President Donald Trump’s promised U.S. military “armada” has now arrived in the Middle East, led by the aircraft carrier strike group centered on the USS Abraham Lincoln. Yet despite the high-profile deployment of naval power and advanced fighter aircraft, U.S. officials say a major American response against Iran may be delayed as the Pentagon focuses on fortifying air defenses across the region, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. Senate sent a $1.2 trillion government funding package back to the House for approval Friday night, ensuring a partial government shutdown over the weekend.

As the 2026 midterm elections approach, state legislatures have grappled with fierce mid-decade redistricting efforts in an attempt to give an advantage to their political party. Based on current map projections, Republicans could flip three more seats than Democrats. Republicans currently have a slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Suspected armed bandits attacked a community in Nigeria’s north-central Niger State, police said, burning a police station, torching part of a church, and abducting several residents.

A prominent Christian lawyer has urged Pakistan’s government to intervene as a man accused of brutally assaulting a Christian woman and tearing her clothes in a Punjab province market was released within just 30 minutes of police detention, apparently due to his “contacts” with authorities, Christians said.

Rebel authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) confirmed Saturday that more than 200 people have died after a landslide collapsed several mines at a major coltan mining site in the troubled east of the war-torn African nation.

Hamas-run health authorities say more than two dozen people were killed Saturday in Gaza as Israel carried out its heaviest airstrikes in weeks.

Russia and Ukraine say they have briefly halted strikes on each other’s energy infrastructure after U.S. President Donald Trump urged an end to attacks that left many people without power in freezing temperatures. Yet, differences remain over when the U.S.-brokered moratorium will expire.

Germany is in shock after an 18-year-old woman was reportedly killed when she was grabbed by a 25-year-old man from South Sudan on a subway platform in the city of Hamburg and thrown in front of an oncoming train. The man also died in the horrific incident late Thursday, officials said.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has claimed that European Union leaders were presented with plans to admit Ukraine into the bloc by 2027, warning that the move would divert billions of euros away from Central European nations ahead of the EU’s next long-term budget cycle.