The Islamic Republic of Iran is close to possibly testing a nuclear weapons device and has sought to obtain illicit technology for its active atomic weapons program, according to a series of shocking European intelligence reports released in 2023.

Chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, arrived in Beirut on Wednesday for a meeting with Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Lebanese Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, i24News reports.

Poland, a member of the U.S.-led NATO military alliance, said Thursday it would send an additional 10,000 troops to its border with Belarus after an “incursion” by Belarusian military helicopters.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sacked his top general while calling for the military to boost weapons production and increase combat drills in preparation for an “offensive” war, state-run media reported Thursday.

A Russian rocket attack near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine killed two people, while inside Russia, one person died in a blast at a factory providing optical equipment to Russia’s security forces, authorities said.

Brazil’s Amazon Summit concluded Wednesday with a pledge to end the Amazon’s ongoing demise “from reaching a point of no return” but without a regional agreement on ending deforestation.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday his thoughts are with victims and survivors after a massive fire raged through a vacation home for adults with disabilities killed 11 people.

The United Nations’ Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) reported Tuesday that its investigators have found a “dramatic increase” in war crimes in Myanmar, including mass executions, sexual violence, and widespread destruction of residential areas, i24News reports.

While Ukraine’s allies have not given up hope of a final victory against Russia, senior Western officials have expressed pessimism about the country’s ability to take back control of major Russian-occupied territories, i24News reports.

French authorities said Tuesday they had detained five police officers over the death of a young man during riots across France earlier this summer.

The United Nations announced late Tuesday that an agreement had been reached with Syria to reopen the main border crossing from Turkey to its rebel-held northwest for six months.

Rescue efforts continued in an eastern Ukrainian town on Tuesday as the confirmed death toll following a Russian missile strike rose to seven.

Scientists in the UK have begun developing vaccines to ensure the public is protected against a new pandemic caused by an unknown “Disease X”.

The Biden administration has provided more than $2.35 billion in taxpayer dollars to Afghanistan since the Taliban retook control of the government in 2021 following a deadly U.S. evacuation.

For the first time since extended nationwide anti-government protests were triggered in Iran last year, the Iranian Islamic Republic is preparing to hold new parliamentary elections in March 2024, the Associated Press reports. Iranian authorities began registering electoral candidates for the 290-seat parliament on Monday.

Fire brigades in Portugal are struggling to contain wildfires engulfing thousands of hectares, with authorities saying at least nine firefighters were injured in the blazes. It comes as much of Europe suffers extreme weather patterns ranging from heatwaves to heavy rains and storms causing deadly flooding and landslides.

The United States Navy has deployed the assault ship USS Bataan and over 3,000 sailors and Marines to the Red Sea in the Middle East in an effort to deter Iran from “harassing and seizing” international merchant ships traveling through the Suez Canal, The Hill reports. The USS Bataan arrived Sunday after sailing from the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal.

Ukraine’s security service claimed Monday to have foiled a plot to kill the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, but five people died in a suspected Russian missile strike in the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk.

The United States on Friday announced a weapons package for Taiwan worth up to $345 million, Reuters reports. The Biden administration has not publicized details as to what this package will include.

Pakistani police said at least 30 people were killed and 100 injured when a train derailed in southern Pakistan, underscoring broader concerns about railway safety in the Asian nation.