A Look at How Tariffs Affect the Healthcare Industry

A Syrian war monitor says the death toll from two days of clashes between security forces and loyalists to ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad and revenge killings that followed has risen to more than 600. The large number of deaths makes it one of the deadliest acts of violence since Syria’s conflict began 14 years ago. The clashes erupted Thursday, marked a major escalation in the challenge to the new government in Damascus, three months after insurgents took authority after removing Assad from power. Most of the dead were civilians who were members of Assad's minority Alawite sect.

Female students have marked International Women's Day in Serbia by leading protests against corruption and sending a message decrying widespread violence against women in the country. University students in Serbia are leading almost daily street rallies that started after a concrete canopy collapsed in November at a railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 15 people. Many in Serbia believe that the huge concrete construction fell because of poor renovation work fueled by government corruption. Demonstrations have become a challenge to the populist government of President Aleksandar Vucic.

Pope Francis has entered his fourth week in the hospital with double pneumonia, increasingly handing off his day-to-day duties to cardinals as questions swirl about the near and long-term future of his papacy. On Saturday, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, took Francis’ place to celebrate Mass for a pro-life group. On Sunday, another Vatican official, Cardinal Michael Czerny, is stepping in for the pope to celebrate a Holy Year Mass for volunteers. The 88-year-old pope has spoken about the possibility of resignation, though his position has changed over time, especially after the death of Pope Benedict XVI.

Foreign ministers from Muslim nations rejected calls by U.S. President Donald Trump to empty the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian population and backed a plan for an administrative committee of Palestinians to govern the territory to allow reconstruction to go ahead. The foreign ministers gathered in the Saudi city of Jeddah for a special session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Saturday to address the situation in Gaza, at a time when the 7-week-old ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has been thrown into doubt. In a statement put out Saturday, the gathering threw its support behind a plan to rebuild Gaza put forward by Egypt. The OIC groups 57 nations with largely Muslim populations.

The Chernihiv Regional Youth Theater in Ukraine has adapted to the war by having women perform traditionally male roles, after many men left the troupe to fight on the front line. The war has taken a toll; some members are missing or killed, and Russian attacks have damaged cultural institutions. Despite the hardships, the troupe remains committed to preserving their art and aiding the war effort by raising funds and weaving camouflage nets. Their resilience reflects a broader reality in Ukraine, where women are stepping into roles once dominated by men, sustaining not just their industries but the spirit of national resistance.

Emergency services have been called to the Palace of Westminster after a man holding a Palestinian flag climbed up Big Ben tower. Photos show the man standing on a ledge several meters up Elizabeth Tower, which houses Big Ben. A nearby street was closed and several emergency service vehicles were at the scene as crowds looked on from behind a police cordon. The Metropolitan Police said officers were at the scene “working to bring the incident to a safe conclusion,” alongside firefighters and ambulance services.

Officials say flooding rains will continue for days to lash a region of the Australian east coast even though it avoided its first tropical cyclone in 51 years. Tropical Cyclone Alfred had been expected to become the first cyclone to cross the Australian coast near the Queensland state capital, Brisbane, since 1974. But it weakened Saturday to a tropical low, then came to a near-standstill off the Brisbane coast for several hours. Meteorologists say the cyclone’s remnant is forecast to track west across the Australian mainland in the coming days, bringing heavy rain. The body of a 61-year-old man who disappeared in a flooded river was recovered on Saturday.

State-run media in Myanmar say the head of the military government has declared the country will hold a general election within 10 months.  Four years after seizing power from the elected government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said the election will take place either in December or January 2026 at the latest, the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Saturday. The election, nominally a democratic exercise, is widely seen as an attempt to normalize the military’s seizure of power through the ballot box. With the country at war and civil liberties tightly restricted, critics see no way for the polls to be free and fair.

A Russian strike on a town in Ukraine’s embattled Donetsk region has killed at least 11 people as a wave of heavy aerial attacks continued into the second night following a U.S. decision to stop sharing satellite images with Ukraine. Thirty people were also reported injured in multiple strikes late Friday that damaged eight apartment blocks in the town of Dobropillya. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at least five children were among the injured. He called the attack "a vile and inhumane intimidation tactic to which the Russians often resort.”

TV footage has shown South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol coming out of prison. Local TV showed Yoon waving his hand and deeply bowing to his supporters after he came out of a detention center in Seoul on Saturday. Yoon’s release came a day after a Seoul court canceled his arrest to allow him to stand trial for his rebellion charge without being physically detained. Yoon was arrested and indicted by prosecutors in January over his Dec. 3 martial law decree that plunged the country into huge political turmoil.