World News

Russia has threatened an “adequate military response” after Britain pledged Thursday to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles to use in its battle against invading Russian forces.

Voters in Thailand prepared to go to the polls on Sunday in an election that could set the Asian nation on a path toward ending eight years of military rule, but uncertainty remains for Christian refugees.

The opposition may unseat the country’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in upcoming elections, but it remained unclear whether that would improve the plight of minority Christians, Worthy News established Friday.

Jordan carried out airstrikes on southern Syria on Monday, targeting an Iran-linked drugs factory and killing well-known drug smuggler Merhi al-Ramthan and his family, The Medialine reports. The strikes came as Syria was reinstated in the Arab League earlier this month.

At least 422 people are now confirmed dead, and 5,000 are missing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) following an overwhelming combination of devastating floods and a severe landslide, the Watchers reports.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has warned of “worsening religious freedom conditions around the world,” including for Christians and other groups.

A young journalist working for French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) who “loved his craft” has been killed in Ukraine in a Russian rocket strike near the battle-torn eastern city of Bakhmut, journalists said.

Britain’s fertility regulator said the first babies created using an experimental technique combining DNA from three people have been born, in an effort to prevent the children from inheriting rare genetic diseases.

Russian President Vladimir Putin used a Victory Day speech on Tuesday to warn that “a war has been unleashed” against Russia in what seemed an attempt to prepare the nation for a change in the narrative about Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. So far, the Kremlin has described its battle against Ukraine only as no more than a “special military operation” aimed at defending Russian interests but limited in scope.

An Islamic cleric has been beaten to death by a Muslim mob in northwestern Pakistan after comparing a political candidate to Islam’s prophet Muhammed, Worthy News learned Tuesday.

As part of a new phase in promoting China’s currency, the Chinese city of Changsu in Jiangsu province has confirmed it will start paying its public sector employees entirely in digital yuan, Asia Nikkei reports.

With Ukraine’s counter-offensive imminent or already underway, Russia launched massive drone and missile strikes on the war-torn country with air raid sirens sounding nationwide.

A court in The Hague has called a temporary halt to plans by a Dutch company, ONE-Dyas, to develop a new gas field under Dutch and German waters near Germany’s island of Borkum amid a debate about tremors. The ruling came as the longtime prime minister of the Netherlands for the first time apologized to residents of the northern Dutch province of Groningen, who suffered for years from earthquakes caused by natural gas extraction.

Although around 20,000 civilians continue to be unjustly detained in Myanmar, on May 3, the ruling Buddhist nationalist military junta released 2,135 political prisoners to celebrate the Buddhist sacred day of Vasak, International Christian Concern reports.

The United States is planning to send Ukraine around $1.2 billion in long-term military aid to help the country defend itself against a barrage of drone, rocket, and surface-to-air missile attacks from Russia, according to U.S. officials.

The boss of Russia’s Wagner Group mercenaries says Moscow has agreed to his demands for more ammunition days after threatening to withdraw his men from the eastern city of Bakhmut. Sunday’s announcement came as Kyiv claimed to have shot down one of Russia’s most supersonic weapons following deadly Russian shelling and allegedly carried out attacks inside Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea, prompting nuclear threats by a former Russian deputy prime minister.

A senior White House official was in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to discuss a massive infrastructure project with key Israeli allies, but without Israel at the table, according to reports.

Britain’s King Charles III has been crowned in the first such ceremony in 70 years. Camilla, the Queen Consort, was crowned with Queen Mary’s Crown in a similar ceremony moments later.

The question “Why?” resonated through Serbia’s capital Belgrade on Saturday after two mass shootings left 17 people dead and 21 wounded this week, many of them children.

Japan was shaken by a strong, shallow earthquake in the central part of the Asian nation on Friday, killing at least one person and injuring more than 20, but no tsunami warning was issued, officials said Friday.