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.

Germany on Friday summoned the Russian ambassador amid allegations that Moscow is conducting a coordinated campaign to destabilize the country, the European Union’s largest economy, according to government officials.

A leading human rights group has condemned Hungary’s decision to place state-run youth detention centers under police oversight after abuse scandals triggered calls for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s resignation.

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.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet U.S. President Donald Trump on Dec. 29 to determine the next steps of the Gaza ceasefire plan, Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said Monday during an online briefing.

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.

The man accused of assassinating born-again Christian activist Charlie Kirk, the founder of the Turning Point USA movement, was to make his first in-person court appearance Thursday, nearly three months after he was taken into custody.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday approved its third consecutive interest rate cut, lowering the benchmark federal-funds rate by a quarter percentage point to a range of 3.5% to 3.75%, the lowest level since early 2022. But the decision—passed in a 9–3 vote, the most divided in six years—exposed unusually sharp disagreements over the path forward as policymakers wrestle with a slowing labor market and stubborn inflation.

In a major victory for religious liberty and parental rights, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday reversed a lower court ruling that had upheld New York State’s strict vaccine mandates for schoolchildren, directing the appeals court to reconsider the case under newly strengthened constitutional protections.

A Hindu nonprofit organization is moving forward with plans to construct a massive 155-foot Hindu idol of Lord Murugan in rural Chatham County—an enormous structure that, once completed, would stand taller than the Statue of Liberty’s figure.

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.