World News

“Apocalyptic” flooding continued to hit northern Italy, with at least 13 deaths being reported, and in the Balkans where the army and rescue workers struggled to reach people in flood-hit areas of Croatia, Bosnia, and Slovenia.

Syrian President Bashar Assad arrived on Thursday in Saudi Arabia to attend a regional summit, his first visit to the oil-rich kingdom since Syria’s conflict began in 2011, Syrian state media said.

The leaders of the world’s seven largest economies will announce new sanctions on Russia at their summit in Japan in the latest effort to force Moscow to end its war in Ukraine, a senior White House official said.

Pentagon officials said Thursday that a U.S.-built Patriot air defense system is back in action in Kyiv after it was damaged in a Russian missile strike. On Tuesday, Russia launched an air barrage at Ukraine’s capital, including several Kh-47 Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, the most sophisticated conventional weapons in Moscow’s arsenal.

In an unprecedented move, Ecuador’s embattled President Guillermo Lasso disbanded the opposition-led legislature after it tried to oust him on embezzlement charges that he denies.

Iran and Russia on Wednesday agreed to collaborate on the construction of the final part of an embryonic international North-South Transport Corridor linking the Gulf and India while avoiding Western sea lanes.

A U.S. Patriot air defense system was likely damaged but not destroyed on Tuesday morning during a heavy Russian missile attack on Kyiv, officials told the media.

Hungary’s nationalist government said Wednesday it would block the next tranche of European Union military support for Ukraine and any new sanctions against Russia unless Kyiv removes Hungary’s largest bank OTP from its list of war sponsors.

New Zealand police said Wednesday that arson likely caused a fire that killed at least six people in a multistory hostel for vulnerable residents and others in the nation’s capital.

China is prepared to “resolutely smash any form of Taiwan independence,” its military said Tuesday, as the U.S. reportedly prepares to accelerate the sale of defensive weapons and other military assistance to the self-governing island democracy.

Ukraine’s capital Kyiv has been targeted by massive Russian air strikes that authorities described as “exceptional in density.” The strikes were part of broader attacks, killing several civilians “over the past 24 hours,” officials said.

A deadly cyclone hit the coastlines of Bangladesh and Myanmar, impacting millions of people, including those living in the world’s largest refugee camp.

After nearly a decade of military rule, Thailand’s opposition secured a stunning election victory Sunday after trouncing parties allied with the army.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has privately suggested hitting targets inside Russia despite publicly saying his country’s only military objective is to reclaim territory taken by Moscow, according to U.S. intelligence documents.

Turkey’s presidential election is going to a runoff after long-time incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan failed to beat the opposition outright. He defeated his chief rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu but without the 50 percent vote threshold needed to avoid a second round within two weeks.

The polls closed Sunday in elections in which the opposition may unseat the country’s autocratic President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. But it remained unclear whether an opposition victory would improve the plight of minority Christians in the country and others targeted by authorities.

Ukraine says it has recaptured ground in Bakhmut, in a rare advance after months of grinding Russian gains in the eastern city. But Moscow has denied the claims while the death toll is mounting in one of the longest and bloodiest since Russia’s invasion began more than 14 long months ago.

Christians expressed anxiety Friday as Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan was released on bail Friday, a day after the Supreme Court ruled his detention on corruption charges was illegal.

The U.S. city of New York and the Dutch capital of Amsterdam were united Friday in dealing with the aftermaths of violence in their railway stations.

Germany was shaken Thursday by deadly shootings at a massive Mercedes-Benz car factory while police officers and firefighters were injured, some seriously, in a separate explosion in the western German town of Ratingen.