A powerful blast shook the Greek capital's tourist district of Plaka, near the ancient Acropolis, on Friday morning, causing a building to collapse and injuring at least two people who had to be rescued from an adjacent building, authorities said.
The fire department said the explosion occurred in an old two-story building in the Plaka district, the historic part of Athens that lies at the foot of the Acropolis hill, Greece's most visited ancient monument. The building collapsed, while neighboring buildings were also damaged.
Full Story
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said U.S. President Donald Trump told him he would allow Ukraine to produce advanced Patriot air defense missiles, after a series of reversals on the issue.
"At our last meeting, President Trump emphasized to me that yes, I have made a final decision. Ukraine will receive licenses for the production of Patriot missiles," Zelensky said in a voice note to journalists.
Full Story
A tech-heavy guest list, the fashion choices of those on it, who sat where and what was on the menu marked the softer — often and glitzier — details of diplomacy as Donald Trump threw a Thursday night state dinner honoring China's leader Xi Jinping.
The event featured a cavalcade of billionaires, Washington powerbrokers, business leaders and the type of festivities that most excite Trump, who has a reputation for reveling in hosting parties.
Full Story
Pope Leo XIV is taking his call to respect the dignity of every human life on the road with a weekend visit to France, where the Catholic Church has lost ground on influencing ethical issues as the country maintains a strict approach to secularism.
Leo is spending four intense days in Paris, the Catholic shrine at Lourdes and the northeastern city of Metz. He's hoping to draw attention to his appeals for peace at a time of war, and for greater reflection as artificial intelligence questions the very essence of what it means to be human.
Full Story
President Donald Trump said early Thursday that China and the United States were united in their opposition to AI guardrails, suggesting ahead of his summit with counterpart Xi Jinping that the U.S. legal system would keep the technology in check.
"Super Intelligence (SI) will be a big topic of discussion, but I want to leave it exactly where it is," Trump said, using his new moniker for artificial intelligence.
Full Story
Renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia on Thursday effectively shattered a peace pact that ended a devastating two-year war in 2022, with rebel forces mobilizing for an armed struggle they hope will lead to the removal of the federal prime minister.
The main combatants are Ethiopian federal troops and fighters loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front, or TPLF, an armed political group in Tigray, Ethiopia's northernmost regional state.
Full Story
Pakistan said it carried out airstrikes early Thursday on 10 sites in Afghanistan that it said were used to launch drone attacks against Pakistan a day earlier, a sharp escalation in recent fighting between the two countries that threatens international mediation efforts.
The airstrikes struck southern and eastern Afghan provinces of Kandahar, Paktia and Khost, killing four civilians, Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement.
Full Story
Seven people were killed in a Russian strike on a farm in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine on Thursday, Prime Minister Sergiy Koretsky said, after a wave of attacks across the country.
"In the morning, a drone struck an agricultural enterprise, killing seven people and injuring 10," he wrote on Telegram.
Full Story
Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have no shortage of difficult issues to cover when they sit down for talks on Thursday at the White House.
China has resisted the Trump administration's urgings — and economic threats — to use its considerable leverage to prod Iran to agree to U.S. terms to end the nearly seven-month war. Xi wants to see Trump permanently halt arms sales to Taiwan and loosen export restrictions on cutting-edge advanced chips. And the two sides on Wednesday agreed to extend a one-year trade truce set to expire Nov. 10 for two months, kicking the can on finding a more durable agreement.
Full Story
Newly unearthed records in a Munich archive have cast doubt on Adolf Hitler's whereabouts at the time of his niece's suspicious 1931 death, according to news magazine Der Spiegel.
Hitler's unusually close and controlling relationship with his niece, Geli Raubal, has long been the subject of speculation and rumor, and newspaper reports at the time suggested that Hitler may have played a role in her death.
Full Story


