Two days of heavy rain in South Korea have killed at least seven people and left two others missing in landslides and floods. Additionally, landslides left eight people trapped in central areas …

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he offered mercenaries from the Wagner private military company the option of continuing to serve as a single unit under their same commander when he met with them after the group's brief revolt last month that posed the most serious threat to his 23-year rule.

CAIRO (AP) — The bodies of dozens of people allegedly killed by Sudanese paramilitary and allied militia have been uncovered in a mass grave in West Darfur, the United Nations said Thursday.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Schools and colleges were closed after record monsoon rains led to massive waterlogging, road caves-in, collapsed homes and gridlocked traffic in large parts of northern India this week, killing more than 100 people, officials said Thursday.

MOSCOW (AP) — Mercenaries of the Wagner Group are completing the handover of their weapons to the Russian military, the Defense Ministry said Wednesday, a move that follows the private army's brief rebellion last month that challenged the Kremlin's authority. The disarming of Wagner reflects efforts by authorities to defuse the threat it posed and also appears to herald an end to the mercenary group's operations on the battlefield in Ukraine.

LONDON (AP) — Concerns are growing that Russia will not extend a United Nations-brokered deal that allows grain to flow from Ukraine to parts of the world struggling with hunger, with ships no longer heading to the war-torn country's Black Sea ports and food exports dwindling. Turkey and the U.N. negotiated the breakthrough accord last summer to ease a global food crisis, along with a separate agreement with Russia to facilitate shipments of its food and fertilizer. 

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — NATO leaders gathered Wednesday to launch a highly symbolic new forum for ties with Ukraine, after committing to provide the country with more military assistance for fighting Russia but only vague assurances of future membership. U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the new NATO-Ukraine Council, a permanent body where the 31 allies and Ukraine can hold consultations and call for meetings in emergency situations.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — For Rima Yaremenko, the 3,000-mile odyssey to escape Russian occupation ended within sight of where it started. The 68-year-old Ukrainian woman traversed several countries over six days only to settle across the river from her beleaguered hometown.

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday hailed an agreement for Sweden to join NATO as more work remained to determine a path forward for Ukraine's future with the alliance. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized as “absurd” the absence of a timetable for his country's entry.

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday introduced a new condition for approving Sweden’s membership in NATO, calling on European countries to “open the way” for Turkey to join the European Union.

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin at the Kremlin days after the commander led a short-lived rebellion, a senior government spokesman said Monday, the latest twist in a baffling episode that has raised questions about the power and influence held by both men.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues with no end in sight, NATO's much-celebrated unity faces fresh strains when leaders gather for their annual summit this week in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Chinese authorities say nine people are missing in a landslide sparked by heavy rains amid flooding and searing temperatures across much of the country. Five people were rescued from under the rubble …

BEIJING (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen appealed to China's No. 2 leader not to let frustration over U.S. curbs on access to processor chips and other technology disrupt economic cooperation during a visit Friday aimed at improving strained relations.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s war in Ukraine is set to reach the 500-day mark this weekend, a grim milestone for a conflict that rages with no end in sight. While the fighting had fallen largely into a stalemate, Ukraine's government and its Western supporters hope a broad counter-offensive launched last month will change the battle lines and return Russian-occupied areas to Ukrainian control.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russian fighter jets flew dangerously close to several U.S. drone aircraft over Syria on Wednesday, setting off flares and forcing the MQ-9 Reapers to take evasive maneuvers, the Air Force said. U.S. Air Forces Central released a video of the encounter, showing a Russian SU-35 fighter closing in on a Reaper, and later showed a number of the so-called parachute flares moving into the drone's flight path. The flares are attached to parachutes.

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia fired cruise missiles Thursday at a western Ukraine city far from the front line of the war, killing at least four people in an apartment building in what officials said was the heaviest attack on civilian areas of Lviv since the Kremlin’s forces invaded the country last year.

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — The mercenary leader who led a short-lived mutiny against the Kremlin is in Russia and his Wagner troops are in their field camps, the president of Belarus said Thursday, raising new questions about the deal that ended the extraordinary challenge to President Vladimir Putin's rule.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — At least 16 people, including three children, were killed by a leak of a toxic nitrate gas being used by illegal miners to process gold in an informal settlement, police and local government authorities said Wednesday.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The satellite North Korea failed to put into orbit wasn't advanced enough to conduct military reconnaissance from space as it claimed, South Korea's military said Wednesday after retrieving and studying the wreckage.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s Defense Ministry accused the United States of turning Taiwan into a powder keg on Wednesday with its latest sales of $440 million in military equipment to the self-governing island democracy. The U.S. State Department approved of the sale of 30mm ammunition and related equipment, along with spare parts for Taiwan’s vehicles, small arms, combat weapon systems, and logistical support items.

JENIN, West Bank (AP) — The Israeli military began withdrawing troops from a militant stronghold in the occupied West Bank late Tuesday, security officials said, winding down an intense two-day operation that killed at least 12 Palestinians, confiscated hundreds of weapons and left a wide swath of damage in its wake.

The Kremlin is holding the door open for contacts with the U.S. regarding a possible prisoner exchange that could potentially involve jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. But it has …

State media have reported that Vietnam has banned distribution of the popular "Barbie" movie because it includes a view of a map showing disputed Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea. …

JENIN, West Bank (AP) — Israel on Monday launched its most intense military operation in the occupied West Bank in nearly two decades, carrying out a series of drone strikes and sending hundreds of troops on an open-ended mission into a militant stronghold. The crackdown was reminiscent of Israeli military tactics during the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s and came at a time of growing domestic pressure for a tough response to recent attacks on Israeli settlers, including a shooting last month that killed four Israelis.