For the last five years, the German FDP has been the leader of a rebellious minority within the EU Parliament's liberal group, but this term the former outliers could exert greater influence over the direction of a fragmented Renew Europe.

The Philippines and Germany on Sunday (4 August) committed to signing a defence cooperation arrangement this year, vowing to uphold international rules-based order in the region as tensions flare over disputed areas of the South China Sea.

The far-right favourites to win Austria's next election have forged an alliance with Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán that could deepen defiance of Brussels and threaten already fragile consensus over the Ukraine war if they take power.

Two of the Russian dissidents who were freed from prison and arrived in Germany as part of last week's major East-West prisoner swap say they are already thinking about returning to Russia, but vow to continue political activism even from abroad.

The US Commerce Department is expected to propose barring Chinese software in autonomous and connected vehicles in the coming weeks, according to sources briefed on the matter.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday (3 August) condemned what he described as "far-right thuggery" and said perpetrators would face the full force of the law after days of violent anti-immigration protests culminated in hotels being targeted.

The EU heaped further international pressure Sunday (4 August) on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, joining the US and Latin American nations in refusing to recognize the win he has claimed in the recent election marked by fraud allegations.

Ukrainian pilots have started flying F-16s for operations within the nation, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday (4 August), confirming the long-awaited arrival of the US-made fighter jets more than 29 months after Russia's invasion.

The Vatican said on Saturday (3 July) it had been saddened by a skit at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony appearing to parody Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" painting.

Violent disorder swept across several British cities on Saturday (3 August), injuring police and damaging property in the most widespread rioting in the country for 13 years, following the murder of three young girls in northwest England.

Ukraine's human rights commissioner urged the United Nations to investigate an image widely shared online on Saturday (3 August) that he said likely showed a Ukrainian prisoner-of-war killed and dismembered by Russian forces.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Istanbul on Saturday evening (3 August) to denounce the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Iran earlier this week.

The leaders of seven European Union states called on Venezuela Saturday (3 August) to publish its voting records to show the "full transparency and integrity of the electoral process".

Hungary's boxing federation and Bulgaria's Olympic Committee have contacted the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to object to the participation of two athletes at the Paris Olympics, the governing bodies said on Friday (2 August) amid a gender dispute at the Games.

The United States will bolster its military presence in the Middle East, deploying additional warships and fighter jets to protect US personnel and defend Israel amid soaring tensions in the region, the Pentagon said Friday (2 August).

Israel advanced last year the highest number of settlements in the occupied West Bank since the Oslo Accords of the 1990s, the European Union's representative office in the Palestinian territories said on Friday (2 August).

Russian assaults are raising pressure on the strategic eastern logistics hub of Pokrovsk, Ukraine said on Friday (2 August), as waves of guided bombs and infantry lead to some of Moscow's largest territorial gains since the spring.

Russian opposition activists freed in an landmark prisoner exchange expressed misgivings about the terms of the deal, as the Kremlin said that at least three of its agents were among those released.

Slovakia and Hungary on Friday (2 August) rebuffed a European Commission suggestion that they could replace lost Russian oil supplies via an alternative route through Croatia, saying the country is unreliable for oil transit.

EU member states are increasingly integrating climate change concerns into their dietary guidelines, but economic and cultural differences among countries continue to stand in the way of an EU-wide consensus on sustainable and healthy diets.