Millions of voters in England and Wales will cast their ballots on Thursday in an array of local elections that will be the last big test before a U.K. general election that all indicators show will see the Conservative Party ousted from power after 14 years.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will hope he can point to successes, notably in a couple of key mayoral races, to douse talk that the Conservative Party will change leader again before the United Kingdom's main election, which could take place as soon as next month.

Russia struck the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa with ballistic missiles in a nighttime attack, injuring 14 people and starting a massive blaze, local officials and emergency services said.

The third attack on the city in a week hit a sorting depot belonging to Ukraine's biggest private delivery company, Nova Poshta. No staff were injured, the company said, but the strike started a major fire.

Iran announced on Thursday sanctions on several American and British individuals and entities for supporting Israel in its war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The Islamic republic, the regional arch-foe of Israel, unveiled the punitive measures in a statement from its foreign ministry.

During pitched battles with far better-armed Russian forces, Ukrainian soldier Batyar's unit has few options.

Devastating Russian aerial glide bombs that can drop up to 1.5 tons of explosives out of range of most of Ukraine's air defenses are gnawing away at his men's positions in a new tactic.

Police removed barricades and began dismantling a pro-Palestinian demonstrators' fortified encampment early Thursday at the University of California, Los Angeles, after hundreds of protesters defied police orders to leave, about 24 hours after counterprotesters attacked a tent encampment on the campus.

Police detained a handful of people on campus, their wrists in zip ties. The action came after officers spent hours threatening arrests over loud speakers if people did not disperse. Hundreds of people had gathered on campus, both inside a barricaded tent encampment and outside of it in support.

The death toll from a collapsed highway in southeastern China climbed to 48 on Thursday as searchers dug for a second day through a treacherous and mountainous area.

One side of the four-lane highway in the city of Meizhou gave way about 2 a.m. on Wednesday after a month of heavy rains in Guangdong province. Twenty-three vehicles fell down a steep slope, some sending up flames as they caught fire. Construction cranes were used to lift out the burnt-out and mutilated vehicles.

President Joe Biden is staying mum about student protests and police crackdowns as Republicans try to turn campus unrest over the war in Gaza into a campaign cudgel against Democrats.

Tension at colleges and universities has been building for days as some demonstrators refuse to remove encampments and administrators turn to law enforcement to clear them by force, leading to clashes that have seized attention from politicians and the media.

Ukraine on Wednesday hit a Russian oil refinery in Ryazan, south of Moscow, in a new drone attack on Russia's energy infrastructure, authorities said.

Ukraine has launched drones into Russia regularly since last year as the war between the two drags on, increasingly targeting sites such as factories and oil refineries deep inside Russia.

Clashes broke out on Wednesday at pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, U.S. television media footage showed, as dozens of universities around the United States struggle to contain similar protests.

According to CNN, the clashes erupted just before dawn between rival pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups.

Donald Trump was held in contempt of court Tuesday and fined $9,000 for repeatedly violating a gag order that barred him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors and some others connected to his New York hush money case. If he does it again, the judge warned, he could be jailed.

Prosecutors had alleged 10 violations, but New York Judge Juan M. Merchan found there were nine. The ruling was a stinging rebuke for the Republican former president, who had insisted he was exercising his free speech rights.