Russia has launched one of its largest aerial assaults of the war on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signaled progress in talks with the United States on ending the war. 
  
Russia deployed 653 drones and 51 missiles in the overnight barrage that began on Friday, striking energy facilities and critical infrastructure across the country, Ukrainian officials said. 
 

Afghanistan authorities say five people have been killed after an exchange of heavy fire with Pakistan’s forces along their shared border, as tensions between the South Asian neighbors escalate after peace talks in Saudi Arabia failed to produce a breakthrough. 
  
The governor of Afghanistan’s Spin Boldak district in the Kandahar province confirmed four civilian deaths on Saturday. Deputy Taliban spokesman Hamdullah Fitra later told Reuters news agency that shelling by Pakistan killed five people, including a Taliban member. 
 

The United States military has conducted another deadly strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean, killing four, according to the Pentagon. 
  
The attack on Thursday comes as the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has faced renewed scrutiny over the strikes after it was revealed that a targeted boat had been struck twice during a September 2 attack. 
 
Experts have said such an attack could constitute a war crime. 
  

Israel’s military has launched air strikes on at least three towns in southern Lebanon, Mahrouna, Jbaa, and al-Majadel, despite the ceasefire in place since last November. 
  
According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, the attack on Jbaa on Thursday destroyed a building in a densely populated residential area and caused extensive damage to nearby structures. 
 
The strike on al-Majadel came about an hour after Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued forced evacuation warnings for the town. 
  

United States President Donald Trump has hosted the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to sign a peace deal that could end the conflict between the two countries. 
  
Although the violence on the ground has not stopped, Trump hailed the U.S.-brokered deal on Thursday as a new chapter for the region. 
 
The agreement was originally reached in June. DRC President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame had met in Qatar in March, initiating the talks that led to the deal. 
  

The UN’s top human rights official issued a stark new warning Thursday about Sudan, saying he fears “a new wave of atrocities” amid a surge in fierce fighting in the Kordofan region. 
  
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk urged “all states with influence over the parties to take immediate action to halt the fighting, and stop the arms flows that are fueling the conflict.” 
  

Israel’s military has killed seven Palestinians, including two children, in Gaza and announced that it will allow the Rafah crossing to open exclusively for the exit of people from the war-torn territory. 
  
The killings on Wednesday mark the latest Israeli violations of a United States-brokered ceasefire in Gaza and came after the military accused Hamas fighters of attacking and wounding four of its soldiers in southern Rafah, near the enclave’s border with Egypt. 
 

The UN General Assembly on Wednesday demanded by a wide margin that Russia immediately and unconditionally return all Ukrainian children who have been forcibly transferred or deported since the start of the war. 
  
The draft resolution during the emergency special session was approved surpassing the required two-thirds majority of members present and voting. 
  

The death of eight women in childbirth at a hospital in Agadir this past August sent shockwaves through Morocco. The news crystallized national anger over deteriorating public services as well as persistent high unemployment and corruption. Years of frustration erupted into the streets as thousands of mostly young Moroccans gathered in cities and towns across the nation to protest and to demand accountability and institutional reform.