Russia moved to ratify a key defense pact with North Korea on Thursday, while South Korea warned it would not "sit idle" if Pyongyang deployed thousands of troops to help Moscow fight Ukraine.

Turkey struck suspected Kurdish militant targets in Syria and Iraq for a second day on Thursday following an attack on the premises of a key defense company which killed at least five people, the state-run news agency reported.

The National Intelligence Organization targeted numerous "strategic locations" used by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK, or by Syrian Kurdish militia that are affiliated with the militants, the Anadolu Agency reported. The targets included military, intelligence, energy and infrastructure facilities and ammunition depots, the report said. A security official said armed drones were used in Thursday's strikes.

Assailants set off explosives and opened fire in an attack Wednesday on the premises of the Turkish state-run aerospace and defense company TUSAS, killing four people and wounding several, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

At least two of the attackers died, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.

Israel’s defense minister told a group of pilots Wednesday that an Israeli attack on Iran would demonstrate the “preparation and readiness” of the country’s air force.

“After we attack in Iran, both in the State of Israel and in other places will understand what your preparation process includes, and your preparation and readiness,” Yoav Gallant told air force pilots and operators at the Hatzerim airbase in southern Israel. “The Air Force is a key element in this matter and anyone who tries to harm us will be harmed.”

Two weeks out from Election Day, the crisis in the Middle East is looming over the race for the White House, with one candidate struggling to find just the right words to navigate its difficult cross-currents and the other making bold pronouncements that the age-old conflict can quickly be set right.

Vice President Kamala Harris has been painstakingly — and not always successfully — trying to balance talk of strong support for Israel with harsh condemnations of civilian casualties among Palestinians and others caught up in Israel's wars on Gaza and Lebanon.

In the coming days, Russian President Vladimir Putin will be shaking hands with multiple world leaders, including China's Xi Jinping, India's Narendra Modi, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's Masoud Pezeshkian.

They will all be in the Russian city of Kazan on Tuesday for a meeting of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, defying predictions that the war in Ukraine and an international arrest warrant against Putin would turn him into a pariah.

Voters remain largely divided over whether they prefer Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris to handle key economic issues, although Harris earns slightly better marks on elements such as taxes for the middle class, according to a new poll.

A majority of registered voters in the survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research describe the economy as poor. About 7 in 10 say the nation is going in the wrong direction.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit Monday, hours after a Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian capital and as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushes Western partners to keep providing military support for the war.

Austin said on the X platform that his fourth visit shows "that the United States, alongside the international community, continues to stand by Ukraine."

The United States is investigating an unauthorized release of classified documents that assess Israel's plans to attack Iran, three U.S. officials told The Associated Press. A fourth U.S. official said the documents appear to be legitimate.

The documents are attributed to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, and note that Israel was still moving military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran's blistering ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1. They were sharable within the "Five Eyes," which are the U.S., Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

Russia says it has swapped 95 Ukrainian soldiers held captive for an equal number of Russian troops in an exchange deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates.

"As a result of the negotiation process, 95 Russian servicemen were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime," the Russian defence ministry said.