VIENNA (AP) — The head of the United Nations’ atomic watchdog said Wednesday that “the jury is still out” on negotiations between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, but described the continuing negotiations as a good sign.

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz pledged Wednesday to help Ukraine develop its own long-range missile systems that would be free of any Western-imposed limitations on their range and target options as the Kyiv government fights to repel Russia’s invasion.

BEIJING (AP) — A huge explosion rocked a chemical plant in China ’s eastern Shandong province around noon Tuesday, killing at least five people and injuring 19, according to local emergency management authorities. Another six people were missing.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — “Everything will be all right.” Ukrainian soldier Serhii Hryhoriev said this so often during brief phone calls from the front that his wife and two daughters took it to heart. His younger daughter, Oksana, tattooed the phrase on her wrist as a talisman.

LONDON (AP) — A 53-year-old British man plowed his minivan into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans who were celebrating the city’s Premier League championship Monday, turning shouts of joy into shrieks of terror, injuring more than 45 people.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Record floodwaters on Australia’s east coast have left four people dead and one missing, officials said Friday as rain eased over the disaster area.

CHERNIHIV REGION, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine began a major prisoner exchange Friday, swapping hundreds of soldiers and civilians in the first phase of an exchange that was a moment of cooperation in otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire in the 3-year-old war.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea's second naval destroyer was damaged in a failed launch this week, state media reported Thursday, sparking fury from leader Kim Jong Un, who wants bigger warships to deal with what he calls escalating U.S.-led threats against his country.

CULIACAN, Mexico (AP) — A pack of veterinarians clambered over hefty metal crates on Tuesday morning, loading them one by one onto a fleet of semi-trucks. Among the cargo: tigers, monkeys, jaguars, elephants, and lions – all fleeing the latest wave of cartel violence eclipsing the northern Mexican city of Culiacan.

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide car bomber struck a school bus in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing five people — including at least three children — and wounding 38 others, officials said, the latest attack in tense Balochistan province.

President Vladimir Putin visited Russia's Kursk region for the first time since Moscow claimed that it drove Ukrainian forces out of the area last month, the Kremlin said Wednesday. Putin visited the region bordering Ukraine the previous day, according to the Kremlin.

BARADA VALLEY, Syria (AP) — Inside a mountain above the Syrian capital, Hassan Bashi walked through tunnels that used to be filled with water from a spring famous for its pure waters. The spring rises inside the ruins of a Roman temple in the Barada Valley and flows toward Damascus, supplying the city with drinking water for thousands of years. Normally, during the winter flood season, water fills all the tunnels and washes over much of the temple.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that Russia and Ukraine will “immediately” begin ceasefire negotiations after what he described as an “excellent” call with Russian President Vladimir Putin that lasted more than two hours.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — The first direct Russia-Ukraine peace talks since the early weeks of Moscow’s 2022 invasion ended after less than two hours Friday, and while both sides agreed on a large prisoner swap, they clearly remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) — Russia and Ukraine on Friday held their first direct peace talks since the early weeks of Moscow's 2022 invasion, gathering in Istanbul for Turkish-brokered negotiations that officials and observers expected to yield little immediate progress on stopping the 3-year-old war.

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran has an American proposal over its rapidly advancing nuclear program as negotiations between the two countries go on.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump met with interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, the first encounter between the two nations’ leaders in 25 years and one that could serve as a turning point for Syria as it struggles to emerge from decades of international isolation.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas terrorists on Monday released an Israeli-American soldier who had been held hostage in Gaza for more than 19 months.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas said Sunday that the last living American hostage in Gaza, Edan Alexander, will be released as part of efforts to establish a ceasefire, reopen crossings into the territory, and resume the delivery of aid.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — India’s military strikes into Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and Pakistan earlier this week killed more than 100 militants, including prominent leaders, the head of India's military operations claimed Sunday.

GENEVA (AP) — The lead U.S. negotiator in trade talks with China cheered “a great deal of productivity” in resolving differences between the world’s two leading economic powers, after officials wrapped two days of bargaining in Switzerland following President Donald Trump imposing steep tariffs and Beijing retaliating.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday challenged Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to meet him personally in Turkey on Thursday, the latest move in a weekend-long exchange of proposals from both sides on the next steps in the U.S.-led peace effort.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A passenger bus skidded off a cliff in Sri Lanka’s tea-growing hill country on Sunday, killing 21 people and injuring 35 others, a police spokesman said.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia on Friday celebrated the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, as President Vladimir Putin presided over a massive parade of tanks, missiles and troops through Red Square and welcomed over two dozen world leaders — the most since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Indian and Pakistani soldiers exchanged heavy volleys of shells and gunfire across their frontier in Kashmir overnight, killing at least five civilians in a growing military standoff that erupted following an attack on tourists in the India-controlled portion of the disputed region.