As many as seven candidates for Germany’s anti-migration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party have died in recent weeks ahead of local elections in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, prompting calls for investigation.

A drug-related standoff between Venezuela and the United States further escalated Saturday as U.S. Vice President JD Vance defended a strike on a suspected drug-trafficking speedboat that killed 11 people in the southern Caribbean.

Ukraine’s president has vowed to continue retaliating against Russian attacks on his country’s energy facilities and civilian sites, despite criticism from neighbors Slovakia and Hungary. Volodymyr Zelenskyy made the remarks after meeting Slovakia’s prime minister in the Ukrainian border city of Uzhhorod.

Europe faced fresh anxiety Friday after the White House confirmed the United States will end support for a program that helped prepare Eastern European armies to counter potential Russian aggression.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Friday that any foreign troops sent to Ukraine would be “legitimate targets for destruction” by Russia’s military. His comments came a day after European leaders met in Paris to discuss possible future security guarantees for Ukraine.

Afghan families are forced to make impossible choices after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan, devastating the mountainous Kunar province, where entire villages collapsed.

Leaders from 26 nations have pledged to commit troops to Ukraine as part of “post-war security guarantees,” despite mounting concern that such a move could pave the way for a return to conscription and compel young people to serve in volatile territories. The initiative, spearheaded by French President Emmanuel Macron through the “Coalition of the Willing,” was discussed at a summit in Paris and envisions deployment of a “reassurance force” once fighting subsides.

Portugal declared a national day of mourning Thursday after at least 17 people were killed and 21 others injured when the Glória funicular in central Lisbon derailed and slammed into a building, raising questions about maintenance.

A confidential report by the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has revealed that Iran expanded its stockpile of highly enriched uranium in the weeks leading up to Israel’s June 13 military strikes, raising new alarms over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

President Donald Trump on Thursday pressed European leaders to stop buying Russian oil that he said is helping fund Moscow’s war in Ukraine and urged them to place economic pressure on Beijing for supporting the Kremlin’s war effort.

Women who undergo abortions face more than double the risk of psychiatric, substance-related, and suicide-related hospitalizations compared to women who give birth, according to new Canadian research.

Every person in Britain could be required to obtain a digital identity card under proposals revived after French President Emmanuel Macron pressed London to curb migration.

Bulgaria says Russia was likely behind the jamming of navigation signals that disrupted the flight of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as she approached Plovdiv, the country’s second-largest city. Pilots were forced to rely on ground-based navigation and paper charts to land safely, delaying her arrival.

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog says its inspectors have found traces of uranium at a Syrian site once believed to be part of a secret nuclear program under former President Bashar Assad.

A stabbing rampage in southern France’s c
ity of Marseille injured at least five people before police fatally shot the attacker, authorities said.