Spotlight
The chances of a Russia-Ukraine summit faded as U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to tire of peace efforts and Moscow poured cold water on efforts to end the grinding war in Ukraine.

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp resigned on Friday after a cabinet meeting failed to agree to sanctions against Israel.

The head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and two other senior officers are being removed, officials said Friday -- the latest in a series of military firings this year.

The U.N. Support Mission in Libya said Friday that its Tripoli headquarters had come under rocket attack without causing any casualties or damage.

Hamas called on Friday for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and the lifting of the Israeli siege on the territory after the U.N. declared a famine in parts of Gaza.

Iran said Friday its diplomats would meet counterparts from Britain, France and Germany next week for talks on its nuclear program, as the three countries weigh triggering snapback sanctions.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday slammed a U.N.-backed declaration that famine was present in parts of Gaza, calling the report "an outright lie".

At least five Iranian police have been killed in an ambush in the restive southeast, Iranian media reported on Friday.

Russia's defense ministry on Friday said its troops have captured three villages in Ukraine's east Donetsk region, grinding closer to Kyiv's key defensive line in the embattled area.
Russia has captured "the settlements of Katerynivka, Volodymyrivka and Rusyn Yar in the Donetsk People's Republic," the ministry said on Telegram, using the name Moscow uses for the region that it claimed to have annexed in September 2022

The United Nations on Friday officially declared a famine in Gaza, the first in the Middle East, with its experts saying 500,000 people were facing "catastrophic" hunger.
After months of warning of the deteriorating humanitarian situation, the Rome-based IPC panel said famine was now confirmed in the Gaza Governorate -- Gaza City -- which covers about 20 percent of the Gaza Strip.
