DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh on Thursday held its first election since the 2024 mass protests toppled Sheikh Hasina’s government. The balloting was mostly peaceful in a vote seen as a critical test of the country’s democracy after years of political turmoil.

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian government forces have taken control of a base in the east of the country that was run for years by U.S. troops as part of the war against the Islamic State group, the Defense Ministry said in a statement Thursday.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a barrage of ballistic missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities in overnight attacks, officials reported on Thursday as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow was “hesitating” about another round of U.S.-brokered talks on stopping the fighting.

MOSCOW (AP) — Moscow will observe the limits of the last nuclear arms pact with the United States that expired last week as long as it sees that Washington is doing the same, Russia's top diplomat said Wednesday.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — The suspect in a school shooting was an 18-year-old who had a history of police visits to his home to check on his mental health, authorities said Wednesday, a day after the gunman killed eight people in a remote part of British Columbia.

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Drought conditions have left more than 2 million people facing hunger in parts of Kenya, with cattle-keeping communities in the northeast the hardest hit, according to the United Nations and others.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The self-professed white supremacist who murdered 51 Muslims in New Zealand’s deadliest mass shooting was pleased to be charged with terrorism and wanted to be described as a terrorist, his former lawyer told a court deciding if the man was in a fit state to admit to his crimes.

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's gamble that her personal popularity would lead to big election gains for her struggling party paid off hugely.

BEIRUT (AP) — Israelis forces seized a local official with a Sunni Islamist group and an ally of the Palestinian terrorist Hamas group in an operation in southern Lebanon early on Monday, and took him to Israel for questioning, the Israeli military and Lebanese state media reported.

LONDON (AP) — Prince William and Princess Catherine on Monday expressed concern for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, as the British monarchy seeks to distance itself from revelations about the former Prince Andrew’s relationship with the convicted sex offender.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer battled Monday to cling to power as revelations about the relationship between the former U.K. ambassador to Washington and Jeffrey Epstein spiraled into a full-blown crisis for his 19-month-old government.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado on Monday said one of her closest allies was kidnapped hours after being released from prison.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday, as the Trump administration warns of possible military action to get Iran to the negotiating table.

CAIRO (AP) — Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt reopened on Monday for limited traffic, a key step in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran said Monday it had summoned all of the European Union ambassadors in the Islamic Republic to protest the bloc’s listing of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard as a terror group.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Friday that it will reopen the pedestrian border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt in both directions over the weekend, marking an important step forward for U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan.

BEIRUT (AP) — This time felt different. The 25-year-old Iranian fashion designer hoped that mass protests nearly four years ago — the ones that erupted after a young woman was arrested and died in custody for not wearing the hijab properly — would improve civil rights in the Islamic Republic.

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez on Thursday signed a law that opens the nation’s oil sector to privatization, reversing a tenet of the self-proclaimed socialist movement that has ruled the country for more than two decades.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that President Vladimir Putin has agreed not to target the Ukrainian capital and other towns for one week as the region experiences frigid temperatures. There was no immediate confirmation from the Kremlin that Putin has agreed to such a pause.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A new report warns that the number of soldiers killed, injured, or missing on both sides of Russia's war on Ukraine could hit 2 million by the spring, with Russia suffering the largest number of troop deaths recorded for any major power in any conflict since World War II.

JERUSALEM (AP) — For more than two years, Israelis wore yellow ribbons to remember the hostages abducted during the deadliest day in the country’s history. On Tuesday, they finally could remove those ribbons and shut down a haunting clock in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, marking the end of a painful chapter.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — At least 6,126 people have been killed in Iran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests, while many others are feared dead, activists said Tuesday. Meanwhile, a U.S. aircraft carrier group arrived in the Middle East to lead any American military response to the crisis. Also, Iran's currency, the rial, fell to a record low of 1.5 million to $1.

For average wage earners in Russia, it's a big payday. For criminals seeking to escape the harsh conditions and abuse in prison, it's a chance at freedom. For immigrants hoping for a better life, it's a simplified path to citizenship. All they have to do is sign a contract to fight in Ukraine.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The remains of the final hostage abducted from Israel by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, have been recovered in Gaza, Israel's military said Monday, clearing the way for the next phase of the ceasefire that paused the Israel-Hamas war.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A ferry with more than 350 people on board sank early Monday near an island in the southern Philippines, killing at least 18 people, officials said. Rescuers saved hundreds more, while a fleet of coast guard and naval ships searched for those still missing.