The European Medicines Agency has recommended authorizing a twice-yearly injectable drug aimed at preventing HIV, which scientists say could help end the virus' transmission.

In a statement on Friday, the EU drug regulator said its evaluations of lenacapavir, sold as Yeytuo in Europe by Gilead Sciences, showed the drug is "highly effective" and "considered to be of major public health interest." Once the regulator's guidance is accepted by the European Commission, the authorization is valid in all 27 EU member countries as well as Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

The female executive who was caught on camera embracing the CEO of her company at a Coldplay concert in a moment that went viral has resigned, according to news reports.

Multiple news outlets reported that Kristin Cabot, the executive in charge of human resources at tech company Astronomer, has resigned.

Ukrainian forces are holding back Russia's concerted summer push to break through defenses along parts of the front line, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says.

"They are not advancing. It's very tough for our guys out there. And it's tough everywhere," Zelensky told reporters on Thursday, in comments embargoed till Friday. "It's also very hard for the Russians — and that's good for us."

Ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel are expected to resume next week, a Hamas official said Friday, as Israeli strikes continue across Gaza and experts warn Palestinians are on the brink of famine.

Hamas official Bassem Naim said on Friday that he was told an Israeli delegation would depart for consultations early next week. Previous talks had been held in Qatar. His comments come a day after the United States recalled its negotiating team from Qatar and after President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said Hamas' latest response to the negotiations showed a "lack of desire" to reach a truce.

Wall Street was on track to open with gains on Friday, adding to record highs ahead of next week's busy slate of earnings, job market reports and the tariff deadline.

Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average both were up 0.1% before the bell. Nasdaq futures were flat.

Tens of thousands of people sought refuge on Friday as border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia entered a second day, heightening fears of a broader conflict.

The U.N. Security Council is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis later Friday in New York, while Malaysia, which chairs a regional bloc that includes both countries, called for an end to hostilities and offered to mediate.

France's highest court is ruling Friday on whether it can strip the head of state immunity of Bashar Assad, the former leader of Syria now in exile in Russia, because of the brutality of the evidence in accusations against him collected by Syrian activists and European prosecutors.

If the judges at the Cour de Cassation lift Assad's immunity, it could pave the way for his trial in absentia over the use of chemical weapons in Ghouta in 2013 and Douma in 2018, and set a precedent to allow the prosecution of other government leaders linked to atrocities, human rights activists and lawyers say.

Before the eruption of sectarian violence in southern Syria, Saber Abou Ras taught medical sciences at a university in the city of Sweida and was somewhat hopeful of a better future for his country as it emerged from nearly 14 years of civil war.

Now, like many others in the Druze-majority city in southern Syria, he carries arms and refuses to give them up to the government. He sees little hope for the united Syria he recently thought was in reach.

Iranian and European diplomats met Friday in Istanbul to embark on the latest drive to unpick the deadlock over Tehran's nuclear program.

Representatives from Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3 nations, gathered at the Iranian consulate building for the first talks since Iran's 12-day war with Israel in June, which involved U.S. bombers striking nuclear-related facilities.

Aircraft from Lebanon, Jordan, Spain and Israel were on their way Thursday to help battle a huge wildfire in Cyprus that has claimed the lives of two people. Police were investigating reports that arsonists were to blame.

The flames have scorched more than 120 square kilometers (46 square miles) of forested hillsides in one of the worst such blazes in recent memory.