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. 

The left-wing Sumar platform, a junior partner in Spain's Socialist-led government, suffered an ideological split this week after its former leader and current Labour Minister Yolanda Díaz called for the "recognition of the results" of Venezuela's contested elections, against the will of many other platform members.