U.S. President Donald Trump has lashed out at his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over peace talks in Ukraine, as he hinted at interest in placing fresh sanctions on Moscow.

"We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin if you want to know the truth. He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless," he told reporters Tuesday during a cabinet meeting at the White House.

Human-caused climate change made the recent European heatwave up to 4C hotter in many cities, scientists said on Wednesday, pushing temperatures into deadly territory for thousands of vulnerable people.

Global warming "amplified this heatwave by approximately 2 to 4 degrees (Celsius) across most of the cities" studied, said Ben Clarke from Imperial College London, which led the research with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

Syria's minister of emergencies and disaster management on Tuesday requested support from the European Union to battle wildfires that have swept through a vast stretch of forested land.

After months of fighting meter-by-meter towards the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk, Russia announced this week that it had finally gained a foothold in the industrial territory.

Negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas are continuing but "need time", host Qatar cautioned on Tuesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump voiced optimism about a possible breakthrough.

Iran said Tuesday it has not made any request for talks with the United States, after President Donald Trump said Tehran was seeking negotiations following last month's war with Israel.

An ongoing attack on a cargo vessel in the Red Sea has killed two people, an official and maritime monitors said Tuesday, after Yemen's Houthi rebels resumed their campaign against shipping in the vital waterway.

Berlin on Tuesday said the Chinese military had targeted a laser at a German aircraft participating in an EU-led mission to protect marine traffic in the Red Sea.

The U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement to send "more weapons" to Ukraine in a U-turn from last week's decision to halt some aid to the war-torn country left residents of Kyiv and Moscow bemused.

An Israeli drone on Tuesday bombed a car in the al-Ayrouniyeh area near Tripoli, the first strike in north Lebanon since last year’s war, with the Israeli army saying the strike targeted a key Hamas member.