World News

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said Tuesday that his security team aborted a planned helicopter landing over fears he could be assassinated, as the South American nation faces renewed political violence ahead of key elections. He also urged rebels to release an abducted senator.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Tuesday called for “a thorough investigation” after a Russian strike in eastern Ukraine wounded a Ukrainian television journalist, underscoring the risks faced by media workers as the war approaches its fourth year.

Japan’s first-ever female prime minister was effectively re-elected as her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) recorded its strongest performance in snap parliamentary elections in the country’s post-war history.

Authorities across North Africa and southern Europe remained on high alert Monday after powerful storms killed numerous people and forced the evacuation of more than 160,000 residents.

Ukraine’s foreign minister has warned that intensified Russian attacks on his country’s energy infrastructure are creating a direct risk of a nuclear incident that could affect all of Europe.

Official results confirmed Monday that Socialist Party candidate António José Seguro won Portugal’s presidential election with 66.7 percent of the vote, defeating André Ventura of the right-wing nationalist Chega (“Enough”) party.

Pakistani Christians on Friday condemned a suicide bombing during weekly prayers at a Shiite mosque on the outskirts of Islamabad that killed at least 31 people and injured 169 others in what officials described as the deadliest attack on Pakistan’s capital in more than a decade.

Europe reeled Sunday after newly released U.S. Justice Department files detailing the late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s global contacts shook royal houses and governments, triggering resignations, investigations and political fallout across several European countries.

The Trump administration announced it will no longer abide by the expired New START nuclear arms agreement, arguing the treaty fails to restrain Russia’s expanding arsenal and excludes China’s rapidly growing nuclear forces, according to a senior State Department official.

Hungary’s main opposition leader is demanding answers over 650 billion forints ($2 billion) in disputed funds linked to foundation structures created by the Hungarian National Bank (MNB), branding the case “the world’s biggest bank robbery.”

Iran’s leadership has flatly refused to abandon uranium enrichment or scale back its ballistic missile program, even as President Donald Trump intensifies a dual-track strategy of diplomacy and military pressure aimed at forcing a broader agreement with Tehran.

Far over budget but still less costly than some recent Games, Italy’s Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics opened over the weekend, with athletes from Russia and its ally Belarus competing only under a “neutral” designation amid continuing fallout from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Portuguese voters headed to the polls Sunday in a high-stakes presidential runoff despite deadly storms that have battered parts of the country, with left-leaning former Socialist leader António José Seguro projected to defeat nationalist challenger André Ventura, according to exit polls.

U.S. forces carried out five sets of precision strikes against Islamic State targets across Syria between Jan. 27 and Feb. 2, the U.S. military’s U.S. Central Command announced Wednesday.

U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff announced on Feb. 5 that Ukraine and Russia have agreed to exchange 314 prisoners, marking the first such swap in five months and the most tangible outcome yet from U.S.-brokered talks held in Abu Dhabi. The exchange followed multiple days of trilateral negotiations involving delegations from Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that Iran has entered negotiations with the United States because it fears potential military action, as both sides prepare for high-stakes talks expected to take place in Oman. Speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Trump said Tehran “doesn’t want us to hit them,” adding that a U.S. naval fleet is in the region as pressure increases.

Ukraine has signaled readiness to reach an acceptable agreement with Russia during renewed talks in Abu Dhabi, but Russian missile and drone attacks have cast doubt on Moscow’s intentions, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and other officials said.

A provincial leader in eastern Indonesia on Wednesday acknowledged deep government failures after a 10-year-old boy apparently took his own life when his family could not afford a pen and a notebook he needed for school.

The last remaining nuclear arms control agreement between Washington and Moscow expired Thursday, ending more than a decade of legally binding limits and verification measures that offered rare transparency into the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals. The lapse of New START marks the first time in over half a century that the United States and Russia are operating without any active treaty governing their strategic nuclear forces.

Planned nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran unraveled this week after Tehran demanded changes to both the format and location of the talks, U.S. and regional officials said. The meetings, initially set for Friday in Turkey, were called off after Washington rejected Iran’s insistence on moving the venue to Oman and limiting discussions to the nuclear file alone.