Appealing to the international community for assistance, the 16-nation Southern African Development Community has warned that some 68 million people in southern Africa are facing food shortages and damaged economies due to a drought brought on by the El Nino phenomenon, Reuters reports.

United Nations investigators contend in a new report that Iran has perpetrated “crimes against humanity” in attacking ethnic and religious minorities amid its crackdown on women’s rights protests, Christian Today reports.

The European Union is rolling out a European Vaccination Card, sidelining critics who fear it will lead to more central government control over people’s personal lives and decisions.

Ukraine has defended its massive offensive into Russian territory, saying it is designed to persuade Moscow to engage in “fair” talks on ending its war in Ukraine. Additionally, Kyiv denied reports that it was responsible for blowing up Nord Stream pipelines that carried natural gas from Russia to Europe.

Europe’s health authorities are rushing to contain an outbreak of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox after a more severe strain was detected in Sweden. They asked European leaders to issue travel advice for areas impacted by pox, as the potentially fatal virus was declared a global health emergency.

The parliament of Thailand has voted for the heir of a powerful and polarizing dynasty to lead the Asian nation as its youngest prime minister ever.

The globally renowned US-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) has warned that Iran is spending massive academic research resources on nuclear bomb detonation, the Jerusalem Post reports.

Setting aside historical tensions over Turkey’s military action against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in Iraq, senior Turkish and Iraqi officials are meeting in Ankara on Thursday for high-level talks on security cooperation, Media Line reports.

Iran’s supreme leader said Wednesday that Tehran shouldn’t walk away from pledges to attack Israel after one of the largest cyber attacks on agencies linked to the Islamic Republic’s government.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned the world Wednesday of mpox, formally known as monkeypox, declaring the potentially fatal viral infection a “global public health emergency”, after an outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) crossed into nearby nations.

Iran’s Islamic regime on Tuesday denounced as “impudent” Western calls for it not to attack Israel in retaliation for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month, the Times of Israel (TOI) reports.

Central Syria experienced a 5.5 magnitude earthquake late on Monday night, triggering locals’ memories of the devastating quake which hit northern Syria and Turkey last year, the Associated Press reports.

Lawmakers in Germany are divided over whether to amend the country’s post-Nazi era 1949 Constitution to specify that members of the LGBTQ community cannot be discriminated against on the grounds of their sexual orientation or identity, DW reports.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged Monday the massive scale of his country’s incursion into Russian territory, the first such invasion by a foreign nation since World War Two.

In a further step toward integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in their defense systems, Australia, the UK, and the US (AUKUS) announced on Friday that they have successfully conducted a joint trial in “the first use of autonomy and AI sensing systems in a real-time military environment,” Breaking Defense (BD reports.