Several officials in the Middle East and the U.S. believe the level of devastation in the Gaza Strip caused by a nine-month Israeli offensive likely has helped push Hamas to soften its demands for a cease-fire agreement.

Hamas over the weekend appeared to drop its longstanding demand that Israel promise to end the war as part of any cease-fire deal. The sudden shift has raised new hopes for progress in internationally brokered negotiations.

The Labour Party has won Britain's general election, bringing a new party to power for the first time in 14 years. But Labour leader Keir Starmer won't actually become prime minister until a carefully choreographed ceremony on Friday during which King Charles III will formally ask him to form a new government.

It's a moment that embodies the fact that, technically at least, the right to govern in the United Kingdom is still derived from royal authority, centuries after real political power was transferred to elected members of Parliament.

By Asher Kaufman, University of Notre Dame

Months of relentless exchanges between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah have seen mass civilian evacuations and widespread death, injury and destruction.

After more than eight months of low-scale conflict, Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah are threatening all-out war.

The United States and the international community are lobbying for calm and hopeful for a diplomatic solution. They have not been successful so far and time for a political settlement could be expiring.

Hezbollah has been drawing on a powerful arsenal since it began exchanging fire with Israel in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas over eight months ago.

As fears of a regional war rise after Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said none of Israel would be spared in a full-blown conflict -- and after Israel said it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive -- AFP looks at Hezbollah's weapons cache:

Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un say a new strategic partnership is a breakthrough, but what it means for their relationship is still uncertain.

The pact requires both countries to use all available means to provide immediate military assistance in the event of war, according to North Korean state media. While the agreement, inked Wednesday at a summit in Pyongyang, could represent the countries' strongest deal signed after the Cold War, there are differing opinions on how strong the security commitment is.

Fears of a regional war rose Thursday after Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement said none of Israel would be spared in a full-blown conflict, and Israel said it had approved plans for a Lebanon offensive.

Experts are divided on the prospect of wider war, almost nine months into Israel's vow to eradicate Hamas, the Palestinian militant group in the Gaza Strip.

An escalating cross-border tit-for-tat between Israel and Hezbollah raised fears Wednesday of a full-blown war, but experts are divided on the prospect of a wider conflict.

The United States was working behind the scenes to ease tensions, a day after Israel's top diplomat warned the Iran-backed Hezbollah that it would be destroyed in the event of a "total war" and the Israeli army said its operational plans for an offensive in Lebanon had been signed off.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu disbanded his war Cabinet Monday, a move that consolidates his influence over the Israel-Hamas war and likely diminishes the odds of a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip anytime soon.

Netanyahu announced the step days after his chief political rival, Benny Gantz, withdrew from the three-member war Cabinet. Gantz, a retired general and member of parliament, was widely seen as a more moderate voice.

The U.S. Navy prepared for decades to potentially fight the Soviet Union, then later Russia and China, on the world's waterways. But instead of a global power, the Navy finds itself locked in combat with a shadowy, Iran-backed rebel group based in Yemen.

The U.S.-led campaign against the Houthi rebels, overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, has turned into the most intense running sea battle the Navy has faced since World War II, its leaders and experts told The Associated Press.