At a rural penal colony in southeast Ukraine, several convicts stand assembled under barbed wire to hear an army recruiter offer them a shot at parole. In return, they must join the grueling fight against Russia.

"You can put an end to this and start a new life," said the recruiter, a member of a volunteer assault battalion. "The main thing is your will, because you are going to defend the motherland. You won't succeed at 50%, you have to give 100% of yourself, even 150%."

A lot of politicians have promised change to voters in Hartlepool, a wind-whipped port town in northeast England. For decades, Labour Party representatives said they would fight for working people, even as well-paid industrial jobs disappeared. Later, Conservatives under then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to bring new money and opportunities on the back of Brexit.

But as British voters prepare to elect a new government Thursday, Hartlepool's many problems persist. It has higher unemployment, lower pay, shorter life expectancy, more drug deaths and higher crime rates than the country as a whole.

Drone footage from Ukraine's military released Sunday has shown what appears to be bodies in a civilian area in the embattled eastern town of Toretsk, which has come under heavy Russian bombardment in recent days.

The attacks in the war-torn Donetsk region have prompted a scaled-up evacuation effort by Ukrainian rescue services. Local officials said that powerful Russian glide bombs have also been used in the town, the latest eastern front flash point as Russian attacks continue to put stretched Ukrainian front-line units on the defensive.

French voters face a decisive choice on July 7 in the runoff of snap parliamentary elections that could see the country's first far-right government since the World War II Nazi occupation — or no majority emerging at all.

Projections by polling agencies suggest the far-right National Rally stands a good chance of winning a majority in the lower house of parliament for the first time, but the outcome remains uncertain amid the complex voting system.

French people voted on Sunday in the first round of high-stakes snap parliamentary elections which could see the far-right party of Marine Le Pen take power in a historic first.

Iran will hold a runoff presidential election to replace the late hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, an official said Saturday, after an initial vote saw the top candidates not securing an outright win.

The election this coming Friday will pit reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian against the hard-line former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

Bolivian government officials said Friday they arrested four more people in connection with Wednesday's failed coup attempt against President Luis Arce, bringing the total detained to 21.

Government Minister Eduardo del Castillo said that among those arrested were military officers, including the driver of an armored vehicle that rammed into the government palace.

The presidential debate was a re-run that featured two candidates with a combined age of 159, but it went especially poorly for one of them, President Joe Biden.

Already fighting voter concerns about his age, Biden, 81, was halting and seemed to lose his train of thought Thursday night, sparking quick concerns among Democrats about the man they hope will keep former President Donald Trump from returning to office. For his part, Trump made repeated false claims and provocative statements. But Trump seemed smoother and more vigorous than Biden, who is only three years older than the Republican ex-president.

Russian shelling killed four people and injured three others including an eight-year-old child in the east Ukrainian town of New York on Friday, regional prosecutors said.

A Russian shell destroyed the "entrance of a 5-story building, killing four civilians aged 43 to 76. A 39-year-old woman and her 8-year-old daughter were injured," the Donetsk region prosecutor's office said. A separate munition strike wounded a 45-year-old man.

French voters are being called to the polls on Sunday for an exceptional moment in their political history: the first round of snap parliamentary elections that could see the country's first far-right government since the World War II Nazi occupation — or no majority emerging at all.

The outcome of the vote, following the second round on July 7 and an exceptionally brief campaign, remains highly uncertain as three major political blocs are competing: the far-right National Rally, President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance and the New Popular Front coalition that includes center-left, greens and hard-left forces.