International News from Saturday, July 4th, 2026

Thousands protested against Germany's far-right AfD and blocked roads to its annual conference in the eastern city of Erfurt on Saturday, where the party re-elected the two leaders who have overseen its rise as a national force.

Russia's second city of St. Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region came under a large Ukrainian drone attack overnight on Saturday, with a local port and oil infrastructure struck, Russian and Ukrainian authorities said.

Ukraine still controls the strategically important eastern city of Kostiantynivka, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the General Staff said on Saturday, rejecting Russian claims that it has been captured.

US President Donald Trump called on Americans to protect the freedoms the nation's founders envisioned 250 years ago against what he has portrayed as the "communist" threat posed by progressive Democrats, speaking on the eve of Independence Day at Mount Rushmore.