European Union interior ministers on Thursday debated how to manage the impact of the war between Israel and Hamas on the bloc, amid heightened security tensions after a firebomb assault on a Berlin synagogue and killings in Belgium and France by suspected Islamist extremists.

Officials from across the 27-nation EU have expressed concerns about a rise in antisemitic attacks, the radicalization of young people online, the use of encrypted messaging services by criminals or extremists, and the need to speed up the deportation of people who might pose a public danger.

Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in police custody in Iran last year, sparking worldwide protests against the country's conservative Islamic theocracy, was awarded the European Union's top human rights prize on Thursday.

The EU award, named for Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honor individuals or groups who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms. Sakharov, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, died in 1989.

Russia's foreign minister proposed regular security talks with North Korea and China to deal with what he described as increasing U.S.-led regional military threats, as he met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his top diplomat on Thursday during a visit to Pyongyang.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in North Korea's capital on Wednesday on a two-day trip expected to focus on how to boost the two countries' defense ties following a September summit between Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

As desperate Palestinians in sealed-off Gaza try to find refuge under Israel's relentless bombardment in retaliation for Hamas' brutal Oct. 7 attack, some ask why neighboring Egypt and Jordan don't take them in.

The two countries, which flank Israel on opposite sides and share borders with Gaza and the occupied West Bank, respectively, have replied with a staunch refusal. Jordan already has a large Palestinian population.

Coalition forces were slightly injured in Iraq in a spate of drone attacks over the last 24 hours at U.S. bases in Iraq as regional tensions flare following the deadly explosion at a hospital in Gaza.

Two drones targeted the al Asad airbase in western Iraq used by U.S. forces and one drone targeted a base in northern Iraq, a U.S. official told The Associated Press. U.S. forces intercepted all three, destroying two but only damaging the third, which led to minor injuries among coalition forces at the western base, according to a statement Wednesday by U.S. Central Command.

Lionel Messi scored twice in Argentina's 2-0 win at Peru in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday, playing the entire match for his national team. The 36-year-old appeared fit after he was sidelined for several matches with his club Inter Miami because of muscular pain

Also Tuesday, Brazil — the archrival of the defending World Cup champion — took two serious blows at Uruguay. Brazil lost 2-0 to the hosts, its first defeat in 37 World Cup qualifying matches, and saw its star Neymar leave the Centenario Stadium in Montevideo on crutches with a left knee injury.

A Russian missile attack killed two civilians in an apartment building in southern Ukraine on Wednesday, local authorities said, as President Vladimir Putin dismissed the importance of a new U.S.-supplied weapon that Kyiv used to execute one of the most damaging attacks on the Kremlin's air assets since the start of the war.

Putin told reporters that Russia "will be able to repel" further attacks by the U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS.

A Hezbollah spokesperson said Wednesday the Lebanese Red Cross has collected the remains of four of the group’s militants.

An AP photojournalist saw three body bags and a bag of remains transferred from the Lebanese Red Cross to Hezbollah’s Islamic Health Unit at Hiram Hospital, which is near southern Lebanon’s city of Tyre.

Two suicide drones launched at a base hosting U.S. troops in Iraq were intercepted Wednesday, a defense official said.

Hours later, an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq announced it had launched another drone attack on a second base. No injuries were reported in either incident.

Fromer Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has blamed the U.S. for sending weapons and equipment to Israel.

"Can’t you propose a ceasefire instead of bringing more troops and equipment?" Jumblat asked U.S. President Joe Biden who arrived Wednesday in Tel Aviv on a solidarity visit, on the X platform.