Ellen Knickmeyer, Associated Press

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says more than 20 NATO member nations are hitting the Western military alliance’s defense spending target this year as Russia’s war in Ukraine has raised the threat of expanding conflict in Europe.

U.S. officials invoked the duty when warning Russian officials a full two weeks before Friday’s attack on a concert hall, which killed more than 130 people.

A senior congressional aide said he understood the threat relates to a space-deployed Russian anti-satellite weapon. Such a weapon could pose a major danger to U.S. satellites.

Military prosecutors and defense lawyers have been exploring a possible plea bargain in the al-Qaida attacks for more than a year.

The Pentagon will provide munitions that have a reduced “dud rate,” meaning there will be fewer unexploded rounds that can result in unintended civilian deaths.

For days after battles between two rival Sudanese commanders erupted in Khartoum, 49-year-old Bushra Ibnauf Sulieman treated the city’s wounded.

Active-service members and veterans provided first-hand testimony Wednesday about the carnage and death they witnessed while imploring Congress to help the allies left behind.

China’s Defense Ministry says it refused the call from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin because the U.S. had “not created the proper atmosphere” for dialogue and exchange.

President Biden said Monday that he stands “squarely behind” his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan even though the Afghan government’s collapse was quicker than anticipated.

With security rapidly deteriorating in Afghanistan, the United States is sending in an additional 3,000 troops to help evacuate some personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, officials said Thursday.

Israel’s prime minister pushed back Wednesday against calls from the United States to wind down the operation that has left hundreds dead.

World leaders shared tales of climate-friendly breakthroughs — and feverish quests for more — to close President Biden’s virtual global climate summit on Friday.

President Biden drew commitments from Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin to cooperate on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The president is seeking to revive a U.S.-convened forum of the world’s major economies on climate that George W. Bush and Barack Obama both used and Donald Trump let languish.

This week’s storms fit a pattern of worsening extremes under climate change and demonstrate anew that local, state and federal officials have failed to do nearly enough to prepare for greater and more dangerous weather.