President Donald Trump held a nearly two-hour meeting on Tuesday with his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, that both called friendly — a dramatic about-face from weeks earlier, when Trump accused Petro of pumping cocaine into the U.S. and threatened his country with military action.

Afterward, Trump tried to downplay his past criticisms, saying, "He and I weren't exactly the best of friends, but I wasn't insulted because I never met him. I didn't know him at all."

Israeli strikes pounded Gaza on Wednesday, killing at least 21 Palestinians, including two infants, and further rocking a fragile ceasefire deal, hospital officials said. Israel said it was responding to a militant attack on Israeli soldiers that seriously wounded one.

Deadly Israeli strikes have repeatedly punctuated the truce since it came into effect on Oct. 10, and the escalating Palestinian toll has made many in Gaza say it feels like the war is continuing unabated. Among the Palestinians killed Wednesday were five children, seven women and an on-duty paramedic, according to hospital officials.

The Trump administration is expected to unveil its grandest plan yet to rebuild supply chains of critical minerals needed for everything from jet engines to smartphones, likely through purchase agreements with partners on top of creating a $12 billion U.S. strategic reserve to help counter China's dominance.

Vice President JD Vance is set to deliver a keynote address Wednesday at a meeting that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is hosting with officials from several dozen European, Asian and African nations. The U.S. is expected to sign deals on supply chain logistics, though details have not yet been revealed. Rubio met Tuesday with foreign ministers from South Korea and India to discuss critical minerals mining and processing.

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son and one-time heir apparent of Libya's late dictator Moammar Gadhafi, was killed in the northern African country, Libyan officials said Tuesday.

The 53-year-old was killed in the town Zintan, 136 kilometers (85 miles) southwest of the capital, Tripoli, according to Libyan's chief prosecutor's office.

A U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, U.S. Central Command said Tuesday, threatening to ramp up tensions as the Trump administration warns of possible military action to get Iran to the negotiating table.

The drone "aggressively approached" the aircraft carrier with "unclear intent" and kept flying toward it "despite de-escalatory measures taken by U.S. forces operating in international waters," Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said in a statement.

Lebanon's relationship with Syria is "radically different" since the fall of former President Bashar Assad, the senior Lebanese minister tasked with managing the country's relations with its neighbor said on Tuesday.

"Under the Assad regime, Lebanon was de facto under Syrian tutelage. The Syrian regime interfered in domestic affairs in so many ways," Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri told The Associated Press. "The present Syrian government is neither interested in hegemony over Lebanon nor is it interfering in our internal affairs."

Four homes blasted by icy winds on an eroding North Carolina island collapsed into the ocean and Florida farmers anxiously waited for frozen plants to thaw Monday as people across the eastern half of the United States coped with more than a week of sub-freezing weather.

Thermometers hovered below freezing throughout the day Monday across the northern U.S. from the Dakotas to Maine, and sub-freezing temperatures were forecast to return to the Southeast overnight, reaching into parts of northern Florida.

France icon Karim Benzema swapped one Saudi club for another on Monday when joining Al-Hilal from rival Al-Ittihad — a move that could be bad news for Cristiano Ronaldo.

The former Ballon d'Or winner has joined Saudi Pro League leader Al-Hilal, which is one point ahead of Ronaldo's Al-Nassr.

Manchester City went big again in the January transfer window and will hope it reaps more rewards than last year.

City was the biggest spender as Premier League clubs dominated the midseason window — splashing out a reported $115 million on Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi to boost its four-pronged trophy pursuit. Last year City spent more than $200 million in a bid to salvage its campaign but still ended up emptyhanded for the first time in eight years.

In France, civil servants will ditch Zoom and Teams for a homegrown video conference system. Soldiers in Austria are using open source office software to write reports after the military dropped Microsoft Office. Bureaucrats in a German state have also turned to free software for their administrative work.

Around Europe, governments and institutions are seeking to reduce their use of digital services from U.S. Big Tech companies and turning to domestic or free alternatives. The push for "digital sovereignty" is gaining attention as the Trump administration strikes an increasingly belligerent posture toward the continent, highlighted by recent tensions over Greenland that intensified fears that Silicon Valley giants could be compelled to cut off access.