Kamau, the African lion who was a star attraction at California's Sacramento Zoo, has died at age 16, officials said.

The zoo said Kamau was euthanized Saturday, a day after the big cat was pulled off an exhibit because of declining health due to his advanced age.

The United States and China have pledged to stabilize their badly deteriorated ties during a critical visit to Beijing by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Xi pronounced himself satisfied with progress made during talks in Beijing. But, Blinken told media, China refused to resume military to military communications, a U.S. priority.

At least six people including a Pennsylvania state trooper were killed and dozens injured in a string of weekend violence and mass shootings across the U.S.

The shootings in suburban Chicago, Washington state, Pennsylvania, St. Louis, Southern California and Baltimore follow a surge in homicides and other violence over the past several years that experts say accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic.

The United Arab Emirates and Qatar have announced the reopening of their embassies on Monday following a yearslong rift over Qatar's support of Islamist groups.

The two countries issued statements saying the Qatari Embassy in Abu Dhabi and a Qatari Consulate in Dubai, as well as an Emirati Embassy in Qatar's capital, Doha, had resumed operations. The statements did not say if ambassadors were in place or if the missions were open to the public.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his government intends to move ahead on contentious plans to change the country's judicial system after talks aimed at finding a compromise solution appeared to be crumbling.

The government's plans to overhaul the judiciary plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises ever earlier this year. Negotiations between the government and opposition parties somewhat alleviated the crisis with attempts to find a middle ground over proposed changes to the country's justice system.

A relentless wave of violent crime within Israel's Palestinian minority is turning cities and towns into bloody battlefields, exasperating a community feeling increasingly forsaken by Israeli authorities.

Anger over the mounting insecurity is directed at Israel's government and its ultranationalist minister in charge of police, Itamar Ben-Gvir. Critics say that with his history of anti-Arab rhetoric, he cannot be trusted to combat the rising scourge.

Israel's government has granted a pro-settlement firebrand authority over planning in the occupied West Bank and lifted red tape on the settlement housing approval process.

The changes make it easier for Israel to expand its settlements on land the Palestinians seek as the heartland of their future state, at a time when hopes for peace are more distant than ever.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he opposes any interim agreement reportedly being negotiated between the U.S. and Iran over its nuclear program.

Netanyahu spoke after reports in Israeli media said understandings are being reached between Washington and Tehran that would seek to hold back Iran's nuclear program somewhat, in exchange for some sanctions relief. The reports could not be independently confirmed and the U.S. has publicly denied any such deal.

A Greek news website has published excerpts from the depositions of two survivors of Wednesday's deadly shipwreck off southwestern Greece, in which more than 500 people are feared drowned after an overcrowded boat carrying as many as 750 migrants went down in international waters.

Passengers on the ill-fated trawler had to subsist on meager supplies of food and water which ran out several hours before the disaster, two survivors have reportedly testified.

Israeli helicopter gunships struck targets Monday in the occupied West Bank as a gunbattle raged in the city of Jenin between Israeli troops and militants, killing four Palestinians, including a 15-year-old boy, officials said.

The violence marked a rare use of Israeli airpower in the territory. During the clashes, Palestinian militants detonated a roadside bomb next to an Israeli military vehicle. At least 45 Palestinians were wounded, five seriously. The Israeli military said seven members of the paramilitary border police and the army suffered light and moderate wounds.