Russia targeted Ukraine's Black Sea regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv with air strikes Tuesday, hitting private buildings and port infrastructure along the country's southern coast, the Ukrainian military said.

The Kremlin's forces used air-launched missiles in the attack, Ukraine's Operational Command South said in a Facebook post.

International outrage over Myanmar's execution of four political prisoners intensified Tuesday with grassroots protests and strong condemnation from world governments, as well as fears the hangings could derail nascent attempts to bring an end to the violence and unrest that has beset the Southeast Asian nation since the military seized power last year.

Myanmar's military-led government that seized power from elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 has been accused of thousands of extrajudicial killings since then, but the hangings announced Monday were the country's first official executions in decades.

The Israeli military demolished the homes on Tuesday of two Palestinians suspected of killing an Israeli security guard in a West Bank settlement in April.

Vyacheslav Golev was killed in a shooting at the entrance of a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank on April 29. The Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

Russia's top diplomat said Moscow's overarching goal in Ukraine is to free its people from its "unacceptable regime," expressing the Kremlin's war aims in some of the bluntest terms yet as its forces pummel the country with artillery barrages and airstrikes.

The remark from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov comes amid Ukraine's efforts to resume grain exports from its Black Sea ports —something that would help ease global food shortages — under a new deal tested by a Russian strike on Odesa over the weekend.

Libya is mired in a constitutional and political stalemate that has sparked increasing clashes, a dire economic situation and demonstrations across the country by frustrated citizens, a senior U.N. official said Monday.

Assistant Secretary-General Martha Pobee told the U.N. Security Council the overall situation in Libya remains "highly volatile," with a tense security situation, "deeply disturbing" shows of force and sporadic violence by militias engaged in political maneuvering.

Firefighters significantly slowed the spread of a smoky wildfire churning through forest near Yosemite National Park that has thousands of residents of remote mountain communities still under evacuation orders on Monday.

Crews "made good headway" against the Oak Fire, according to a Sunday night incident report by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. "Fire activity was not as extreme as it has been in previous days."

French President Emmanuel Macron embarked on a three-nation tour of Africa Monday.

The four-day visit to Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau is the French leader's first diplomatic trip outside of Europe since winning re-election, showing how Africa is high on the list of priorities for the former colonial power.

Algeria's foreign minister on Monday decried Syria's decadelong suspension from the Arab League during a visit to Damascus, indicating support for the war-torn country's return to the organization under President Bashar Assad.

Syria was expelled from the 22-member group and boycotted by its neighbors after the conflict broke out in March 2011, following a heavy-handed crackdown by Assad's government on mass protests demanding reforms.

Two forest fires that broke out in northwest France last week were caused by arson, prosecutors said Monday, taking to three the total of deliberately started blazes in recent weeks. 

The two fires in normally wet and blustery northwest Brittany came during a fierce heatwave that has scorched Europe over the last fortnight.

First she set the record. Then she won the medal.

Even if the order was awkward, Sunday night at world championships was beautiful for Nigerian hurdler Tobi Amusan.