Nearly three years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has just approved a military budget that surpasses the country’s allocated spending on health care, education, and social policy combined, Euro News reports.

The Pentagon announced Friday that the United States has approved a new arms sale to Taiwan worth US$387 million, the Taipei Times (TT) reports. The sale represents the 18th arms deal with Taiwan to be approved by the Biden administration.

Scores of people were killed and several injured in a stampede at a soccer stadium in southern Guinea following clashes between fans sparked by anger over the referee’s decision, the government confirmed Monday.

Romanian parties backing the European Union and NATO military alliance narrowly averted a far-right challenge that could have moved Romania into Russia’s orbit in Sunday’s parliamentary elections.

Iran held a key national military ceremony Sunday amid mounting concerns it could have an atomic bomb soon.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has, for the first time, publicly suggested bringing Ukrainian territory he controls under the NATO military alliance umbrella while all Russian-occupied areas could remain under Moscow’s control until a diplomatic settlement is reached.

Malaysia and Indonesia faced more suffering Friday, with Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim barring his cabinet members from going on leave after the displacement of over 90,000 people in a growing flood disaster that authorities fear could be the country’s worst in a decade.

Syrian opposition groups have breached Syria’s second-largest city, Aleppo, after blowing up two car bombs and fighting with government forces on Friday in clashes that have killed some 200 people, a Syria war monitor and witnesses say.

Setting a benchmark for jurisdictions worldwide, Australia has banned social media for children under 16. with the government saying that ” the safety of our kids is a priority.”

Protesters in Serbia stood in silence for 15 minutes on Friday for the victims of a roof collapse in a northern city that killed more than a dozen people and underscored concerns about corruption in the Balkan nation.

Tensions remain high in Georgia’s capital, where police and protesters clashed after the country’s ruling party suspended negotiations to join the European Union until 2028

British legislators have agreed to legalize assisted dying for some terminally ill people, despite concerns the law could be misused to pressure patients deemed ‘unfit’ to live longer.

One may be forgiven for thinking twice about enjoying a coffee here. Yet a South Korean border observatory overseeing a quiet North Korean mountain village was precisely where the Starbucks coffee chain decided to open an outlet on Friday.

A pro-Russian presidential candidate has condemned Romania’s top court’s decision to order a recount of votes in the first round of the presidential election.

Iran has canceled plans to attack Israel following Donald J. Trump’s victory in the recent U.S. presidential elections, Israeli and Iranian officials say.

Hundreds gathered in the center of Amsterdam Thursday to rally against rising antisemitism after the Dutch capital’s first pogrom since World War Two and an attack on pro-Israel group Christenen voor Israel (‘Christians for Israel’).

The well-known Jewish neighborhood of Hendon in London, England, has been targeted with leaflets containing the words “Every Zionist needs to leave Britain or be slaughtered,” GB News reported on Wednesday, November 27. The message was written in both English and Hebrew.

President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday night that he had a “productive conversation” with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo about combating the illegal flow of fentanyl into the United States and addressing illegal immigration. Trump added that Mexico had agreed to take immediate action to prevent illegal immigrants from reaching the southern border.

Christians in Indonesia, a minority in the world’s largest Muslim nation, appealed for prayers Wednesday as at least 20 people died after flash floods hit mountainside villages on Sumatra Island.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has warned that around 2 million people in war-torn Myanmar’s Rakhine state will be at risk of starvation by March-April 2025. Myanmar has been wracked by a bloody civil war between the Buddhist Tatmadaw military junta that wrested power in a 2021 coup and ethnoreligious forces that are resisting the army’s violent rule: the war has caused catastrophic conditions for many of Myanmar’s civilians.