While the world's attention has been focused on Ukraine, the Biden administration also has been racing with world powers toward restoring the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran.

After months of negotiations in Vienna, the various sides have indicated a new deal is close, perhaps in the coming days. But instead of the "longer, stronger" agreement originally promised by the U.S., the deal is expected to do little more than reinstate the original pact, whose key restrictions on Iranian nuclear activity expire in a few years.

A team of Jordanian and French archaeologists said that it had found a roughly 9,000-year-old shrine at a remote Neolithic site in Jordan's eastern desert.

The ritual complex was found in a Neolithic campsite near large structures known as "desert kites," or mass traps that are believed to have been used to corral wild gazelles for slaughter.

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to end Iraq's requirement to compensate victims of its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, with Baghdad having paid out more than $50 billion to 1.5 million claimants.

Michael Gaffey, Ireland's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva and president of the governing board of the U.N. Compensation Commission, whose fund decided on the claims, told the council after the vote that the body's work was a "historic achievement for the United Nations and for effective multilateralism."

After keeping a low profile in the military and diplomatic standoff between Moscow and Kyiv due to its close ties with both, Israel says it supports the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of Ukraine.

A statement Wednesday from Israel's foreign ministry expressed concern about the "serious escalation" in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow is formally recognizing the independence of two pro-Russian breakaway regions.

Oman's foreign minister arrived in Tehran on Wednesday for talks with his Iranian counterpart, state media reported, as nuclear talks between Iran and world powers continue in Vienna.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian welcomed Sayyid Badr Albusaidi upon his arrival, with the visit scheduled to focus on bilateral and international affairs, the IRNA news agency said.

World leaders sought Wednesday to back up their tough words over Russia's aggression against Ukraine, announcing financial sanctions, trade and travel bans and other measures meant to pressure Moscow to pull back from the brink of war.

Even as they ramped up penalties, however, nations in Asia and the Pacific also prepared for the possibility of both economic pain, in the form of cuts to traditional energy and grain supply lines, and retaliation from Russian cyberattacks.

Israel fired several surface-to-surface missiles toward Syrian military positions in the country's south early Wednesday causing material damage, state media reported.

State TV quoted an unnamed Syrian military official as saying that the missiles were fired from Syria's Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and struck areas around the nearby town of Quneitra.

Russian lawmakers on Tuesday authorized President Vladimir Putin to use military force outside the country -- a move that could presage a broader attack on Ukraine after the U.S. said an invasion was already underway there.

Several European leaders said Russian troops rolled into rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine after Putin recognized their independence. But it was unclear how large the deployment was, and Ukraine and its Western allies have long said Russian troops were fighting in the region, allegations that Moscow always denied.

The 27 European Union members nations have unanimously agreed on an initial set of sanctions targeting Russian officials over their actions in Ukraine, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drianance's foreign minister said.

EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said the package approved Tuesday "will hurt Russia, and it will hurt a lot."

Libya's embattled prime minister is warning that the appointment of a new interim government could set off war and chaos in a Mediterranean country mired for a decade in turmoil.

Addressing Libyans late Monday, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah reiterated his insistence that he will hand over power only to an elected government. He mapped out a likely unrealistic plan to hold elections in June.