Germany’s defense minister has urged a “serious national debate” about the future of the German military after warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin could attack the country and much of Europe within eight years.

Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson says he wants to meet his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán in Brussels next week to clear the remaining obstacle to Stockholm’s delayed bid to join the NATO military alliance.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who has accused Israel of genocide, and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi, who seeks the Jewish nation’s destruction, have agreed to tighten security cooperation.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán pledged Wednesday that he will urge the Hungarian parliament to approve Sweden’s membership of the NATO military alliance, a day after Turkish legislators made a similar move.

As part of an effort to prevent the ongoing Israel-Hamas war from escalating into a regional conflict fueled by Iran, the United States, just after midnight on Wednesday, carried out retaliatory airstrikes against facilities in Iraq that were being used by the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia and other jihadist groups to attack US and Coalition targets in the region, Axios reports.

Russian authorities confirmed Wednesday that a Defense Ministry plane carrying scores of Ukrainian military prisoners of war plus crew and guards crashed in Russia’s Belgorod region near the border with Ukraine.

The United States hit Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen early Wednesday, destroying two anti-ship missiles that aimed at the Red Sea and were preparing to launch, the U.S. military said.

Hungary came under pressure Wednesday to approve Sweden’s membership of the NATO-military alliance after Turkey’s parliament ratified the Nordic nation’s entry.

A British pianist who has more than two million subscribers on the YouTube video-sharing site has been accosted by a furious Chinese television crew and Chinese tourists.

Dozens of students have arrived in Budapest from wartorn Ukraine to meet the teachers they knew online while studying in bomb shelters or other challenging locations.

A 7.1 earthquake struck a remote part of China’s western Xinjiang region after deadly landslides buried dozens in China and in the Philippines, including praying Christians, officials said.

Prosecutors in Finland are now appealing to the country’s Supreme Court to pin charges of inciting hate speech on a Christian parliamentarian who posted comments on social media about her opposition to same-sex marriage on religious grounds, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

European Union foreign ministers began meeting in Brussels Monday to discuss the future of European support for Ukraine, which needs more ammunition to fight invading Russian troops. The gathering comes while the Polish prime minister is in Kyiv amid more bloodshed as Russia has accused Ukrainian forces of attacking a market in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, killing at least 25 people and injuring 20 others over the weekend.

Queen Máxima of the Netherlands has come under fire for demanding that government and business leaders roll out “digital IDs” to ensure they can track persons’ “vaccination status” and other private information.

An Iranian conscript opened fire inside an army base, killing at least five soldiers in Iran’s southeastern city of Kerman, where 94 people died in bombings earlier this month, Iranian and Israeli sources said.