World

MEITAR, Israel — Israel on Wednesday prepared to bury Ran Gvili, the last Israeli hostage recovered from Gaza, in a funeral that officials and mourners cast as both an intimate farewell and a national moment of closure. Gvili, 24, an off-duty police officer from the elite Yassam unit, was killed while fighting militants during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on southern Israel. His body was taken back into Gaza by the Islamic Jihad militant group, Israeli officials say. He was among about 250 people abducted during the…

Europe’s top court has ruled that Hungary violated European Union law by voting against the bloc’s agreed position on cannabis classification during a United Nations meeting, finding Budapest breached the principle of sincere cooperation and the EU’s exclusive external competence. The Court of Justice of the European Union said Hungary “failed to fulfil its obligations under EU law” when, at a 2020 session of the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs, it voted against removing cannabis from a list of substances that also…

Hundreds told to evacuate as out-of-control bushfire threatens Victoria’s Otways amid record heat MELBOURNE, Australia — Authorities ordered hundreds of people to evacuate rural communities in southeast Australia as an out-of-control bushfire threatened towns in Victoria’s Otways region during a punishing heatwave that pushed temperatures toward state records. Emergency warnings expanded to additional rural districts as fire conditions deteriorated. “Due to extreme weather today, the fire is predicted to rapidly expand and…

Prosecutors in Hungary have filed charges against Budapest’s opposition mayor, Gergely Karacsony, seeking to fine him for organizing the city’s Pride parade last June despite an official ban, according to the district prosecutor’s office. The office said it has asked the court to issue a summary judgment imposing a fine without a trial, but did not disclose the amount sought. The case stems from a Pride parade that organizers said drew more than 200,000 people, a record turnout and a pointed rebuke of Prime Minister Viktor…

More than 1,500 evacuated as landslide threatens cliffside homes in Sicily’s Niscemi NISCEMI, Sicily — More than 1,500 people have been evacuated from the Sicilian town of Niscemi after a major landslide, triggered by violent storms, left homes teetering on the edge of a cliff, Italy’s civil protection chief said. Niscemi, a town of about 25,000 in south-central Sicily, sits on a plateau that authorities say is gradually collapsing toward the plain below, driven by water that remains trapped in the subsoil. The shifting…

MINNEAPOLIS — U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar was targeted during a town hall in Minneapolis when a man rushed the front row and sprayed an unidentified liquid at her from a syringe before being tackled by security, her office said. The man was taken into custody by Minneapolis police as Omar resumed her remarks, telling the audience, “We will stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw on us.” The confrontation erupted moments after the Minnesota Democrat called for a hard break from the Trump administration’s immigration…

White House reviews immigration tactics after fatal Minneapolis shooting; Trump vows to ‘de‑escalate’ WASHINGTON — The White House is examining whether U.S. immigration agents breached protocol before the fatal shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti during weekend protests in Minneapolis, senior aide Stephen Miller said, as the administration signaled a shift in tactics amid mounting political fallout. Miller, who oversees President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda, said the administration had issued “clear guidance”…

UNICEF has delivered school kits into Gaza for the first time in two and a half years, a breakthrough the U.N. children’s agency says could restart learning for hundreds of thousands of students after Israeli authorities previously blocked the supplies. The move comes as Gaza’s education system remains shattered by war and severe restrictions on basic classroom materials. “We have now, in the last days, got in thousands of recreational kits, hundreds of school-in-a-carton kits,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said. “We’re…

Russian strikes near Ukraine’s capital killed two people and wounded several others on Monday, regional authorities said, as a fresh wave of attacks overnight left at least a dozen people dead across the country and knocked out power in freezing temperatures. In a post on Telegram, Mykola Kalashnyk, head of the Kyiv region’s military administration, said a man and a woman were killed in the Bilogorodska community west of the capital. Four other people sought medical assistance following the strike, he added. The regional…

Slovakia will challenge the European Union’s decision to end imports of Russian natural gas by 2027, Prime Minister Robert Fico said, aligning Bratislava with neighboring Hungary’s plan to sue over the measure. The legal move deepens a rift inside the bloc over how quickly to sever energy ties with Moscow more than two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Both Slovakia and Hungary are landlocked central European countries that have maintained close links to the Kremlin and remain heavily reliant on Russian…