Five cheetah cubs had to survive a weather scare and the illness of their mother after their birth at the Prague Zoo. But they are doing well now, the zoo said on Friday.

The zoo said the quintuplets — four males and one female — that were born on June 18 had faced a tough time from the start.

Israel’s military said two of its soldiers were killed in northern Gaza on Thursday while inspecting an unexploded Israeli drone near a military post. They were the first Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza in months.

The drone exploded as the soldiers approached it, the military said Friday. They were evacuated to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

With Saudi oil facilities, cities and ships off its coast coming under escalating attacks, the kingdom's top religious authority has called on soldiers to be prepared to defend the country from Iran-backed Houthis.

The strongly worded statement from Grand Mufti Sheikh Saleh al-Fawzan, who traditionally avoids weighing in on politics in a country that holds enormous influence among Muslims worldwide, is a rare message on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East from the kingdom's top religious authority.

Russian authorities on Friday released the full results from the country's first wartime parliamentary election, which further cemented the Kremlin's overwhelming political control.

The three-day balloting ended Sunday. According to the results released by the Central Election Commission, the main Kremlin party, United Russia, will get more than three-fourths of the seats in the lower house, the State Duma, a record high. The tightly orchestrated vote excluded virtually any genuine opposition.

Yemen's internationally recognized government pressed world leaders anew Thursday for help defeating the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, saying that their new perch along one of the world's busiest waterways presents an international economic risk.

The Houthis — who have controlled Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and much of the country's north for over a decade — stormed down Yemen's coast this month and seized the crucial port city of Mokha and key Red Sea islands. That gives them better surveillance of ships passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, at the sea's southern end. About 12% of the world's trade usually passes through the waterway.

Pope Leo XIV will visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes this weekend as part of his four-day apostolic journey to France, which is the first official papal state visit to the country in 18 years.

The site near the Spanish border draws millions of pilgrims annually, including sick and disabled believers hoping for a cure from the famed spring water in the Lourdes grotto. Here is what to know about Lourdes, one of Catholicism's most important pilgrimage sites.

Nepal's prime minister scolded fellow world leaders Thursday, saying the nation's recent deadly flood reminds a warming world that climate change keeps hurting people who didn't cause the crisis but now need help.

The August disaster "was not just a local tragedy. It was a warning to the world. And I ask you today: Have you really heard that warning?" Nepali Prime Minister Balendra Shah said at the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday night. "Nearly three years ago, standing in the shadow of our Mount Everest, the secretary-general of the United Nations warned about humanity about the madness and impending climate disaster."

A powerful blast shook the Greek capital's tourist district of Plaka, near the ancient Acropolis, on Friday morning, causing a building to collapse and injuring at least two people who had to be rescued from an adjacent building, authorities said.

The fire department said the explosion occurred in an old two-story building in the Plaka district, the historic part of Athens that lies at the foot of the Acropolis hill, Greece's most visited ancient monument. The building collapsed, while neighboring buildings were also damaged.

Starbucks plans to close 250 North American stores later this week.

It is the second big round of store closures under Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol, who joined the company in 2024. Last September, Starbucks closed 627 stores in North America and Europe.

A tech-heavy guest list, the fashion choices of those on it, who sat where and what was on the menu marked the softer — often and glitzier — details of diplomacy as Donald Trump threw a Thursday night state dinner honoring China's leader Xi Jinping.

The event featured a cavalcade of billionaires, Washington powerbrokers, business leaders and the type of festivities that most excite Trump, who has a reputation for reveling in hosting parties.