Questions are mounting in Canada and in Europe over whether big-ticket purchases of high-end U.S. weaponry, such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, are still a wise strategic choice for Western countries worried about their investment in U.S. defense technology.

In less than two months, U.S. President Donald Trump has upended decades of foreign policy. He has left NATO members questioning whether Washington will honor the trans-Atlantic alliance's commitment to defend each other, if other European countries are attacked by Russia. He's also made repeat overtures to Moscow and suspended most U.S. foreign aid.

Russia's illegal seizure of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine exactly 11 years ago on March 18, 2014, was quick and bloodless, but it sent Moscow's relations with the West into a downward spiral unseen since the Cold War.

It also paved the way for Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, during which Moscow annexed more land from the war-torn country.

President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the path to a ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow on Wednesday, a day after the U.S. leader held similar talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Trump's call with Zelensky was about half the length of his call Tuesday, during which Putin agreed not to target Ukraine's energy infrastructure but refused to back a full 30-day ceasefire.

The enormous blue cone slowly crushes tiny piles of sand that represent houses. It symbolizes the deadly havoc wrought by floods that ravaged Spain's eastern Valencia five months ago.

The artwork is one of hundreds of wood and papier-maché sculptures that are painstakingly crafted — and then burned — when Las Fallas, the most important yearly celebration in Valencia, reaches its climax on Wednesday night.

The future is bright for Spain when it comes to its defense.

Some talented young central defenders have emerged recently and coach Luis de la Fuente is not wasting time in adding them to the national team.

The Israeli military said Wednesday it launched a “limited ground operation” to retake part of a key Gaza corridor that bisects northern Gaza from the south.

The move into the Netzarim corridor appeared to deepen the renewed Israeli offensive in Gaza, which has shattered the two-month-long ceasefire with Hamas. The wave of heavy strikes Tuesday killed more than 400 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, nearly two-thirds of them women and children, the Health Ministry said. Its records do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Turkish police on Wednesday arrested Istanbul's mayor — a popular opposition leader and key rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — and several other prominent figures as part of investigations into alleged corruption and terror links. It was a dramatic escalation in an ongoing crackdown on the opposition and dissenting voices in Turkey.

The state-run Anadolu Agency said prosecutors issued warrants for the mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, and some 100 other people. Among those detained was Imamoglu's close aide, Murat Ongun.

Lebanon’s state news agency said a U.N. peacekeeper was wounded when a landmine exploded in the country's south.

National News Agency did not give further details about the blast between the villages of Zibqine and Yater, near the border with Israel.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels said the attack on the base in southern Israel “successfully achieved its objective,” although Israel says the missile was intercepted.

The Houthis say the strike was in response to Israel’s deadly bombardments of Gaza on Tuesday.

It's the third complaint against Israel filed at the U.N. Security Council by Syria's interim government, which took power late last year after ousting longtime President Bashar Assad. The complaint was submitted on March 3 but circulated Tuesday.

Israeli forces have seized territory in southern Syria and launched airstrikes on what Israel says are military sites in Syria, saying the operations aim to protect Israel's borders. Israeli officials have also said that they will not allow the new Syrian military south of Damascus, claiming that they aim to protect the Druze, a minority sect present in both Syria and Israel.