Ukraine needs any edge it can get to repel Russia from its territory. One emerging bright spot is its small but fast-growing defense industry, which the government is flooding with money in hopes that a surge of homemade weapons and ammunition can help turn the tide.

The effort ramped up sharply over the past year as the U.S. and Europe strained to deliver weapons and other aid to Ukraine, which is up against a much bigger Russian military backed by a thriving domestic defense industry.

It was the middle of the night when a dispatcher's warning crackled over the radio: A massive cargo ship had lost its steering capabilities and was heading toward the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

Within about 90 seconds, police officers responded that they had managed to stop vehicle traffic over the Baltimore bridge in both directions. One said he was about to drive onto the bridge to alert a construction crew.

At least five people were killed Wednesday when a bus headed from Berlin to Switzerland came off a highway in eastern Germany and ended up on its side, authorities said.

The accident happened on the A9 highway near Leipzig at about 9:45 a.m. and the road was closed in both directions.

China's nationalist leader Xi Jinping has called for closer trade ties with the U.S. during a meeting with top American business leaders in Beijing that comes amid a steady improvement in relations that had sunk to the lowest level in years.

Xi emphasized Wednesday the mutually beneficial economic ties between the world's two largest economies, despite heavy U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports and Washington's accusations of undue Communist Party influence, unfair trade barriers and theft of intellectual property.

The Kremlin on Tuesday called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a "peculiar kind of Jew", when asked how he could be linked to an attack in Moscow claimed by Islamic jihadists.

Russian officials continue to allege Kyiv was somehow involved in Friday's attack on a Moscow concert hall that killed at least 139 people, an assertion Zelensky has denounced as absurd.

Hiding behind a "Black Wolf", a state-of-the-art nine-ton armored vehicle, a group of armed men in black slowly make their way towards a 19th-century chateau in the southern suburbs of Paris.

An hour earlier, four hooded assailants equipped with assault rifles stormed the historic building in Draveil, which houses a police academy.

The head of Russia's FSB security agency claimed Tuesday that Western and Ukrainian special services had aided the attackers who stormed a Moscow concert hall last week, killing dozens.

Russia continues to allege Ukraine was somehow involved in Friday's massacre, even after President Vladimir Putin acknowledged "radical Islamists" had carried it out.

A major bridge in the U.S. city of Baltimore collapsed early Tuesday after being struck by a container ship, sending multiple vehicles and people plunging into the frigid harbor below.

Four men accused of staging the Russia concert hall attack that killed more than 130 people appeared before a Moscow court Sunday on terrorism charges showing signs of severe beatings. One appeared to be barely conscious during the hearing.

Court statements said two of the suspects accepted their guilt in the assault, though the men's condition raised questions about whether they were speaking freely. There had been conflicting reports in Russian media outlets that said three or all four men admitted culpability.

Eleven people have been detained after gunmen stormed a concert hall in Moscow and opened fire on the crowd, the head of Russia's Federal Security Service told President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

At least three children were among the 93 people killed, Russian authorities said Saturday.