Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday defended his country's conduct in the devastating Gaza war, urged the U.S. to support the fight against Hamas and ridiculed protesters during a scathing address to Congress.

But he also cited an unverified intelligence report and ignored much of the criticism in a war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and devastated Gaza.

President Joe Biden delivered a solemn Oval Office address Wednesday that laid out in the clearest terms yet why he abandoned his reelection campaign.

He wanted to send an unmistakable warning about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump while anointing Vice President Kamala Harris as his natural successor, without invoking an overtly political tone that would have been out of step in the official setting of the White House. He was determined to show that he would not act like a lame-duck president, outlining an ambitious agenda that underscored his resolve to continue building on his legacy.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to make a long-awaited White House visit Thursday to meet with President Joe Biden and likely Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at an important moment for all three politicians.

Netanyahu's White House visit, his first since before former President Donald Trump left office in 2020, comes at a time of growing pressure on all three to find an endgame to the nine-month war that's left more than 39,000 dead in Gaza. What's more, dozens of Israeli hostages —and the remains of others who have died in captivity — are still languishing in Hamas captivity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met President Bashar Assad of Syria in the Kremlin, video distributed by the Kremlin press service on Thursday showed.

Putin told Assad he was concerned that tensions are rising in the Middle East, but neither leader provided further details on their talks. Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since September 2015, teaming up with Iran to allow Assad's government to fight armed opposition groups and reclaim control over most of the country. While Russia now concentrates the bulk of its military resources in Ukraine, it has maintained a military foothold in Syria and keeps troops at its bases there.

A man who severely injured author Salman Rushdie in a frenzied knife attack in western New York was motivated by a Hezbollah leader's endorsement of a fatwa calling for Rushdie's death, prosecutors said Wednesday in announcing new terrorism charges.

The three-count indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court in Buffalo offered for the first time a potential motive for the 2022 attack on "The Satanic Verses" author.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lauded U.S.-Israeli unity and praised President Joe Biden in a fiery speech to Congress Wednesday that sparked boycotts by some top Democrats and drew thousands of protesters to the Capitol to condemn the war in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis it has created.

Nine months into the war in Gaza, Netanyahu sought to bolster U.S. support for Israel's fight against Hamas and other Iran-backed groups.

An Israeli delegation will head to Cairo on Wednesday for negations with Egyptian officials, according to Lebanon’s daily al-Akhbar newspaper, which is close to Hezbollah. According to Egyptian sources, the negotiations will focus on the Rafah border crossing and Philadelphi corridor.

On Thursday, officials from Egypt, Israel, the United States and Qatar will meet in Doha with the aim of resuming talks for a proposed three-phase cease-fire to end the war between Israel and Hamas, al-Akhbar said. It added that Egyptian and Qatari mediators see that the first phase of the deal is close but they are concerned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might destroy a possible deal in the final hours.

To combat ongoing destruction in the Amazon rainforest, Brazil announced a plan Tuesday to dramatically expand selective logging to an area the size of Costa Rica over the next two years.

In Brazil, vast forest lands are designated as public yet have no special protection or enforcement and are vulnerable to land grabbing and illegal deforestation. Criminals frequently take over land and clear it, hoping the government will eventually recognize them as owners, which usually happens.

Tennis star Coco Gauff will join LeBron James as a flag bearer for the U.S. Olympic team at Friday's opening ceremony.

Gauff, the reigning U.S. Open champion, is set to make her Olympic debut at the Paris Games and will be the first tennis athlete to carry the U.S. flag. She and James were chosen by Team USA athletes.

The majority of Venezuelans are religious — just like parts of the country's political history.

But as they prepare for the upcoming presidential election, it's hard to say exactly how religious Venezuelans are and what specifically they believe. The government has not released official figures in more than a decade. Most estimates provided by researchers and academics are reached through projections and field work.