Russia has asked Turkey to refrain from a full-scale ground offensive in Syria, senior Russian negotiator Alexander Lavrentyev said on Wednesday, because such actions could trigger an escalation of violence.

The European Union’s parliament has condemned Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism after a new Russian missile barrage caused blackouts across Ukraine, killing many.

The U.K. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Scotland does not have the power to hold a new referendum on independence without the consent of the British government. The judgment is a setback for the Scottish government’s campaign to break away from the United Kingdom.

Israel Defense Forces chief Aviv Kohavi on Thursday said joint activities with the US military in the Middle East would be “significantly expanded” in the near future, following a five-day trip to the US.

Israeli scientists have destroyed cancerous tumors in mice by carrying out “controlled explosions” inside the body, which tear through the cancer cells.

President Joe Biden announced his intention to push for new gun control legislation in the lame-duck session of Congress.

A California school district is allowing the Satanic Temple organization to host an After School Satan Club on the premises of one of its local elementary schools, the Christian Post (CP) reports. The Satanic Temple claims it is a nontheistic organization that seeks to teach social justice through satanic imagery.

Suspected Fulani Islamic jihadist gunmen forced their way into a Catholic Church in Nigeria’s Enugu state on Saturday and kidnapped the parish priest, Vanguard reports. More than 2,300 Christians in Nigeria were kidnapped by jihadists in the first ten months of this year alone, according to the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law.

A UK Christian street preacher charged with a Public Order offense for telling a same-sex married couple that their union is against the Bible’s teaching has had his case dropped after the couple refused to engage with it, Christian Concern (CC) reports.

As congregations continue to leave the United Methodist Church mainline Protestant denomination over division on LGBTQ issues, 249 North Carolina congregations disaffiliated from the UMC on Saturday, the Christian Post (CP) reports.