Tens of thousands of people sought refuge on Friday as border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia entered a second day, heightening fears of a broader conflict.

The U.N. Security Council is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis later Friday in New York, while Malaysia, which chairs a regional bloc that includes both countries, called for an end to hostilities and offered to mediate.

France's highest court is ruling Friday on whether it can strip the head of state immunity of Bashar Assad, the former leader of Syria now in exile in Russia, because of the brutality of the evidence in accusations against him collected by Syrian activists and European prosecutors.

If the judges at the Cour de Cassation lift Assad's immunity, it could pave the way for his trial in absentia over the use of chemical weapons in Ghouta in 2013 and Douma in 2018, and set a precedent to allow the prosecution of other government leaders linked to atrocities, human rights activists and lawyers say.

Before the eruption of sectarian violence in southern Syria, Saber Abou Ras taught medical sciences at a university in the city of Sweida and was somewhat hopeful of a better future for his country as it emerged from nearly 14 years of civil war.

Now, like many others in the Druze-majority city in southern Syria, he carries arms and refuses to give them up to the government. He sees little hope for the united Syria he recently thought was in reach.

Iranian and European diplomats met Friday in Istanbul to embark on the latest drive to unpick the deadlock over Tehran's nuclear program.

Representatives from Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3 nations, gathered at the Iranian consulate building for the first talks since Iran's 12-day war with Israel in June, which involved U.S. bombers striking nuclear-related facilities.

Aircraft from Lebanon, Jordan, Spain and Israel were on their way Thursday to help battle a huge wildfire in Cyprus that has claimed the lives of two people. Police were investigating reports that arsonists were to blame.

The flames have scorched more than 120 square kilometers (46 square miles) of forested hillsides in one of the worst such blazes in recent memory.

Former President Joe Biden's son Hunter, seen by some as the problem child of the Democratic Party for legal and drug-related woes that brought negative attention to his father, is lashing out against Democratic "elites" and others over the way he says his father was treated during last year's presidential campaign.

Hunter Biden spoke publicly in recent interviews about last year's election, when Joe Biden ultimately dropped his bid and Donald Trump won the White House. In a three-hour, expletive-filled online interview with Andrew Callaghan of Channel 5, he directed ire toward actor and Democratic Party donor George Clooney for his decision to call on the elder Biden to abandon his 2024 reelection bid.

Heavy storms in northern Vietnam left one person dead and another missing, police said Wednesday, as Wipha weakened from a tropical storm into a depression.

A 59-year-old man was killed in Nghe An province when a tree fell on his house on Sunday before the storm made landfall, police said. Nghe An, which stretches from the coast to the mountainous Laos border, was among the areas hit hardest by heavy rain and floods. Another woman was swept away by floodwaters and remains missing. Four other people were injured.

For nearly a decade United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has been using science to warn about evermore dangerous climate change in increasingly urgent tones. Now he's enlisting something seemingly more important to the world's powerful: Money.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Guterres hailed the power of market forces in what he repeatedly called "a battle" to save the planet. He pointed to two new UN reports showing the plummeting cost of solar and wind power and the growing generation and capacity of those green energy sources. He warned those who cling to fossil fuels that they could go broke doing it.

Goalkeeper Khadija Er-Rmichi blocked Comfort Yeboah's attempt and host Morocco advanced to the championship of the Women's Africa Cup of Nations on a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw with Ghana on Tuesday.

Morocco, which prevailed 4-2 on penalties, will face Nigeria in the final Saturday. The Super Falcons defeated defending champions South Africa 2-1 in the earlier semifinal Tuesday in Casablanca.

Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 21 people late Tuesday and early Wednesday, health officials said, as hunger worsened among Palestinians struggling to live under the weight of the 21-month war.

Desperation is mounting in the Palestinian territory of more than 2 million. An official familiar with the negotiations said Wednesday that special envoy Steve Witkoff planned to head to Rome for talks with an Israeli official as the U.S. tries to reach a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.