Elon Musk is rapidly consolidating control over large swaths of the federal government with President Donald Trump 's blessing, sidelining career officials, gaining access to sensitive databases and dismantling a leading source of humanitarian assistance.

The speed and scope of his work has been nothing short of stunning. In a little more than two weeks since Trump took office, the world's richest man has created an alternative power structure inside the federal government for the purpose of cutting spending and pushing out employees. None of this is happening with congressional approval, inviting a constitutional clash over the limits of presidential authority.

Moscow's renewed attacks on Ukraine's electricity infrastructure this winter have heightened scrutiny over the Ukrainian Energy Ministry's failure to protect the country's most critical energy facilities near nuclear power sites.

Despite more than a year of warnings that the sites were vulnerable to potential Russian attacks, the Energy Ministry failed to act swiftly, current and former Ukrainian officials in Kyiv told The Associated Press.

The United Nations on Monday warned that Russian forces have been killing more captured Ukrainian soldiers over recent months, echoing growing allegations from officials in Kyiv.

Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of committing war crimes, including killing prisoners of war, since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

A Stockholm court on Monday convicted a man of inciting ethnic hatred during four Quran burnings in 2023 that sparked outrage in Muslim countries, a verdict that came just days after the murder of his co-defendant Salwan Momika.

Momika, a 38-year-old Iraqi Christian, was shot dead late Wednesday in an apartment southwest of Stockholm.

A former British soldier who sparked a manhunt after escaping from prison before his trial was sentenced by a UK court on Monday to 14 years for spying for Iran.

Ukraine on Monday stepped up its bombing campaign of Russian energy sites with aerial attacks on two oil facilities in the west of the country, Kyiv's military said.

U.S. President Donald Trump aid his administration has already had "very serious" discussions with Russia about its war in Ukraine and that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin could soon take "significant" action toward ending the grinding conflict.

"We will be speaking, and I think will perhaps do something that'll be significant," Trump said in an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office. "We want to end that war. That war would have not started if I was president."

Germany's parliament is expected to vote Friday on an opposition bill calling for tougher rules on migration that could become the first legislation to pass thanks to a far-right party — adding to a controversy about the attitude of the front-runner in Germany's upcoming election toward the far right.

Opposition leader Friedrich Merz has put demands for a more restrictive approach to migration at the center of his campaign for the Feb. 23 election since a deadly knife attack last week by a rejected asylum-seeker.

Trump administration changes have upended the U.S. agency charged with providing humanitarian aid to countries overseas, with dozens of senior officials put on leave, thousands of contractors laid off, and a sweeping freeze imposed on billions of dollars in foreign assistance.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the pause on foreign assistance Thursday, saying "the U.S. government is not a charity."

The Army helicopter and regional American Airlines jet that collided over Washington are both workhorse aircraft that operate around the world on a daily basis.

There were 60 passengers and four crew members on the jet, a Bombardier CRJ-700, officials said. Three service members were on a training flight on the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. None are believed to have survived the Wednesday night collision, which caused both aircraft to plunge into the frigid Potomac River.