Officials are gathering Friday in Ontario to take delight in a new U.S.-Canada bridge over the Detroit River, an international span that is expected to enhance trade on both sides of the border and give travelers another route to both countries.

A ceremony is taking place in Windsor, Ontario, before the Gordie Howe International Bridge opens to traffic Monday. It was supposed to be a celebration on the bridge deck with officials from both countries, but Canada said no to a joint gathering after President Donald Trump this week suddenly announced 50% tariffs on Canadian goods entering the U.S.

A series of explosions broke out near a military base hosting U.S. forces in northern Iraq, hours after the U.S. military said it had wrapped up its 13th night of strikes against Iran.

A journalist with the Associated Press heard at least seven blasts around 9:30 a.m. local time in the city of Irbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region, and observed at least four plumes of black smoke rising into the sky from areas near or inside the base after.

Bahrain activated its sirens early Friday, warning residents to shelter from detected fire hours after the U.S. military said it had wrapped up its 13th night of strikes against Iran.

The Gulf states have come under frequent fire over the past week as the U.S. and Iran exchange escalating strikes in fighting that began with a struggle over control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state media reported that four people had been killed and nine injured in the bombardment.

Kozo Okamoto, the Japanese militant who took part in a deadly attack on Tel Aviv's airport more than five decades ago, died Thursday in Beirut, the Palestinian group that had been protecting him said. He was 78.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a faction that is the second-largest group in the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that Okamoto had been ill for a long time.

Firefighters in central Spain battled a wildfire on Wednesday that has burned over 32,000 hectares (79,000 acres) in one of the country's largest blazes on record.

The fire in rural Guadalajara comes less than two weeks after a deadly blaze devastated a small expat community in southern Spain. That small but extremely virulent fire killed 13 people, including several foreigners, in one of the southern European country's deadliest wildfires.

A four-hour documentary about Elon Musk, Martin McDonagh's dark CIA comedy "Wild Horse Nine" and films featuring Robert Pattinson, Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem are among the movies premiering at the Venice Film Festival in September.

Alberto Barbera, the festival's artistic director, unveiled the lineup Thursday for the 83rd edition of the festival, the first of many in a busy fall film season that culminates in the Hollywood awards showdown. Like the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, the selection is lighter on Hollywood studio films than in years past.

The European Central Bank left interest rates unchanged Thursday amid uncertainty about how volatile energy prices will affect inflation.

The central bank for the 21 countries that use the euro currency left its benchmark rate unchanged at 2.25% following a quarter-point hike at its previous meeting June 11. That increase was aimed at dampening the impact on consumer prices from higher oil prices due to the US-Iran war and subsequent interruption of oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

President Donald Trump on Thursday said an agreement being reached with Saudi Arabia for a civilian nuclear program requires the kingdom to normalize relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords.

In a post on social media, the Republican president said the deal doesn’t allow for enrichment of uranium.

In the span of a single week, the dismissal of a Ukrainian defense minister set in motion a transformation of the country's armed forces that replaced the old guard with a new generation of leadership.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's decision to fire his popular defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, triggered days of public protest that quickly shifted toward the country's commander-in-chief and highlighted the growing rift over the future of Ukraine's military.

The Houthi rebels' threat to blockade Saudi Arabia has the potential to widen the Iran war and further disrupt global oil supplies and international trade.

The Iran-backed rebels say they have closed the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to Saudi-linked shipping in retaliation for the kingdom's blockade on Yemen and a recent attack on the international airport in Yemen's rebel-held capital, Sanaa. The Houthis said on Thursday they had attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, causing fires to break out on both.