American held captive in Afghanistan released, Taliban says
(LONDON) — An American held in Afghanistan has been freed, the Taliban said Tuesday.
Dennis Coyle of Colorado was released after a letter from his family was sent requesting his release on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr, the Taliban foreign ministry said. His period of detention was then deemed “sufficient” and his release was approved by a court, according to the ministry.
The Taliban claimed Coyle had been detained for “violating the applicable laws of Afghanistan.”
The Taliban thanked the United Arab Emirates for helping to facilitate Coyle’s release.
Earlier this month, U.S. special envoy for hostage response Adam Boehler said three innocent Americans were currently being held in Afghanistan.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
A multi-storey apartment block in the Darnytskyi district is damaged by a Russian drone strike during a massive overnight attack on the capital, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on January 9, 2026. (Photo by Danylo Antoniuk/Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images)NO USE RUSSIA. NO USE BELARUS. (Photo by Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(KYIV, Ukraine) — Russia attacked Ukraine overnight with a massive barrage of 242 drones and 36 missiles, including one that was nuclear-capable, the Ukrainian Air Force said Friday morning.
The missile types used in the attack, which began Thursday night, included 22 cruise, 13 ballistic and one medium-range ballistic, according to the country’s air force.
Ukraine’s air defense system destroyed or suppressed 226 drones, 10 cruise missiles and 8 ballistic missiles. However, strikes from 18 missiles and 16 drones were recorded at 19 locations across the country, the air force said.
The capital, Kyiv, was among the hardest-hit areas, where 40 facilities were damaged, including 20 residential buildings, officials said. At least four people were killed and 25 others were injured there, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, which said rescues were ongoing. The wider Kyiv region as well as the regions of Lviv, Kirovohrad and Cherkasy were also targeted.
The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that the Oreshnik intermediate-range ground missile system was used in the “massive strike” on Ukraine’s “critical facilities” overnight.
The Oreshnik, used only for the second time by Russia, is capable of flying at hypersonic speeds and delivering multiple warheads.
The ministry said this was in response to an alleged Ukrainian drone attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state residence in the Novgorod region of northwestern Russia last month, which Ukraine has denied.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia used the intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) on the Lviv region in western Ukraine.
“Such a strike close to EU and NATO border is a grave threat to the security on the European continent and a test for the transatlantic community. We demand strong responses to Russia’s reckless actions,” Sybiha wrote in a post on X “We are informing the United States, European partners, and all countries and international organizations about the details of this dangerous strike through diplomatic channels.”
Sybiha called it “absurd” that Moscow justified the strike as a response to “the fake ‘Putin residence attack’ that never happened.”
“Another proof that Moscow does not need any real reasons for its terror and war,” he added. “Putin uses an IRBM near EU and NATO border in response to his own hallucinations — this is truly a global threat. And it demands global responses.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivers a key note speech at the 62nd Munich Security Conference on February 14, 2026 in Munich, Germany. (Johannes Simon/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered a bluntly worded, but ultimately conciliatory, speech Saturday to leaders of Western nations, saying the Trump administration does not want to dismantle its traditional alliances.
However, during his speech at the Munich Security Conference, he called on European countries to adopt the administration’s right-wing polices on mass migration and do more for their own defense.
“Our destiny is and always will be intertwined with you,” Rubio said to prolonged applause. “We do not seek to separate but to reinvigorate an old friendship.”
His speech’s message appeared to be a greatly moderated version of the one given by Vice President JD Vance last year, where he attacked European countries as oppressive.
Rubio repeated many of the same political criticisms that Vance made, telling European countries they and the United States previously had fallen victim to a liberal “dangerous delusion.”
He told them they must get control over mass migration, stop being ashamed of their colonial histories and give up on what he called a “climate cult.”
But he repeated the message that the U.S. wanted to reinvigorate the power of the West “together.”
“And while we are prepared, if necessary, to do this alone, it is our preference and it is our hope to do this together with you, our friends here in Europe,” Rubio said.
Rubio defended the administration as seeking to unapologetically reinvigorate the West, speaking nostalgically of “great western empires.”
“We do not want our allies to be weak, because that makes us weaker. We do not want our allies to be shackled by guilt and shame,” he said. “We do not want allies to rationalize the broken status quo.”
He said the U.S. has “no interest in being the polite caretaker of managed decline.”
The chairman of the conference, Wolfgang Ischinger, later thanked Rubio for his “message of reassurance.”
“I’m not sure you heard the sigh of relief in this hall,” Ischinger told Rubio on stage.
During an interview with Bloomberg TV directly after the speech, Rubio said he thought he gave the “same message” that Vance delivered at the conference last year.
“I think what the vice president said last year, very clearly, was that Europe had made a series of decisions internally that were threatening to the alliance and ultimately to themselves, not because we hate Europe or we don’t like Europeans, but because, what is it that we fight for? What is it that binds us together?” Rubio said in the interview.
“And ultimately, it’s the fact that we are both heirs to the same civilization, and it’s a great civilization, and it’s one we should be proud of,” Rubio added.
The secretary continued to moderate that message, however, saying his own remarks were meant to explain that, “when we come off as urgent or even critical about decisions that Europe has failed to make or made, it is because we care.”
(PARIS) — A “criminal explosion” struck a synagogue in the Belgian city of Liège at around 4 a.m. local time on Monday in a “violent act of antisemitism,” a local government spokeswoman confirmed to ABC News.
The explosion caused “material damage” but there were no casualties and the site, the official said, “has been secured.”
An investigation by Belgium’s Federal Police force is “ongoing.”
Liège’s mayor, Willy Demeyer, strongly condemned the antisemitic attack and said “external conflicts” cannot be imported into the city.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
