line vote, effectively ending what GOP leaders called a “Democrat confirmation blockade.”

Three Muslims who vandalized a church in Euless, Texas, argue doing so was their First Amendment right.

President Donald Trump said Monday he is considering invoking the Insurrection Act to send federal troops into Portland, Oregon, amid escalating protests over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in the city.

On the sixth day of the government shutdown, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) accused Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) of prolonging the funding impasse to appease his party’s far-left base, as both chambers failed again Monday to pass competing bills to reopen the government.

Some 50 Christians were attacked during a Sunday service in western India, the latest in a series of attacks targeting churches in the mainly Hindu nation, Worthy News learned Wednesday.

More than 60 Montagnard Christian refugees from Vietnam — including men, women, children, and pregnant women — were detained in Thailand, adding to concerns among Christian asylum seekers, rights activists said Tuesday.

An elderly Christian woman has been sentenced to 20 hours of community service in the Netherlands for smashing 300 “idols” made of ceramic in 2023, declaring, “There is only one God, that is Yahweh” while calling the art exhibition a “false image of God.”

A leading international court is deliberating on whether to punish Nicaragua after it sentenced 11 Nicaraguan pastors and ministry leaders to prison and forced them to pay millions in fines for spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ in massive evangelism campaigns.

The policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the world’s largest Baptist church organization, wants the U.S. Congress to end the alleged killing of “millions of preborn sons and daughters” by defunding Planned Parenthood, America’s biggest abortion provider.

Seventy Christians were discovered beheaded in a church in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), marking the latest tragic attack on believers in the country, according to Open Doors.

Devoted Christians in an area of Indonesia’s South Sulawesi Province said Thursday they fear for their future after hardline local Muslims objected to their worship activities and construction of a church.