An Iraqi man who staged Quran burnings in Sweden was shot dead hours before he was set to receive a verdict on Thursday in a trial tied to the desecrations of Islam’s holy book that drew worldwide uproar, authorities said.

Putin's forces focus on attacking key eastern town of Pokrovsk amid heavy losses - Russian forces have captured hundreds of square miles of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region over the past year as part of their advance on the city of Pokrovsk.

Even putting aside the security and moral reasons for supporting a free Kyiv, which are immense, backing Ukraine is a financially sound decision for the United States.

The 23 EU members who also belong to NATO are likely to agree to raise the defence spending target above the current 2% of national output at a June summit of the alliance that will set a new level, European Council President Antonio Costa said.

As tensions rise, NATO has launched Baltic Sentry 2025 to enhance security and resilience. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has emphasized the need for greater coordination in protecting critical infrastructure from sabotage.

Russia and China have stepped up military activity in the Arctic, while NATO states in the region are reporting more acts of sabotage on energy and communications lines. President Donald Trump has recently revived U.

Mads Petersen, owner of Greenland-based startup Arctic Unmanned, sat in a car to keep warm while he tested a small drone at minus 43 degrees Celsius (minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit).

NATO has said its pledge for tens of billions of dollars in security aid for Ukraine will be fulfilled by the end of 2025. The alliance announced on Wednesday that 40 billion euros ($41.6 billion) which had been agreed by the bloc's 32 members during its Washington, D.C. summit last July would be sent to Kyiv this year.

How European states will react to defense incapabilities is still uncertain, paralyzed as they seem by the harsh stance of the US' new president, while what is at stake is no less than the European se

Romania scrambled two F-16 jets on Thursday after Russia conducted a series of drone strikes near its border. The NATO nation's jets were deployed in the early hours of the morning, and citizens in Tulcea County were issued an air raid warning, according to Romania's Ministry of Defense.

With Russia wearing down Ukraine’s stretched forces and new U.S. President Donald Trump pressuring the two sides to end their nearly 3-year-old war, Kyiv and some of its European allies are discussing how that might be achieved in a way that would guarantee Ukraine’s future security.

Ukraine is ready to consider the possibility of cooperating with European operators on gas transit to the EU, but it is the European Commission that must decide whether the European side needs such transit and whether it is ready to provide it.