Leaders of the world's top economies will gather Friday in Germany for likely the stormiest G20 summit in years, with disagreements ranging from wars to climate change and global trade.

In the latest in a long series of nuclear and missile tests, North Korea on Tuesday test-fired a ballistic missile which analysts said could bring Alaska within its range.

Here is a recap of events since Saudi Arabia and several allies broke ties with Qatar, accusing it of backing extremists.

Ehud Olmert was once described as "probably the best" politician Israel ever produced, but the debonair ex-premier who was released from prison on Sunday has seen a humiliating fall from grace.

As the U.S.-led coalition tightens the noose around the Islamic State group in Syria, President Bashar Assad's Iranian-backed troops are also seizing back territory from the militants with little protest from Washington, a sign of how American options are limited without a powerful ally on the ground.

Washington is loath to cooperate with Assad's internationally ostracized government. But it will be difficult to uproot IS militants and keep them out with only the Kurdish and Arab militias backed by the U.S. — and a coalition spokesman pointed out that Assad's gains ease the burden on those forces.

Once expunged from its official history, documents outlining the U.S.-backed 1953 coup in Iran have been quietly published by the State Department, offering a new glimpse at an operation that ultimately pushed the country toward its Islamic Revolution and hostility with the West.

The CIA's role in the coup, which toppled Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddegh and cemented the control of the shah, was already well-known by the time the State Department offered its first compendium on the era in 1989. But any trace of American involvement in the putsch had been wiped from the report, causing historians to call it a fraud.

Michel Temer is the first Brazilian president to face criminal charges while still in office. Yet here are four reasons why -- for now -- he may save his job.

There was a time when the mention of the Persian Gulf brought to mind images of pampered societies ruled by aging monarchs content to preside quietly over their oil money and fantastical skyscrapers while the U.S. kept the peace.

Not anymore.

The Al-Saud dynasty gave its family name to the Gulf Arab monarchy of Saudi Arabia ruled by the sons of founder Abdul Aziz bin Saud.

Saudi Arabia's hard-charging Mohammed bin Salman, named crown prince on Wednesday, holds unusual power for a man of just 31, so much so that diplomats nickname him "Mr Everything".

The son of King Salman has risen to become Saudi Arabia's most influential and prominent figure since being named second-in-line to the throne in early 2015.