Russia's rebellious mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin walked free from prosecution for his June 24 armed mutiny, and it's still unclear if anyone will face any charges in the aborted uprising against military leaders or for the deaths of the soldiers killed in it.

Instead, a campaign is underway to portray the founder of the Wagner Group military contractor as driven by greed, with only hints of an investigation into whether he mishandled any of the billions of dollars in state funds.

Russian fighter jets flew dangerously close to several U.S. drone aircraft over Syria again Thursday, setting off flares and forcing the MQ-9 Reapers to take evasive maneuvers, the Air Force said.

It was the second time in 24 hours that Russia has harassed U.S. drones there.

The United States and its Western allies have clashed with Russia and Iran at the U.N. Security Council over Tehran's advancing uranium enrichment and its reported supply of combat drones to Moscow being used to attack Ukraine.

The sharp exchanges came at the council's semi-annual meeting on implementation of its resolution endorsing the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six major countries known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which the U.S. under then-President Donald Trump left in 2018.

Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in a flashpoint city in the occupied West Bank Friday, days after Israel concluded a major two-day offensive meant to crack down on militants.

The persistent violence raised questions about the effectiveness of the raid earlier this week, which saw Israel launch rare airstrikes on militant targets, deploy hundreds of troops and cause widespread damage to roads, homes and businesses. As a result of the raid, 12 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed.

The United States has decided to send cluster munitions to Ukraine to help its military push back Russian forces entrenched along the front lines.

The Biden administration is expected to announce on Friday that it will send thousands of them as part of a new military aid package worth $800 million, according to people familiar with the decision who were not authorized to discuss it publicly before the official announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Friday that a decoupling of the U.S. and Chinese economies would be "virtually impossible" and would destabilize global markets, in comments made while on a visit to Beijing packed with talks with officials and businesses.

Yellen's four-day trip is her first to China as Treasury chief, and she is the second high-ranking U.S. official to visit recently after Secretary of State Antony Blinken last month.

After a pleasant evening of wine-tasting — joyfully billed "Grapes and Friends!" — with a hundred or so people and oysters, charcuteries and cheeses, the mayor of the picturesque French town of Quissac was on his way home.

Then his phone rang: Urban unrest that was engulfing France after the deadly police shooting of a teenager on Paris' outskirts, hundreds of kilometers and a world away to the north, had careened into Quissac's tranquility, too.

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 has fallen largely into a stalemate — there has been no significant movement in battle lines control in months — the war continues to take a heavy toll on the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people. And the stakes are only getting higher.

The developments at Wimbledon on Wednesday included Novak Djokovic joining Roger Federer and Serena Williams as the only players in tennis history to win 350 Grand Slam matches; a runner-up two years ago, Karolina Pliskova, exiting in the first round against a qualifier; a player seeded No. 8, Maria Sakkari, taking the opening set 6-0 but managing to lose.

Ho-hum. Those turned out to be among the least unusual happenings around the All England Club on Day 3 of this year's tournament. That's because so much of the buzz around the place concerned protests and, yes, rain.

The Dalai Lama celebrated his 88th birthday on Thursday, as hundreds of his supporters and exiled Tibetans thronged his hillside Indian headquarters in Dharamsala.

Artists played traditional welcome tunes as the Tibetan spiritual leader arrived in his open mobile van to preside over the celebrations in the courtyard of the Tsuglakhang Temple, which was festooned with Tibetan and Buddhist flags and portraits.