Australian authorities said at least 12 people, including one suspected gunman, were killed and dozens wounded in a shooting attack linked to a Hanukkah event at Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach, an incident condemned by leaders in Australia, Britain, and Israel as antisemitic terrorism.

German authorities have detained five men in southern Germany over an alleged plot to carry out a “possibly Islamist-motivated attack” on a Christmas market, officials confirmed late Friday.

Russia escalated its war rhetoric Friday, stating that any ceasefire with Ukraine is conditional on Kyiv’s complete withdrawal from the Donbas region, as Ukrainian forces claimed new gains near the strategic northeastern hub of Kupiansk.

Bulgaria plunged into renewed political turmoil Friday after Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov resigned following mass protests accusing his minority government of corruption, just weeks before the Balkan nation is due to adopt the euro.

Hungary’s embattled Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, widely viewed as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally within the European Union, has accused the EU’s executive arm of “systematically raping European law” over plans to lock up Russia’s frozen assets until Moscow ends its war in Ukraine and compensates for the devastation it has inflicted.

The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that a targeted airstrike in Gaza City killed senior Hamas commander Raad Saad, one of the terror group’s most influential remaining military leaders, in what Israeli officials described as a direct response to repeated ceasefire violations by Hamas.

The Trump administration is preparing to appoint an American two-star general to command the newly formed International Stabilization Force (ISF) in Gaza, according to a report published Thursday by Axios citing U.S. and Israeli officials.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly advanced the fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), approving nearly $900 billion in defense spending and a broad slate of U.S.-Israel security initiatives. The bipartisan vote was 312-112, sending the legislation to the Senate, where it is expected to pass.

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the long-anticipated announcement of the Gaza “Board of Peace” will take place early next year, marking a delay from earlier expectations that the rollout would occur before Christmas.

Evangelical Christian backing for Israel is “more vital than ever” as the Jewish state confronts a surge of antisemitism and anti-Israel activism worldwide, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told a visiting delegation of Christian leaders this week.

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a sweeping executive order aimed at preventing states from regulating artificial intelligence, asserting that a fragmented regulatory landscape threatens U.S. innovation and global competitiveness—particularly against China.

A federal appeals court delivered a major victory to the Trump administration and the pro-life movement on Friday, ruling that Planned Parenthood is unlikely to succeed in its legal challenge against a key provision of President Donald Trump’s signature domestic-policy law that cuts off federal Medicaid funding to abortion providers.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 8 declined to hear the case of a California Christian baker who was prosecuted for refusing, on religious grounds, to create a custom wedding cake celebrating a same-sex marriage. The unsigned order in Miller v. Civil Rights Department came without comment or recorded dissent, leaving in place a California ruling against the baker.

Students, staff and anxious parents faced an uncertain Sunday and several leaders urged prayers after a shooter killed at least two people and wounded nine others at Brown University in the U.S. state of Rhode Island.

The Trump administration has prevented more than $1 billion in attempted federal student-loan fraud this year after reinstating strict identity-verification requirements that officials say were weakened under the Biden administration.

Despite Christmas approaching, many Christians in Syria aren’t in a celebratory mood one year after the toppling of longtime autocratic President Bashar al-Assad, investigations reveal.

Some 100 students have been rescued, and about 50 others escaped following Nigeria’s largest Christian school kidnappings in recent years, several sources confirmed Wednesday.

Pakistani police have released security camera footage allegedly showing the main suspect in Friday’s assassination of Pastor Kamran Salamat, also known as Kamran Naaz, whose death at age 45 has shocked Pakistan’s embattled Christian community.

A Catholic priest remained missing in northern Nigeria Thursday after being abducted from his residence in Kaduna State, Worthy News learned.

A funeral was underway in Pakistan on Saturday for a prominent Gospel preacher who was shot and killed in a Friday attack, less than three months after he survived another assassination attempt by suspected Islamic extremists, friends told Worthy News.