A relentless European heat wave helped fuel a deadly wildfire in Spain while the European Union presented plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under scorching temperatures on Wednesday.
The blaze that broke out late on Tuesday created an enormous thick plume of ash and smoke that reached 14,000 meters (45,000 feet) of altitude, making it the largest registered by firefighters in Catalonia, a northeastern region of Spain.

Zohran Mamdani has won New York City's Democratic mayoral primary, a new vote count confirmed Tuesday, cementing his stunning upset of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and sending him to the general election.
The Associated Press called the race after the results of the city's ranked choice voting tabulation were released and showed Mamdani trouncing Cuomo by 12 percentage points.

An emboldened Russia has ramped up military offensives on two fronts in Ukraine, scattering Kyiv's precious reserve troops and threatening to expand the fighting to a new Ukrainian region as each side seeks an advantage before the fighting season wanes in the autumn.
Moscow aims to maximize its territorial gains before seriously considering a full ceasefire, analysts and military commanders said. Ukraine wants to slow the Russian advance for as long as possible and extract heavy losses.

Pro-Iran hackers have threatened to release emails supposedly stolen from people connected to President Donald Trump, according to a news report, a move that federal authorities call a "calculated smear campaign."
The United States has warned of continued Iranian cyberattacks following American strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities and the threats those could pose to services, economic systems and companies.

Hamas suggested Wednesday that it was open to a ceasefire agreement with Israel, but stopped short of accepting a U.S.-backed proposal announced by President Donald Trump hours earlier, insisting on its longstanding position that any deal bring an end to the war in Gaza.
Trump said Tuesday that Israel had agreed on terms for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and urged Hamas to accept the deal before conditions worsen. The U.S. leader has been increasing pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas to broker a ceasefire, and hostage agreement and bring about an end to the war.

Dozens of international charities and non-governmental organizations, including Oxfam, Save the Children and Amnesty, called Tuesday for an Israeli and U.S.-backed aid mechanism for Gaza to disband over repeated incidents of chaos and deadly violence against Palestinians heading toward its sites.
At least seven Palestinians were killed seeking aid in southern and central Gaza between late Monday and early Tuesday.

Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush delivered rare open criticism of the Trump administration — and singer Bono recited a poem — in an emotional video farewell Monday with staffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Obama called the Trump administration's dismantling of USAID "a colossal mistake."

A man suspected of gathering information on Jewish locations and individuals in Berlin for Iranian intelligence, possibly with a view to carrying out attacks, has been arrested in Denmark, German prosecutors said Tuesday.
The Danish national, identified only as Ali S. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested on Thursday in the Danish city of Aarhus, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

A Ukrainian drone struck a Russian industrial plant some 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) from Ukraine, a local official said Tuesday, after Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prioritized the weapon's development and Russia pounded Ukraine with a monthly record of drones in June.
Both sides in the more than three-year war following Russia's February 2022 invasion of its neighbor have raced to improve drone technology and enhance their use on the battlefield. They have deployed increasingly sophisticated and deadlier drones, turning the war into a testing ground for the new weaponry.

A ceasefire between Iran and Israel has not ended the threat of cyberattacks from hacking groups supportive of Tehran, the FBI and federal cybersecurity officials warned Monday.
In a public bulletin, the authorities warned that hacking groups affiliated with or supportive of Tehran may still seek to disrupt or disable critical infrastructure systems in the U.S. such as utilities, transportation and economic hubs. Hackers may also target defense contractors or other American companies with ties to Israel, the agencies said.
