Egyptian authorities on Monday announced the presidential pardon of prominent activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who has been in prison for almost all of the past 12 years.

A statement from the president's office said that another five prisoners were also pardoned. It was not immediately clear when they will walk free.

The U.K., Australia and Canada formally recognized a Palestinian state on Sunday, prompting an angry response from Israel, which ruled out the prospect.

The coordinated initiative from the three Commonwealth nations and longtime allies reflects growing outrage at Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza and the steps taken by the Israeli government to thwart efforts to create a Palestinian state, including by the continued expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says he still has good memories of U.S. President Donald Trump and urged Washington to drop its demand the North surrender its nukes as a precondition for resuming long-stalled diplomacy.

Speaking to Pyongyang's rubber-stamp parliament on Sunday, Kim stressed that he has no intention of ever resuming dialogue with rival South Korea, a key U.S. ally that helped broker Kim's previous summits with Trump during the American president's first term, according to a speech published by state media on Monday.

An Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon killed five people Sunday, including three children, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. Two others were wounded, including the mother in the family.

The state-run National News Agency reported that the strike, near Bint Jbeil, had targeted a motorcycle.

Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba 's ruling party opened official campaigning Monday to find his replacement who can restore political stability and voter support for the beleaguered Liberal Democrats.

Five candidates are vying for the Liberal Democratic Party's top job ahead of a highly unpredictable vote in early October. The race has a slogan: "Change, LDP."

A 30-day window to stop the reimposition of United Nations sanctions on Iran is closing, likely meaning Tehran will face new pressure on its ailing economy as tensions remain high in the wider Mideast over the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip.

As the U.N. General Assembly meets this week in New York, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi have a last chance to try to halt the sanctions. The clock started when France, Germany and the United Kingdom on Aug. 28 declared Iran wasn't complying with its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

France and Saudi Arabia hope to use this year's gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly and the increasingly horrific war in the Gaza Strip to inject new urgency into the quest for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Those efforts include a new road map for eventual Palestinian statehood in territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war, and moves by several Western countries to join a global majority in recognizing such a state before it has been established.

Jimmy Kimmel's suspension from late night is not the first time a TV host has faced pushback or punishment for their on-air comments or off-air actions.

When it was all over, Kamala Harris couldn't believe it. "I could barely breathe," she writes in her new book about learning she had lost the 2024 presidential election to Donald Trump.

One of her aides peeled "Madame President" off celebratory cupcakes before serving them to crushed staffers. Harris kept asking, "My God, my God, what will happen to our country?"

Few observers imagined that top spot in the Spanish league would be up for grabs when Espanyol visits Real Madrid on Saturday.