Ukraine stopped the flow of Russian natural gas through one hub that feeds European homes and industry on Wednesday, while a pro-Kremlin official in a southern region seized by Russian troops said it would ask Moscow to annex it.

The remarks could be another sign of Russia's broader plan for Ukraine as it tries to salvage an invasion that has so far gone awry — amid concerns that the country may remain a source of continental and global instability for months, or even years, to come.

Inflation slowed in April after seven months of relentless gains, a tentative sign that price increases may be peaking while still imposing a financial strain on American households.

Consumer prices jumped 8.3% last month from 12 months earlier, the Labor Department said Wednesday. That was below the 8.5% year-over-year surge in March, which was the highest rate since 1981. On a month-to-month basis, prices rose 0.3% from March to April, a still-elevated rate but the smallest increase in eight months.

The frequency and duration of droughts will continue to increase due to human-caused climate change, with water scarcity already affecting billions of people across the world, the United Nations warned in a report Wednesday.

The U.N. desertification agency, which is currently hosting a conference of parties in Abidjan in Ivory Coast, estimates that roughly one third of the world's population — 2.3 billion people — is already facing water scarcity, with that number expected to double by 2050.

Members of the global coalition fighting the Islamic State group gathered in Morocco on Wednesday to discuss the campaign, a reminder of the persistent threat from the extremist group despite the overwhelming preoccupation with Russia's war on Ukraine.

U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland co-chaired with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita the annual meeting of senior officials from the 8-year-old, 83-member bloc. The group aims to reaffirm their shared determination to continue fighting IS.

Shortly before the European Union envoy met Iran's nuclear negotiator in Tehran on Wednesday in a last-ditch attempt to salvage Iran's nuclear deal with world powers, Iran's Intelligence Ministry announced it had detained two Europeans.

Photos surfaced of the EU coordinator of the nuclear talks, Enrique Mora, looking stern as he shook hands awkwardly with Iranian negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani, who beamed and waved.

A key Israeli governing partner said Wednesday it was remaining in the country's fragile coalition, averting another crisis for the embattled government.

Mansour Abbas, the head of the Islamist Arab Ra'am party, said he would continue his party's membership in the coalition after suspending it following tensions at a key Jerusalem holy site in recent weeks.

Ukraine's natural gas pipeline operator on Wednesday stopped Russian shipments through a key hub in the east of the country, while its president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Kyiv's military had made small gains, pushing Russian forces out of four villages near Kharkiv.

The pipeline operator said Russian shipments through its Novopskov hub, in an area controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, would be cut beginning Wednesday. It said the hub handles about a third of Russian gas passing through Ukraine to Western Europe. Russia's state-owned natural gas giant Gazprom put the figure at about a quarter.

Andy Warhol's "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" sold for a cool $195 million on Monday, making the iconic portrait of Marilyn Monroe the most expensive work by a U.S. artist ever sold at auction.

The 1964 silkscreen image shows Monroe in vibrant close-up — hair yellow, eyeshadow blue and lips red — on a rich blue background. It's also the most expensive piece from the 20th century ever auctioned, according to Christie's auction house in New York, where the sale took place.

Queen Elizabeth II will not attend the opening of Parliament on Tuesday for the first time in nearly 60 years, as she struggles with difficulties in getting around.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement Monday that the decision was made in consultation with her doctors and that the 96-year-old had "reluctantly'' decided not to attend. Prince Charles will read her speech, while for the first time her grandson Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, will have an official role in the event.

Joshua Cohen's "The Netanyahus," a comic and rigorous campus novel based on the true story of the father of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeking a job in academia, has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Benzion Netanyahu, who died in 2012, was a medieval historian and ultra-nationalist who taught at several American schools, including the University of Denver and Cornell University. "The Netanyahus" is set around 1959-60 and centers on a Jewish historian at a university loosely based on Cornell who is asked to help decide whether to hire the visiting Israeli scholar. The novel, subtitled "An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family," has been highly praised for its blend of wit and intellectual debate about Zionism and Jewish identity.