Spotlight
Two videos, two different stories about Russia's war in Ukraine. In one of them, the prisoners appear to live. In the other, they die.
The Associated Press has obtained a video from a Ukrainian drone showing soldiers with Russian uniform markings killing Kyiv's forces who had surrendered to them. It also has discovered a second video, recorded by a Russian drone, of the same incident that sheds light on how Moscow is framing it.

The Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to use a 1798 wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to deport Venezuelan migrants it accuses of being gang members, ending the temporary halt on deportations ordered by a federal district judge.

Sudan told the United Nations' top court on Thursday that the United Arab Emirates is breaching the genocide convention by arming and funding the rebel paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces, in a case vigorously contested by the UAE.
The northeast African country is asking the International Court of Justice to issue emergency orders, known as provisional measures, including telling the UAE to do all it can to prevent the killing and other crimes targeting the Masalit people during Sudan's two-year civil war.

The Kremlin said Thursday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was "wrong" to suggest Russia was dragging China into the Ukraine conflict, after Kyiv claimed many Chinese citizens were fighting for Moscow.
"Partner, friend, and comrade. China has always taken a very balanced position, so Zelensky is wrong," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, including AFP, in a briefing call.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday issued new sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear program, just days before senior American and Iranian officials are expected to hold talks in the Middle East sultanate of Oman.
Five entities and one person based in Iran are cited in the new sanctions for their support of Iran's nuclear program. The designated groups include the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and subordinates Iran Centrifuge Technology Company, Thorium Power Company, Pars Reactors Construction and Development Company and Azarab Industries Co.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Israel would be the "leader" of a potential military strike against Iran if Tehran doesn't give up its nuclear weapons program.
Trump made the comments ahead of this weekend's scheduled talks involving U.S. and Iranian officials in the Middle East sultanate of Oman. Trump earlier this week said the talks would be "direct" while Iran has described the engagement as "indirect" talks with the U.S.

Iran and the United States will hold talks in the sultanate of Oman on Saturday in an attempt to jump-start negotiations over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program.
President Donald Trump insists they'll be direct negotiations. However, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says he'll be speaking indirectly through a mediator to U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.

German election winner Friedrich Merz sealed a deal Wednesday to form a new government that aims to spur economic growth, ramp up defense spending, take a tougher approach to migration and catch up on long-neglected modernization.
The agreement paves the way for new leadership in the 27-nation European Union's most populous member, which has Europe's biggest economy. It follows months of political drift and weeks of negotiations as the continent faces uncertainty over the Trump administration's sweeping tariffs and its commitment to European allies' defense.

Iran's president again pledged Wednesday that his nation is "not after a nuclear bomb" ahead of talks between Tehran and the United States, going as far as dangling the prospect of direct American investment in the Islamic Republic if the countries can reach a deal.
The comments by reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian represent a departure from Iran's stance after its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, in which Tehran sought to buy American airplanes but in effect barred U.S. companies from coming into the country.

Chinese diplomats threatened to cancel a summit and called top officials in two African countries to pressure lawmakers to quit an international parliamentary group critical of China, officials from the group told The Associated Press.
It's an example of how far China will go to influence politicians overseas, and how that pressure can succeed behind closed doors.
