U.S. President Donald Trump has said Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected his proposal to send U.S. troops to Mexico to help thwart the illegal drug trade because she is fearful of the country's powerful cartels.
The comments by Trump came a day after Sheinbaum confirmed that Trump pressed her in a call last month to accept a bigger role for the U.S. military in combating drug cartels in Mexico.

Iran's foreign minister held talks with top Pakistani officials on Monday to try and mediate in the escalation between Islamabad and New Delhi after last month's deadly attack on tourists in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir.
Abbas Araghchi's visit to Islamabad was the first by a foreign dignitary since tensions flared in the wake of the April 22 massacre of 26 people — most of them Indian Hindu tourists — in the town of Pahalgam, which India blames on Pakistan. Tehran has offered to help ease tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine had not arisen and that he hopes it will not.

Hamas has handed over a militant suspected of firing rockets into northern Israel, the Lebanese Army said.
The Palestinian group turned over the suspect, who the Lebanese military only identified by the initials M.G., at the entrance of the Ain el-Helweh refugee camp, in the southern city of Sidon. The army says the militant was suspected of being involved in two rocket launches into Israel in March.

The United States has given initial approval to sell $3.5 billion worth of air-to-air missiles for Saudi Arabia's fighter jets, the latest proposed arms deal for the region ahead of President Donald Trump 's planned trip to the region later this month.
The sale, announced early Saturday, likely will be one of several heralded by Trump on his visit to the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has already said it wants to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years, likely as a way to woo Trump to again pick the kingdom for his first formal trip as president. Trump traveled to Italy briefly for Pope Francis' funeral.

In a first-of-its kind move, Hawaii lawmakers are ready to hike a tax imposed on travelers staying in hotels, vacation rentals and other short-term accommodations and earmark the new money for programs to cope with a warming planet.
State leaders say they'll use the funds for projects like replenishing sand on eroding beaches, helping homeowners install hurricane clips on their roofs and removing invasive grasses like those that fueled the deadly wildfire that destroyed Lahaina two years ago.

A Ukrainian drone attack left at least seven people dead and a Russian strike on Odesa killed two people Thursday, officials said, just hours after Kyiv and Washington signed a long-anticipated agreement granting U.S. access to Ukraine's mineral resources.
The attack in the partially occupied Kherson region of southern Ukraine, which struck a market in the town of Oleshky, killed seven and wounded more than 20 people, Moscow-appointed Gov. Vladimir Saldo said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said that he is nominating national security adviser Mike Waltz as United Nations ambassador while Secretary of State Marco Rubio would take over Waltz's duties on an interim role.
He announced the major shake-up of his national security team shortly after news broke that Waltz and his deputy are leaving the administration. Waltz has been under scrutiny for weeks after reporting from The Atlantic that he had mistakenly added the magazine's editor-in-chief to a Signal chat being used to discuss military plans.

The discussions have taken place in an ornate Kremlin hall, on the polished marble of St. Peter's Basilica and in a famously contentious session in the Oval Office of the White House.
What's emerged so far from the Washington-led effort to end the war in Ukraine suggests a deal that seems likely to be favorable to Russia: President Donald Trump has sharply rebuked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, echoed Kremlin talking points, and indicated Kyiv would have to surrender territory and forego NATO membership. What's more, he has engaged in a rapprochement with Moscow that was unthinkable months ago.

The explosion that rocked an Iranian port, killing at least 70 people and injuring more than 1,000 others, had its epicenter at a facility ultimately owned by a charitable foundation overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's office.
That foundation, known as Bonyad Mostazafan, faces American sanctions over it helping the 86-year-old Khamenei "to enrich his office, reward his political allies and persecute the regime's enemies," the U.S. Treasury has said. Its top personnel also have direct ties to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which oversees Tehran's ballistic missile arsenal and operations abroad targeting the Islamic Republic's enemies.
