China warned of "consequences" for Taiwan after officials from Beijing and Taipei attended a ceremonial event at a Pacific leaders summit, where major powers already had been urged to restrain from turning a meeting of mostly small island countries into a geopolitical sideshow.

The 18 member states and territories of the Pacific Islands Forum, which opened its annual summit in Palau's largest city Koror on Monday, do not include China, the United States or Taiwan. However, battles for influence over the lucrative oceans and strategically important locations of the forum's members this week threatened, as they have before, to overshadow its summit.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham will face lawmakers in the House of Commons on Tuesday for the first time since becoming U.K. leader six weeks ago, with wars in Europe and the Middle East weighing on his promise to kick-start the economy and ease the cost of living.

Since taking office on July 20, Burnham has traveled around the country promising to deliver renewed national optimism after the downbeat two-year tenure of predecessor Keir Starmer.

With the end of France's summer vacation season, the election campaign to replace Emmanuel Macron as president next May is bursting to life.

An unusually large and broad field of candidates is forming to lead the European Union's largest country, its second-largest economy and only nuclear-armed power, their appetites whetted by the fact that Macron is constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive presidential term himself.

Russia launched a large aerial assault in and around Ukraine's capital overnight into Tuesday morning, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than a dozen others, including three children, local authorities said.

Ukraine's air force said that Russia began the attack at 6 p.m. Monday, using ballistic, cruise and anti-radar missiles, as well as 218 drones and decoys. About a third of the drones were reportedly jet-powered.

Turkey's top diplomat stressed Monday the regional defense pact with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia was not aimed at any particular country and open to others, including Egypt.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States will hit back against Iranian attacks on U.S. targets in the Middle East, as the war flared after a prolonged pause, according to Fox News.

"We're going to hit them hard," Trump said, according to a Fox News reporter who said he talked to Trump briefly.

Japan plans to use drones, artificial intelligence and new methods of warfare as it adapts its defense strategies to suit changing times, according to details of an 8.9 trillion yen ($55.6 billion) budget request for the coming fiscal year disclosed by the Defense Ministry on Monday.

The preliminary total is only a small increase from the 8.8 trillion yen ($55 billion) defense budget requested for this fiscal year. It will be much higher eventually, but further details will come later this year after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government approves the new security and defense strategy aimed at strengthening Japan's counterstrike capability.

The leaders of China, Russia and India are among the heads of state gathering in Kyrgyzstan this week for the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a group billed as a counterweight to U.S. global influence.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are scheduled to attend the events in Bishkek, the capital of the Central Asian nation.

Iceland's voters rejected restarting negotiations to join the European Union in a referendum that pitted concerns about geopolitical stability against keeping national control of Iceland's prized fisheries, officials said Sunday.

Opponents defeated the measure by a margin of 52.8% to 47.2%, the National Electoral Commission said. The result puts the divisive issue to rest for now — more than a decade after a euroskeptic government ended EU talks that had begun after the 2008 financial crisis.

Rescuers were trying to find trapped workers in at least a dozen hydroelectric plant sites Monday after catastrophic flooding in Nepal and Tibet killed at least 900 people and left more than 4,700 missing.

Multiple foreign teams were assisting local rescuers to find workers in multiple tunnels at Nepal's power plants on the rivers that flooded last Wednesday.