Political tensions mounted on Tuesday over the European Union's next long-term budget as pressure builds to get the spending package agreed before a series of unpredictable elections in some of the biggest member countries next year.

The EU budget, known as the multiannual financial framework, amounts to around 1.2% of the 27-nation bloc's gross national income. The MFF is financed mostly by the member countries based on the size of their economies.

Climate activists picketed outside the African Energy Week conference in Cape Town, South Africa, on Tuesday, calling for an end to new oil and gas exploration across the continent and accusing energy companies of prioritizing profits over people and the environment.

Greenpeace Africa and Extinction Rebellion campaigners challenged efforts to position Africa as a new frontier for fossil fuel development, arguing that further investment would worsen climate change and threaten communities already grappling with its effects.

Ukraine received no early warning from its partners about a Russian ballistic missile strike on Kyiv in which five missiles hit civilian infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday in a post on X.

Zelensky characterized the barrage on the capital as "particularly vile," and emphasized that receiving intelligence from Ukraine's partners on such ballistic missile attacks "helps save lives, and this is one of the most critical issues."

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia kicked off their first visit to Ceuta on Tuesday in a show of solidarity with residents of the Spanish city in North Africa as they grapple with a migration crisis that has strained relations with Morocco.

The royal couple will then travel to Melilla, Spain's other North African exclave, on Wednesday. It will be the first visit by a Spanish monarch to the two cities since Felipe's father, Juan Carlos I, toured them in 2007.

The House speaker stood before Donald Trump during his first term at the White House and pointed a finger declaring that with this president, "All roads lead to Putin."

The stark assessment years ago from Nancy Pelosi echoed anew after Trump's surprise announcement last week that he struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to import tons of Russian diesel to the U.S. as a way to ease sky-high prices at the pumps for Americans ahead of the midterm elections.

The rebel-run al-Masirah satellite television said Tuesday two airstrikes hit the Houthi-held Red Sea island of Kamaran, while a third hit Qanawis district, 55 kilometers (34 miles) northwest of the port city of Hodeida.

The station also reported airstrikes in the province of Jawf, which borders Saudi Arabia.

Hurricane Simon pounded western Mexico with more wind and rain Monday after tropical weather systems caused five deaths and damage in Pacific coastal towns and resorts.

The eye of the Category 2 hurricane remained offshore as its outer bands of winds and rain slammed communities between the Sierra Madre and the Pacific Ocean near Puerto Vallarta.

Pope Leo XIV was expected to be admitted to a Rome hospital Tuesday for the removal of a lung nodule in an operation experts say will determine whether the lesion is malignant and if other treatment is needed.

Leo has offered a rare level of transparency about the first publicly disclosed major health problem of his 17-month papacy. He revealed the discovery of the small, localized nodule during his Sunday noon prayer and announced that he would have it removed.

As word came of Houthi rebels closing in, Weam Abdullah and her family decided it was time to leave their home in Taiz, Yemen's third largest city. They had survived a yearslong siege by the rebels earlier in their country's civil war, and they didn't want to endure that again.

They made it out just in time: Just after Abdullah, her husband and two young children left, the rebels on Oct. 4 captured a key town, largely encircling the city and cutting off most access to supplies from government-held areas.

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday slightly upgraded its outlook for the world economy for this year, while warning of growing risks from rising debt, including borrowing related to artificial intelligence.

The IMF says it expects the global economy to grow at a 3.1% pace this year. That's up from its July forecast for 3.0% growth and well below the 3.5% expansion in 2025. Growth in 2027 should rebound to 3.4%, it said in its latest Economic Outlook.