A day after a Hezbollah drone penetrated Israel’s air defenses and exploded next to the private home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he held a series of meetings with top security aides to discuss the next attack on Iran.

The planning for such an assault has been underway for three weeks since Iran fired some 200 ballistic missiles at ...Read more

Moldova cleared a key hurdle as part of its bid to join the European Union in a set of votes on Sunday that may help break the Kremlin’s decades-long grip on the country.

Some 42% of voters participated in a referendum to join the EU as of 6 p.m. local time, exceeding the one-third threshold required to validate the ballot, the country’s ...Read more

Cuba entered a third day without electricity after another outage Saturday evening set back efforts to restore power on the island, underscoring the challenges posed by decades-old, poorly maintained infrastructure.

Cubans in the provinces of Holguín and Guantánamo in eastern Cuba were also bracing for a direct hit by Hurricane Oscar later on...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Days after the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency visited a Los Angeles public housing project with lead-contaminated water, the agency ordered drinking water systems nationwide to replace every lead pipe within 10 years.

“We’ve known for decades that lead exposure has serious long-term impacts for ...Read more

It sounds like a joke: poppy seeds infused with opioids.

Indeed, it was a plotline on the sitcom Seinfeld. But for some it has been a tragedy.

People have died after drinking tea brewed from unwashed poppy seeds.

And after eating lemon poppy seed bread or an everything bagel, mothers reportedly have been separated from newborns because the ...Read more

In the final weeks of the presidential campaign, each side is scouring swing states to get as many voters as possible, including on college campuses. But in some of those crucial states, students face new barriers to casting their ballots.

North Carolina election officials are for the first time enforcing a 2018 voter ID law in a general ...Read more

DURKEE, Ore. — Bert Siddoway heard the fire before he saw it, no seconds at all between the flash of lightning and the boom of thunder. The strike “shook the whole flipping town,” he said, and immediately ignited a wildfire in a hard-to-reach spot in the hills above the community where he is both a rancher and captain of the rural ...Read more

Ex-General Prabowo Subianto will be sworn in as Indonesia’s president on Sunday, capping a 26-year rise that followed his dismissal from the military over alleged human rights abuses tied to protests that ousted his late former father-in-law and dictator, Suharto.

The 73-year-old is scheduled to take the oath of office at the parliament ...Read more

At the family plum orchard in the rolling hills northwest of Moldova’s capital of Chisinau, it’s easy to see why Zinaida Plamadeala is keen to ensure her country remains on its path toward European integration.

The company she runs with her brother, PDG Fruct, sells almost all its produce to the European Union, which Moldova has been in ...Read more

MIAMI — Oscar retained its hurricane status late Saturday afternoon while still remaining small, forecasters said. The storm has 85 mph maximum sustained winds, triggering hurricane warnings and watches for the northeastern Caribbean.

Oscar formed as a tropical storm just east of Turks and Caicos on Saturday morning, the 15th named storm of ...Read more

Three people were killed and several more wounded in a trail ride shooting that unfolded after a Mississippi high school’s homecoming football game, local police said.

The gunfire erupted around midnight on Saturday in Holmes County, about five miles outside of the City of Lexington. It came hours after the Holmes County Central High School ...Read more

European company executives might be even more preoccupied than their U.S. counterparts about Donald Trump’s promise to impose tariffs on all imports if he retakes the White House.

Mentions of “tariff” on earnings conference calls so far this period have soared in Europe, outpacing instances on U.S. calls by a ratio of 5 to 2 in October. ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — In-person early voting in the presidential election is about to begin in Florida.

No one is certain what to expect. “We are anxious to see if Florida will follow Georgia’s trend of record-breaking numbers during the first few days of early voting,” said Broward Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott.

Early voting ...Read more

Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the government would help victims of blackouts that have darkened Sao Paulo because of heavy rains, promising assistance to businesses and residents who lost power for more than 24 hours.

About 250,000 small businesses will be eligible for credit under a plan Lula and Finance Minister Fernando ...Read more

CHICAGO — After a group of Jewish students erected a sukkah, or temporary wooden structure, on Northwestern University’s campus in Evanston Wednesday at sunset saying they were religiously expressing the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, the university told them to take it down before employees dismantled and removed it after a few hours. The ...Read more

MIAMI — On a bayfront street in Miami Shores, water bubbled up from the asphalt. It surged up through a drain, covering the entire street in just a few hours despite a perfectly clear sky.

Saturday marked the peak of this season’s king tide, the highest tide of the year. Across South Florida, and along the east coast, salty water crept into...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Clergy sex abuse scandals have rocked Catholic churches across the world, but few places have seen the financial toll of the Los Angeles Archdiocese.

With a record $880 million settlement with victims announced this week, the Los Angeles Archdiocese has now paid out more than $1.5 billion.

The bill reflects its rank as the ...Read more

Emmanuel Macron’s diminished authority in France’s power-sharing government appears to be taking a toll.

Macron’s tirade against his Cabinet ministers, journalists and political commentators, accusing them of “a lack of professionalism” for leaking remarks he made about Israel, cast the French president in an uncharacteristic light ...Read more