Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was not able to arrange a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during the U.S. president's visit to the South, ending fierce speculation over a possible summit.

Trump also said he would aim to "straighten out" tensions between North Korea and South Korea as he met Seoul's President Lee Jae Myung for a summit.

Japan's new premier Sanae Takaichi lavished US leader Donald Trump with praise and vows of a "golden age" of ties on his visit to Tokyo Tuesday, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals.

U.S. forces killed 14 people in strikes that destroyed four alleged drug-smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday, bringing the death toll from Washington's anti-narcotics campaign to at least 57.

Peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan have hit an impasse in Istanbul after three days of negotiations, with state media in both countries Tuesday blaming each other for the failure to reach a deal while efforts by Turkey were still underway to end the deadlock.

The Istanbul talks are part of a broader diplomatic push to ease months of heightened tension between Islamabad and Kabul over cross-border attacks and militant safe havens — issues that have strained relations since the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan four years ago.

Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will nominate U.S. President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said Tuesday.

Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January, and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world, a role that experts, however, downplay.

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky urged U.S. President Donald Trump to pressure Chinese leader Xi Jinping to cut his support for Russia when the two leaders meet later this week.

"I think this may be one of (Trump's) strong moves, especially if, following this decisive sanctions step, China is ready to reduce imports" from Russia, Zelensky told journalists, including AFP, at a briefing released Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that his country's ties with North Korea were developing "as planned" as he hosted North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui in the Kremlin.

A video posted on the Kremlin's Telegram account showed Putin greet and shake hands with Choe, before remarking: "Everything is going as planned."

Russia's test of a nuclear-powered missile that it claims can't be stopped by air defenses reflects Moscow's determination to look out for its security interests, a Kremlin official said Monday, after the United States and European countries increased pressure on President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the invasion of Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Putin should focus on making a peace deal, not testing missiles.

About 100 people gathered at a church in Kyiv on Monday to honor two Ukrainian journalists killed when a Russian drone struck their car in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region.

Sudanese paramilitary forces seized a key military base in the army's last stronghold in the embattled western Darfur region, activists and aid groups said Monday in a significant blow to the military in a war that has gripped Sudan since 2023.

Medical groups reported dozens of civilians killed and health infrastructure destroyed as fighting raged on between the two sides in el-Fasher, the provincial capital of North Darfur. There were no definitive numbers on the casualties.