They were billed as artworks by Pablo Picasso, paintings so valuable that an Australian art museum's decision to display them in an exhibition restricted to women visitors provoked a gender discrimination lawsuit. The paintings again prompted international headlines when the gallery re-hung them in a women's restroom to sidestep a legal ruling that said men could not be barred from viewing them.

But the artworks at the center of the uproar were not really by Picasso or the other famed artists billed as their creators, it emerged this week when the curator of the women-only exhibition admitted she had painted them herself.

NATO leaders met this week to celebrate the alliance's 75th anniversary under the cloud of deep political uncertainty in its most powerful member — the United States.

But even as questions swirled about President Joe Biden's future and the implications of a possible return to the White House by NATO skeptic Donald Trump, the 32 allies put a brave face on their strength and unity going forward, particularly in relation to Ukraine.

Wholesale prices in the United States rose by a larger-than-expected 2.6% last month from a year earlier, a sign that some inflation pressures remain high.

The increase, the sharpest year-over-year increase since March 2023, comes at a time when other price indicators are showing that inflation has continued to ease.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has made a Trumpian vow to "Make Europe Great Again" during his country's six-month presidency of the European Union. As a first step last week, he astonished his allies by making a surprise trip to Ukraine -- his first since Moscow invaded the country -- followed by similarly unannounced visits to Russia and China for talks with two of the EU's primary adversaries.

The EU's longest-serving leader — who has endorsed former President Donald Trump and is known as having the warmest relations with Vladimir Putin in the bloc — wrapped up a NATO summit in Washington on Thursday before traveling to Trump's Mar-a-Lago compound — his latest stop on what he calls a "peace mission" aimed at brokering an end to Russia's war in Ukraine.

The German government said Friday that it "won't be intimidated" by Russian attempts to undermine the country's support of Ukraine, but refused to comment on a report that Moscow planned to assassinate the chief executive of a leading defense company.

CNN reported Thursday, citing five unidentified U.S. and Western officials, that American intelligence discovered earlier this year that Russia planned to kill Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger. It said the U.S. informed Germany, whose security services were able to protect Papperger and foil the plot. Rheinmetall is a major supplier of military technology and artillery rounds for Ukraine.

A Dutch court on Friday rejected a claim from a group of human rights organizations that the Netherlands is dodging a court order to stop sending F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel which could use them in Gaza.

The Hague District Court ruled that Oxfam Novib, Pax Nederland and The Rights Forum had not shown any evidence that the Dutch government was ignoring the earlier ruling.

Sudan's warring parties have arrived in Geneva at the invitation of the United Nations to discuss the protection of civilians through possible local cease-fires, U.N. officials said. But one side did not show up for the talks on the first day.

Senior representatives from the Sudanese army and rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces accepted invitations to meet separately with the U.N. secretary-general's personal envoy, Ramtane Lamamra, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman at U.N. headquarters in New York, told reporters.

Heavy rains associated with Hurricane Beryl and the earlier Tropical Storm Alberto have led at least 200 crocodiles to enter urban areas in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, across from Texas, state and federal authorities said this week.

So far, authorities say they have captured and relocated around 200 of the big reptiles since Alberto pelted the region with rain in June. Beryl brushed the same area before making landfall in south Texas earlier this week.

A landslide swept two passenger buses carrying more than 50 people into a swollen river in central Nepal early Friday, while continuous rain and more landslides were making rescue efforts difficult.

Three survivors apparently swam to safety, but rescuers by late morning had not found any trace of the buses, which likely were submerged and swept downstream in the Trishuli River. Nepal's rivers generally are fast-flowing due to the mountainous terrain. Heavy monsoon downpours in the past few days have swollen the waterways and turned their waters murky brown, making it even more difficult to see the wreckage.

Greek authorities on Friday warned of an impending weeklong heat wave during the summer tourist season, with a high risk of dangerous wildfires, as much of southern Europe sweltered under high temperatures.

The ministry for civil protection and climate change said southwesterly winds from Africa would bring temperatures sometimes exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) at least until July 19.