The streets were almost deserted in Yerevan Saturday because of the summer heat, but at shaded parks and fountains, Armenians struggled to make sense of what the accord signed a day earlier in Washington means for them.

Ukraine won't give up land to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned early on Saturday, hours after Washington and Moscow agreed to hold a summit in a bid to end the war.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have committed to a lasting peace after decades of conflict, U.S. President Donald Trump said after the South Caucasus rivals signed a deal welcomed on Saturday by Iran and Western nations.

At least 10 people died and 33 were missing after flash foods in Yuzhong County in China's northwestern Gansu province, Chinese state media reported Friday.

Heavy rains since Thursday had triggered flash floods and at least one landslide in mountainous areas near the city of Lanzhou, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would meet with Vladimir Putin even if the Russian leader will not meet with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, in comments that suggested Washington and Moscow could soon hold a summit.

Trump's comments followed a statement from Putin earlier in the day that he hoped to meet with Trump next week, possibly in the United Arab Emirates. But the White House was still working through the details of any potential meetings, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

Japanese warships docked in New Zealand 's capital Friday for the first time in almost 90 years amid efforts by Tokyo to deepen its strategic ties in the South Pacific Ocean.

Two destroyers with more than 500 crew on board sailed into Wellington harbor accompanied by the New Zealand navy ship HMNZS Canterbury. The JS Ise and destroyer JS Suzunami were on an Indo-Pacific deployment and arrived from Sydney, where Japan's military took part this month in war games involving New Zealand, Australia and other countries.

Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield expressed little hope for a diplomatic solution to the war with Russia, as U.S. President Donald Trump's Friday deadline for the Kremlin to stop the killing arrived and he eyed a possible summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the conflict.

Trump's efforts to pressure Putin have so far delivered no progress. Russia's bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armor while it relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities. Russia and Ukraine are far apart on their terms for peace.

A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump has been agreed, a Kremlin official said Thursday, and it could possibly take place next week at a venue that has been decided "in principle."

"At the suggestion of the American side, it has been agreed in principle to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days, Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters.

Russia has declared that it no longer considers itself bound by a self-imposed moratorium on the deployment of nuclear-capable intermediate range missiles, a warning that potentially sets the stage for a new arms race as tensions between Moscow and Washington rise again over Ukraine.

In a statement Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry linked the decision to efforts by the U.S. and its allies to develop intermediate range weapons and preparations for their deployment in Europe and other parts of the world. It specifically cited U.S. plans to deploy Typhoon and Dark Eagle missiles in Germany starting next year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff at the Kremlin on Wednesday, just ahead of a U.S. deadline for ending the Ukraine conflict, state media reported.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin received U.S. Special Envoy Steven Witkoff," state-run agency TASS reported, citing the Kremlin.