Not long ago, Argentina supporters didn't have much affection for Lionel Messi. He was respected for all those Ballon d'Ors but considered cold-hearted in comparison to Diego Maradona.

Meanwhile, Brazil fans felt represented by their star; Neymar was the soul of the Seleção because of his joyful style and goal-scoring hunger, another link to a long chain of Brazil greats.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called Tuesday on the United Nations Security Council to take action against Iran over its escalating nuclear program.

Bennett spoke at a conference in Jerusalem, where he suggested that Iran's conduct is every nation's problem, and subject to global accountability.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reviewed powerful missiles developed to launch nuclear strikes on the U.S. mainland, as he vowed to build an "invincible" military to cope with what he called persistent U.S. hostility, state media reported Tuesday.

In an apparent continued effort to drive a wedge between Washington and Seoul, Kim also used his speech at a rare exhibition of weapons systems Monday to stress that his military might isn't targeted at South Korea and that there shouldn't be another war pitting Korean people against each other.

The International Monetary Fund expressed "full confidence" in its managing director Tuesday in response to allegations that World Bank staff were pressured to change business rankings for China in an effort to placate Beijing.

The IMF's 24-member executive board said in a statement that its review "did not conclusively demonstrate that the managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, played an improper role" in the situation in her former role as a top official of the World Bank.

Iran on Tuesday kicked off a massive, two-day air defense drill in the country's sprawling central desert, state TV reported, the latest show of force by the Islamic Republic.

The report said both the army and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard were taking part in the annual maneuvers dubbed "Velayat." It said elite air force and air defense units as well as the Guard's airspace division would participate.

It was late on Christmas Eve last year when the European Union and Britain finally clinched a Brexit trade deal after years of wrangling, threats and missed deadlines to seal their divorce.

There was hope that now-separated Britain and the 27-nation bloc would sail their relationship toward calmer waters.

A car bomb exploded in a northern Syrian town controlled by Turkey-backed Syrian opposition fighters Monday, killing at least four people, rescue workers and a war monitor said.

Turkey's president, meanwhile, said his country was losing patience with attacks from Syria targeting Turkey.

Lebanon's top football stadium once hosted some of the world's best players, but today it has become a neglected, explosion-hit arena at times used as a cereal warehouse.

Stray dogs roam around its abandoned facilities, the walls are water-damaged and ceilings have caved in.

An alliance of Iraqi candidates representing Shiite militias supported by neighboring Iran has emerged as the biggest loser in the country's national elections, according to partial results released Monday.

The results, posted online successively, also showed the bloc of Iraq's populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr maintaining the most seats in parliament, leading in several of Iraq's 18 provinces, including the capital Baghdad. Al-Sadr, a maverick leader remembered for leading an insurgency against U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion, appeared to have increased his movement's seats in the 329-member parliament from 54 in 2018 to more than 70.

A twin-engine plane that killed at least two people and left a swath of destruction in a San Diego suburb nose-dived into the ground after repeated warnings that it was flying dangerously low, according to a recording.

The Cessna 340 smashed into a UPS van, killing the driver, and then hit houses just after noon Monday in Santee, a suburb of 50,000 people. The pilot also is believed to have died, and at least two people on the ground were hurt, including a woman who was helped out the window of a burning home by neighbors.