World News

Students held protests across about 20 provinces in Iran on Saturday against educational policies imposed by the country’s Islamic rulers despite the risk of a potentially deadly crackdown, witnesses said.

Montenegro moved closer to becoming the European Union’s next member Friday as EU leaders signaled the Balkan nation could join the bloc by 2028, while officials also reflected on lessons learned from Hungary’s years of democratic backsliding under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Armed conflict intensified across the Middle East on Saturday as U.S. forces struck Iranian coastal radar sites after intercepting drones and missiles launched by Iran toward Arab Gulf states, while Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon killed at least nine people, including three members of the Lebanese military, officials said.

What began as a social media joke among India’s Generation Z, or Gen Z, has evolved into a growing protest movement challenging the country’s political establishment.

Hungarian prosecutors have dropped charges against organizers of last year’s Pride events, including Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, after the European Union’s highest court ruled that the legal basis used to ban the gatherings violated EU law.

Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s call for direct peace talks Friday, even as rare public criticism emerged from members of Russia’s political and business elite over the direction of the country’s wartime economy.

A Tunisian court has sentenced opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi to life imprisonment plus 30 years on terrorism-related charges, in a case critics say reflects a broader crackdown on political opponents under President Kais Saied.

Ukrainian drones struck energy and military facilities in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, just hours before international guests gathered for Russia’s flagship economic forum, in what appeared to be retaliation for deadly Russian attacks on Ukraine.

The police chief of England’s coastal Hampshire county apologized Wednesday to the family of Henry Nowak after the student was handcuffed and arrested as he lay dying, in a case that has shocked the nation and underscored racial and religious tensions across the UK.

U.S. and allied forces intercepted multiple Iranian missile and drone attacks across the Gulf region this week, as Tehran escalated its pressure campaign despite what U.S. Central Command described as an ongoing ceasefire.

Hungary suggested Wednesday it is prepared to lift its veto over Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union after an agreement was reached on the rights of ethnic Hungarians living in the war-torn nation.

At least 21 people, including numerous foreign nationals who had traveled to India for medical treatment, were killed Wednesday after a devastating fire swept through a multi-storybuilding in India’s capital, New Delhi, authorities said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged China on Tuesday to help restore freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz while saying Washington had seen no evidence that Beijing provided military assistance to Iran during the recent conflict.

Kuwait International Airport was temporarily shut down Wednesday after Iran launched a major ballistic missile and drone attack that struck civilian infrastructure, damaged airport facilities and diplomatic missions, and left one person dead and dozens injured, Kuwaiti authorities said.

The United States carried out fresh self-defense strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island on Tuesday after American forces intercepted Iranian drones and missiles aimed at regional waters, Kuwait, and Bahrain, U.S. Central Command said.

A Kenyan court on Tuesday extended for another three weeks a suspension of a proposed U.S.-backed Ebola quarantine facility that has sparked deadly protests and fierce public debate, while ordering the government to disclose its agreement with Washington.

Hungary’s government plans to amend the constitution to remove President Tamás Sulyok after he refused to resign, Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced Monday during a tense press conference outside the presidential palace.

Russia has sent a sanctioned cargo ship to resupply its air base in Syria, signaling that Moscow intends to preserve one of its most important military footholds in the Middle East despite the fall of longtime ally Bashar al-Assad, according to U.S. officials and satellite images reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Hungary has plunged into an unprecedented constitutional and political crisis after President Tamás Sulyok refused to resign following the expiration of an ultimatum issued by Prime Minister Péter Magyar.

Conflicting messages from Washington and Tehran left the future of the Iran war uncertain Monday, as President Donald Trump said talks with the Islamic Republic were still moving forward even after Iranian state media reported that Tehran had suspended indirect negotiations over Israel’s expanding offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon.