When Merat Behnam first gathered enough courage to ride her yellow scooter through the gridlocked streets of Iran 's capital to the coffee shop she runs, traffic wasn't her main worry.

=In the foothills of Japan's Northern Alps, people are chasing monkeys.

Wearing bright orange vests, the humans ring bells, blow whistles and strike rocks and trees with walking sticks as they weave through bamboo and brush. Using GPS trackers, they follow the monkeys' movements and radio teammates to close in when nearby. The aim is to herd the animals back into the mountains and away from farms and homes.

Space weather forecasters issued an alert on Tuesday for incoming severe solar storms that could produce colorful northern lights and temporarily disrupt communications.

In the past few days, the sun has burped out several bursts of energy called coronal mass ejections that could reach Earth Tuesday night and early Wednesday. The potential severe geomagnetic storms could disrupt radio and GPS communications, according to forecasters with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Lionel Messi and the world champion Argentina football team are expected to be special guests this week as the southern African nation of Angola celebrates the 50th anniversary of its independence from Portugal.

The events began Wednesday.

Spanish King Felipe VI and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed agreements on language exchanges and other areas Wednesday as both sides vowed to strengthen their cooperation.

The monarch's visit comes as Spain, the eurozone's fourth-largest economy, continues its courtship of China and Chinese investment while the relationship with the United States is strained under President Donald Trump. In April, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, head of the country's government, made his third visit to China in as many years.

Dozens of masked Israeli settlers attacked a pair of Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank, setting fire to vehicles and other property before clashing with Israeli soldiers sent to halt the rampage, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

It was the latest in a series of attacks by young settlers in the West Bank.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro ordered his nation's security forces to stop sharing intelligence with the United States, until the Trump administration stops its strikes on suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean, as relations deteriorate between the nations that were once close partners in the fight against drug trafficking.

The longest government shutdown in history could conclude as soon as today, Day 43, with almost no one happy with the final result.

Democrats didn't get the heath insurance provisions they demanded added to the spending deal. And Republicans, who control the levers of power in Washington, didn't escape blame, according to polls and some state and local elections that went poorly for them.

All 20 personnel on board a military cargo plane that crashed in Georgia were killed, Turkey's defense minister announced on Wednesday.

The C-130 plane had taken off from Ganja, Azerbaijan and was on its way back to Turkey when it crashed on Tuesday in Georgia's Sighnaghi municipality, close to the Azerbaijani border. The cause of the crash is being investigated.

Iraqis were voting on Tuesday in a parliamentary election that comes at a crucial moment for the country and the region. The outcome of the vote will influence whether Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani can serve a second term.

The election comes against the backdrop of fears over another war between Israel and Iran and potential Israeli or U.S. strikes on Iran-backed groups in Iraq. Baghdad seeks to maintain a delicate balance in its relations with Tehran and Washington amid increasing pressure from the Trump administration over the presence of Iran-linked armed groups.