Turkey has revoked the license of Iran's Bank Mellat, a semi-private financial entity that has been subject to Western sanctions for years, the official gazette said early Saturday.

Denmark's foreign minister said Saturday that a "binding" agreement on Greenland's security with the U.S. "strengthens security" in the Arctic, ahead of its expected signing in the coming days.

A powerful bomb exploded Friday at a mosque near a building housing police offices in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 15 people and wounding 56 others, police and rescue officials said. The attack came as violence has surged in the region with security forces targeting militants.

The bombing occurred in Kohat, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, when an attacker apparently rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the mosque, said Zulfiqar Hameed, the provincial police chief.

The world is deeply divided and the U.N.'s most powerful body is paralyzed when it comes to ending conflicts. But there's a way forward. So says the United Nations' top official.

On his way out of office at year's end after nearly a decade, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres — known for doom-and-gloom speeches about the state of the planet — said Thursday he finds hope and possibility in the coming years. But that, he says, is only if the world's governments can finally cooperate on curtailing conflict, upending inequality and grappling with the arriving juggernaut of artificial intelligence.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed leaders and representatives from seven regional countries for talks on deepening cooperation on Friday, as overnight Russian strikes in multiple regions sparked fires and caused several deaths and injuries.

The inaugural summit of the so-called "Carpathian Eight" brings together Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary, with the European Union also involved.

Russians on Friday began three days of voting in the country's first wartime parliamentary election, which features virtually no opposition and is all but certain to secure the Kremlin's political dominance.

Authorities spread the election over the weekend in a bid to boost turnout among the 111 million eligible voters and even allowed electronic balloting. Polls opened Friday and will close Sunday.

The Trump administration has approved visas for top Iranian officials, including the president and foreign minister, to attend next week's U.N. General Assembly high-level meeting in New York even as the two countries are locked in a stalemated war.

The State Department said Thursday that it had approved visas for Iran's "core delegation," along with essential staffers to participate in the U.N. meetings. The core delegation includes President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, according to U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to visa privacy laws.

In-person voting for this year's midterm elections begins Friday, ushering in the final six weeks for Americans to decide who they trust to lead Congress through a cost-of-living crisis, a prolonged war in Iran and other pressing issues.

Election administrators say they're prepared and confident the vote will be accurate and secure. Nevertheless, President Donald Trump has continued with efforts to denigrate certain voting methods and reshape how U.S. elections are run, through court challenges, an expansive federal hunt for noncitizen voters and a pressure campaign to force election officials to share sensitive voter data.

Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reshuffled her Cabinet on Thursday in a bid to turn around her waning popularity, but retained key ministers as she pursues stronger ties with the U.S.

Japan faces President Donald Trump 's tough demands for bigger defense spending, more investment in America and measures to combat a weak yen.

Turkey has sent a proposal to Russia and Ukraine that would end attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea, a Turkish diplomat told AFP on Thursday.

The move follows a sharp uptick in attacks in the Black Sea, which has seen at least 25 Turkish-owned vessels hit since late June, industry figures show.