Cuba will defend itself against any "terrorist aggression," President Miguel Diaz-Canel declared Thursday, a day after a deadly shoot-out between gunmen on a US-registered speedboat and Cuban coast guard vessels.

"Cuba will defend itself with determination and firmness against any terrorist and mercenary aggression against its sovereignty and national stability," the president said on X, denouncing Wednesday's confrontation as an attempted "infiltration."

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Thursday called an early general election for March 24, as the country digests a standoff with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has designs on Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark.

Voters in the Scandinavian country, a NATO and European Union member, will determine who sits in the Folketing, or parliament. It has 179 seats — 175 of which go to lawmakers representing Denmark and two apiece to lawmakers from Greenland and the kingdom's other semiautonomous territory, the Faroe Islands.

As U.S. forces mass in the Middle East, Iran faces the threat of major strikes by the world's most powerful military, potentially targeting its leaders, military, nuclear sites and critical infrastructure.

Iran has nowhere near the same capabilities, and is even more vulnerable after last year's war launched by Israel and recent anti-government protests. But it could still inflict pain on American forces and allies, and may feel it has to if the Islamic Republic's survival is at stake.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is testifying before U.S. House lawmakers in New York on Thursday as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, starting off two days of depositions that will also include former President Bill Clinton.

The closed-door depositions in the Clintons' hometown of Chappaqua, a typically quiet hamlet north of New York City, come after months of tense back-and-forth between the former high-powered Democratic couple and the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee. It will be the first time that a former president has been forced to testify before Congress.

Russia launched a barrage of 420 drones and 39 missiles at Ukraine overnight, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday, as U.S. and Ukrainian envoys held more talks in Geneva on ending the war that is now in its fifth year.

The bombardment, which included 11 ballistic missiles, targeted critical infrastructure and residential areas across eight regions of Ukraine, Zelensky said. Dozens of people, including children, were injured, officials said, though authorities did not immediately publish a confirmed total.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said Wednesday that he was hopeful ahead of the third round of talks with the United States, adding that they could help end the standoff with Washington.

"We see a favorable outlook for the negotiations," said Pezeshkian in a speech.

Facing tough odds in an upcoming election, Hungary's pro-Russian prime minister is trying to convince voters that the greatest threat to the country is not economic stagnation — the focus of his top opponent — but neighboring Ukraine.

Viktor Orbán is running an aggressive media campaign replete with disinformation whose central message is that Hungarians should refuse to align with the rest of Europe in supporting Ukraine against Russia's invasion. That path, he argues, risks bankrupting the country and getting its youth killed on the front lines.

Iran pushed back Wednesday against U.S. President Donald Trump's pressure tactics ahead of critical talks in Geneva over Tehran's nuclear program, alternating between calling his remarks "big lies" to saying negotiations may yield an agreement through "honorable diplomacy."

The remarks by two Iranian officials ahead of Thursday's talks come as America has assembled its biggest deployment of aircraft and warships to the Middle East in decades, part of Trump's efforts to get a deal while Iran struggles at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests last month.

A Ukrainian delegation is set to meet Thursday with American envoys in the run-up to another round of trilateral talks with Russia, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Rustem Umerov, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Secretary, is due to hold talks with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, Zelensky told reporters in a media chat Wednesday.

Japan's government said Wednesday that a Japanese national has been detained in Tehran since January and demanded the Iranian authorities release them swiftly.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki, asked about foreign media reports on the case, confirmed only that the Japanese citizen was taken into custody on Jan. 20 but gave no further details, citing privacy issues.