World News

Iran’s rulers were quietly preparing for a broader and potentially prolonged Middle East war even as Tehran publicly engaged in diplomatic efforts with the United States, according to an exclusive investigation by The Wall Street Journal.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced Sunday that he had ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” military exercises with key regional ally South Korea, citing his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Seoul’s refusal to assist Washington in its confrontation with Iran.

Rescue teams in eastern Indonesia recovered six more bodies Sunday following a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake, raising the death toll to at least 53 as Christians prayed for victims and rescuers struggled to reach isolated communities.

Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten faced mounting pressure Sunday after two people died in a traffic accident linked to a farmers’ protest, while his government was drawn into a separate controversy over a prominent statesman’s comparison involving Israel and Nazi Germany.

Amid mounting military cooperation, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed deepening ties with Russia in a message to President Vladimir Putin as Pyongyang marked the anniversary of “independence from Japan’s colonial rule,” state media reported Sunday.

The Russia-Ukraine war rapidly escalated Sunday as more than 800 Ukrainian drones targeted Russia in Ukraine’s largest such attack this year, killing at least seven people, officials said.

Firefighters backed by Dutch military helicopters battled Belgium’s largest wildfire on record Sunday as flames swept through nearly 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of nature reserve and threatened areas near the German border, while deadly blazes raged elsewhere in Europe, including Greece.

Hungary’s former ruling Fidesz party suffered a legal setback Friday after the Constitutional Court rejected its challenge to the dismantling of controversial foundations holding vast amounts of state assets, while separate scrutiny intensified over billions of forints in public money spent on former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s social-media operation.

The United States is rapidly approaching another historic fiscal milestone, with the national debt now nearing $40 trillion as Washington continues running massive annual deficits and interest costs consume a growing share of federal spending.

France’s Constitutional Council has upheld the core provisions of a sweeping new law establishing a legal right to assisted dying, clearing one of the final major obstacles to euthanasia and assisted suicide in a nation long shaped by Catholic tradition.

Scores of people have been killed after a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s Flores Island early Saturday, authorities said, as rescuers struggled to reach some of the hardest-hit areas, while a less powerful tremor was reported in North Sumatra province.

Romania and neighboring Hungary are facing an energy crisis linked to a record heat wave and the related low level of the Danube River, with Romania forced to shut down its last operating nuclear reactor while Hungary struggles to keep the only one of its four Paks reactors still operating online.

The World Health Organization is warning that the rapidly expanding Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo could surpass the devastating 2014–2016 West Africa epidemic and become the worst Ebola outbreak ever recorded.

Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar has cast doubt on a controversial Russian-led expansion of Hungary’s only nuclear power plant after record-low levels of the Danube River nearly forced its existing reactors into a complete shutdown.

The United States is preparing to send the USS George Washington aircraft carrier to the Middle East, replacing the USS Abraham Lincoln after an exceptionally long deployment supporting American military operations against Iran, according to an exclusive report by The Wall Street Journal.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are moving to deepen military cooperation under a new mutual-defense pact that Israeli analysts say could reshape the Middle East’s security architecture while reducing dependence on the United States and bypassing Israel.

Millions across Europe watched Wednesday as a rare total solar eclipse swept across the northern Atlantic and portions of the continent, an extraordinary celestial event unfolding just hours before the biblical calendar entered Elul — the month traditionally associated with repentance, spiritual preparation and the approach of the King.

Switzerland’s government has rejected a campaign to enshrine a stricter interpretation of the Alpine nation’s centuries-old neutrality in the constitution, ahead of a nationwide referendum next month.

An Indonesian and three Pakistani crew members were among six people killed in an attack by Iran-backed Houthi forces on a cargo ship in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait near Yemen, officials said Wednesday.

Russian attacks across Ukraine killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens more, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday, as Kyiv accused Moscow of using North Korean ballistic missiles in its escalating air campaign.