Over the past months, Ukrainian drones have crashed into the chimney of a power plant in Estonia, hit empty fuel tanks in Latvia and been shot down by Romanian fighter jets stationed in Lithuania.

For the first time in a NATO and European Union capital, Lithuanians were pictured sheltering in underground car parks in Vilnius on Wednesday, as authorities warned of unidentified drone activity in neighboring Belarus.

The U.S. military said Wednesday that it boarded an Iranian-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman that was suspected of trying to violate the American blockade, the latest action by the Trump administration to try to push Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

But President Donald Trump is facing his own pressure at home for shipping to resume through the vital corridor off Iran's coast. Fellow Republicans in Congress are battling political headwinds ahead of November's midterm elections as gasoline prices skyrocket and global energy markets churn.

As negotiations with the United States hang in the balance, a hard-line Iranian general linked to notorious attacks at home and abroad over the past decades is believed to have seized a place near the center of power.

Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, who heads Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, has become a major player in formulating Iran's tough stance in negotiating a possible end to the war with the United States, experts say. He is believed to be part of a small clique in direct contact with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khameini, who remains in hiding after being reportedly wounded in the Feb. 28 Israeli strikes that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has remained in power for most of the past 17 years due in part to a tight alliance with ultra-Orthodox religious parties.

But that alliance is tearing apart his governing coalition and proving to be another major liability for the long-serving Israeli leader as the country heads to elections later this year. The Oct. 7, 2023, attack — and the inconclusive wars that have followed — are also weighing on him.

The U.K. government has delayed some new sanctions on Russian oil in an effort to shelter Britons from the cost-of-living squeeze triggered by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Iran war.

A trade license that came into effect Wednesday permits the import of Russian oil that has been refined into jet fuel and diesel in third countries such as India and Turkey.

Polish officials on Wednesday welcomed U.S. statements clarifying that the decision not to deploy 4,000 U.S. troops to the central European country was a temporary measure.

The Polish government last week reacted with disbelief at news that 4,000 troops from the Army's 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division were no longer en route as planned to the country that borders Ukraine.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer took time out from dealing with his own sticky political situation to congratulate his favorite soccer team, Arsenal, on winning the Premier League.

"22 long years for the Arsenal," Starmer posted on X soon after the title was clinched late Tuesday. "But finally, we're back where we belong.

The World Health Organization said on Wednesday the risk of spread of the Ebola virus in Congo and Uganda is high at national and regional levels, but low at the global level.

The risk assessment came as the leader of the WHO team in Congo said the outbreak, which has led to over 130 suspected deaths, could last at least another two months as aid efforts intensified to stem the spread.

On his very first time hosting "The Late Show" back in 2015, Stephen Colbert ripped into Donald Trump while gorging on Oreos, likening his inability to resist the cookies to his inability to resist going after the then-presidential candidate.

"Look, you don't own me. I don't need to play tape of you to have a successful TV show," he warned an image of Trump. "Someone on television should have a modicum of dignity and it could be me."

Iranian Revolutionary Guard members now regularly show the public in Tehran how to handle Kalashnikov-style assault rifles. Parades through the capital feature military vehicles mounted with belt-fed Soviet-era machine guns. And at one mass wedding, a ballistic missile, like the one that rained down cluster munitions on Israel, adorned the stage.

Weapons are now regularly brandished in Tehran, an increasing show of defiance as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens he could restart the war with Iran should negotiations break down and the Islamic Republic refuses to release its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.