Volodymyr Zelenskyy pledged elections in the coming months in exchange for American security guarantees. Ukraine’s president had previously rejected the idea while the country is at war with Russia. President Donald Trump has suggested that Mr. Zelenskyy, who began a 5-year term in 2019, is using the war to hold on to power. Ukraine is expected to send Washington a revised version of Mr. Trump’s peace plan today.

An African trade pact may get a second life after it was allowed to expire on Oct. 1. Since 2000, the African Growth and Opportunity Act had given 32 sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to the United States. A House committee is hosting a session today on a bill that would renew it until the end of 2028, a possibility African leaders celebrate. But some analysts cast doubt on the administration’s willingness to extend the provision given its preference for bilateral “America First” agreements.

Miami elected its first Democratic mayor in almost three decades. Eileen Higgins will also be the first woman to run the city and the first non-Hispanic mayor since the 1990s. The runoff drew national attention, with President Trump endorsing her Republican opponent. Both candidates focused on immigration in a county that is roughly 70% Hispanic, with Ms. Higgins denouncing harsh rhetoric against immigrants.

Lithuania declared a state of emergency in response to smuggler balloons from Belarus in its airspace. Hundreds of cases of weather balloons carrying contraband into the country have been reported this year. Lithuanian leaders see the violations as a form of hybrid attack by Russia-allied Belarus, which denies responsibility. Europe is on high alert following a series of airspace violations in September.

Rwanda-backed M23 rebels advanced in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo despite a U.S.-brokered peace accord signed last Thursday. Around 200,000 people have fled their homes as President Felix Tshisekedi accused Rwanda of violating the peace deal. U.S. and European leaders called for an end to the “destabilizing” offensive.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis designated a Muslim civil rights group a “foreign terrorist group,” following Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. The Council on American-Islamic Relations is one of the largest Muslim advocacy groups in the United States. In a news release, CAIR called the move a “direct attack” on First Amendment rights and the Muslim community in Florida. The federal government does not apply the label.

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner will not attend today’s Oslo ceremony to receive her award, organizers said. Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has been in hiding since elections last year. Her daughter is expected to accept the prize on her behalf. In addition to galvanizing her country’s pro-democracy movement, Ms. Machado has more controversially embraced President Trump’s military buildup in the Caribbean. Venezuelan authorities say she would be deemed a fugitive if she left the country.

– Our staff writers around the world

Members of Congress have access to information they could use to make money in the stock market. There’s a new push to ban members from buying and selling stocks, with the goal of countering possible insider trading.

In Israeli descriptions of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, use of the term “Jewish terrorism” has been rising. A plurality of Israelis say the attackers have been handled too leniently. But the settlers have strong allies in the government.

President Donald Trump’s recent dehumanizing remarks about Somali Americans play to stereotypes and obscure a complex history.

In one of the darkest corners of the world, a group of “astro-ambassadors” are making a living off the night sky – and creating a bridge between science and tradition.

For foster families seeking essentials for their children, funding cuts that affect services can cause a strain. Amid high rates of turnover among foster families, a support hub fills a critical gap in eastern Pennsylvania.

Civilians around the world daily and easily engage with artificial intelligence, communicating with chatbot “therapists” and “friends” or creating realistic videos with entirely machine-generated content.

Governments, meanwhile, are racing to keep up with the implications of AI – positive and otherwise – for national security and economic competitiveness as well as for citizen freedoms, privacy, and safety. The challenge centers on whether and how much to regulate this rapidly advancing and lucrative sector. And how to do so without eroding the democratic, free-market values of individual and entrepreneurial autonomy.

Australia is now the first country to ban social media use for children under age 16. In July, the United Kingdom enacted age verification for accessing pornographic sites. And last year, the European Union passed an AI Act to “foster responsible” development, while addressing “potential risks to citizens’ health, safety, and fundamental rights.”

“Good rules ... help prevent disasters,” policy analyst James Lardner noted in a study of 10 landmark regulations in the United States. They arise “out of crisis and struggle, but also ... out of the momentum of accomplishment,” and can channel market forces “in more positive directions,” he observed.

U.S. governors and state legislatures have been busy trying to design such AI rules: In 2025, all 50 states introduced AI bills and 38 passed roughly 100 laws. These moves far outpaced action in Washington, where the House of Representatives and President Donald Trump pushed for a 10-year moratorium on state AI laws. The Senate voted this down 99-1 in July, and a November effort to include the provision in the defense bill also failed.

Mr. Trump has announced he will issue an executive order to preempt or override state rules. “You can’t expect a company to get 50 Approvals every time they want to do something,” he posted on Truth Social. There is some validity to this, as business associations and tech industry leaders point out.

Others, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, see this as “federal government overreach,” though. “Stripping states of jurisdiction to regulate AI is a subsidy to Big Tech” and hampers efforts to protect children and intellectual property, he wrote on the social platform X.

History shows that state regulations often serve as initial guardrails and provide a template for comprehensive federal legislation.

“State-level action has played a significant role in addressing early risks associated with emerging technologies,” according to George Washington University researcher Tambudzai Gundani. “Because these tools are deployed in specific communities, local officials are often the first to hear complaints, see patterns of harm, and respond.”

For officials to effectively regulate and devise “good rules” for AI, it seems that a willingness to learn from local experience and listen to industry and federal concerns will both be necessary.