Russia’s southern region of Dagestan has begun three days of mourning after a rampage by suspected Islamic militants who killed 19 people, most of them police, and attacked churches and synagogues in coordinated assaults in two cities. Sunday’s violence occurred in Dagestan’s capital and a nearby town.

Moscow says at least four people have died in Ukrainian drone and missile attacks on Sunday, a day after Russia’s bombing of Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv killed three people and left dozens in hospitals. The attacks came as Ukraine expected the arrival of more U.S.-made air defense systems.

At least 15 police officers and several civilians, including an Orthodox priest, were killed and a dozen wounded when suspected Islamic gunmen opened fire at Russian synagogues, churches, and a police post in Russia’s North Caucasus region of Dagestan, several sources said.

Kyiv and Moscow say at least nearly a dozen people have died since Friday in Ukrainian-Russian clashes in eastern Ukraine, near Crimea, and in Russia itself. Additionally, officials say that in separate attacks, Russia launched a new barrage of missiles and drones overnight on Ukraine, damaging energy facilities in the country’s southeast and west and injuring at least two workers. The clashes come amid Western concerns about the increased support that Moscow is receiving from China, North Korea, and Iran to fuel its invasion of Ukraine.

Namibia’s high court has overturned a law that critics said criminalized gay sex in a ruling that the United Nations hopes will encourage broader testing for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

NATO’s incoming secretary-general said Friday that one of his main tasks would be “to keep military alliance united” at a time of divisions over the war in Ukraine.

Finland’s president says Russia has launched a “hybrid war” against Europe and the West using non-traditional methods to weaken their resolve.

An advocacy group has condemned the five-year jail term given to Belarusian journalist Alena Tsimashchuk on what her supporters suggest are trumped-up charges.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has withdrawn his bid for NATO’s leadership, clearing the way for Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to become the military alliance’s secretary-general.

A terminally ill Hungarian lawyer who lost his right-to-die case at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has met Hungary’s government, which refused to allow active euthanasia.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Wednesday that schools in France are threatened by the “scourge of antisemitism” after a 12-year-old Jewish girl was raped in what police called “a hate crime” amid ongoing attacks against Jewish people.

North Korea’s autocratic leader Kim Jong Un and his hardline Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin signed a new military pact Wednesday that includes a pledge of mutual defense if either is attacked.

A fleet of Russian warships including a nuclear-powered submarine on Monday left Cuba, five days after passing within 30 miles of Florida on its way to conduct planned tactical nuclear drills in Cuban waters, Newsweek reports.

Romania was expected Wednesday to support longtime Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who became the next secretary general of the NATO military alliance after Hungary dropped its objections and Slovakia’s president signaled his country’s support.

Eager to receive more military aid, Russian President Vladimir Putin began visiting North Korea after his plane touched down in the capital, Pyongyang, in the middle of the night.