Ukraine's top diplomatic priority is securing its allies' help to buy and build more air defense systems, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday between meetings with European leaders, as Russia kept up its deadly attacks on civilians and public infrastructure.

Russian strikes hit more than a half-dozen areas of Ukraine behind the front line from Tuesday to Wednesday, killing an 8-year-old boy in the central Cherkasy region and a woman who was in a kiosk near a bus stop that was hit in southern Zaporizhzhia, according to Zelensky and local officials.

Eighteen months after the nation's largest Arab American community helped propel Donald Trump to a second term as president, the prayers have not stopped.

In Dearborn, just outside of Detroit, families wait restlessly for word from relatives abroad, hoping they are safe, and mourning those already lost.

A long-lasting weather pattern is poised to blast hot air like a furnace across the eastern United States, with the unusual heat wave threatening to shatter record high temperatures on Wednesday in big cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

The heat is unusual for April, not only because it's scorching much of the nation so early in the year but also for its duration. The near-record temperatures are expected to last into this weekend, forecasters say.

A crucial week for Arsenal starts Wednesday night against Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League quarterfinals.

Mikel Arteta's team faces two huge games in its pursuit of a Premier League and Champions League double this season.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that the stability and certainty of China-Russia relations are particularly "precious" in the face of an international landscape intertwined with change and chaos.

During a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Beijing, Xi said the strong vitality and exemplary significance of the friendship treaty between the two countries stand out even more under such a backdrop.

head of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog said Wednesday that "very detailed" measures to verify Iran's nuclear activities must be included in a potential U.S.-Iran agreement to end their war in the Middle East.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi stressed the need for the thorough verification regime for Iran's nuclear program, as U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that a second round of talks with Iran could happen over the next two days.

Famine. Massacres. And now badly needed food and other supplies are under strain. Sudan on Wednesday enters a fourth year of war that's being called an "abandoned crisis," as a new conflict in the Middle East throws into shadow the fighting that has forced 13 million people to flee their homes.

Sudan has been described as the world's largest humanitarian challenge, notably in terms of displacement and hunger. There is no end in sight to the fighting between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that witnesses and aid groups say has laid waste to parts of the vast Darfur region.

Jawad Younes, 11, and his cousins were playing soccer in the lot between their houses, as they often did. His little brother, 4-year-old Mehdi, had joined them but grew tired, so Jawad took him home and handed him off to their mother before returning to the game. Minutes later, an Israeli strike came.

The target was Jawad's uncle's home. The blast shook neighboring buildings and threw Jawad's siblings at home to the ground. As their mother, Malak Meslmani, scrambled to help them up, she could think only of Jawad.

The Iran war has stalled the world's economic momentum this year, likely pushing growth lower compared to 2025, the International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday.

The IMF downgraded its forecast for global growth to 3.1% in 2026 from the 3.3% it had forecast back in January. The expected growth would mark a deceleration from a 3.4% expansion in 2025.

Wall Street was on track to extend its rally and oil prices fell Tuesday as expectations rose over a possible second round of talks between the U.S. and Iran to end their war.

Futures for the S&P 500 rose 0.3% before the opening bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 0.1%. Nasdaq futures climbed 0.5%.