Foreign ministers from Australia, India, Japan and the United States announced new initiatives on Tuesday on maritime security, port infrastructure and energy to boost cooperation in the Indo-Pacific to counter concerns about China's growing influence.

The announcements by the group of nations known as the Quad came after talks in New Delhi between India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

Israel's military has called up more troops to Lebanon, an Israeli security official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said Tuesday the military had called up an additional battalion to Lebanon, hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had authorized more intensive strikes across Lebanon.

Israel's military clashed with Hezbollah Tuesday along a strategic river in Lebanon as Israeli troops tried to push farther north, just three days before Lebanese and Israeli military delegations are set to meet for direct talks in Washington.

A previously reached ceasefire appeared more nominal by the day, complicating efforts at a broader peace in the Iran war, as Tehran wants an end to the fighting to include Lebanon.

An airstrike on the Amal-affiliated Risala Scout Association center in Srifa killed two people on Tuesday, including a paramedic.

The Israeli army also struck Tuesday several towns and villages in south Lebanon, including Kafra, Barish, Srifa, Shohour, Dweir, Majdal Selem, Kawthariyet al-Rez, Arnoun, Yohmor-Shqif, al-Rihan, Zawtar al-Sharqiya, Tyre's Ras el-Ein, Tayrfelsay, Harees, Kherbet Selem, Habboush, Zebdine, Kfartebnit, al-Kharayeb, al-Sahrqiyeh, al-Sultanieh, Deir Ntar, Mayfadoun and Arzoun.

European Union officials said Friday that Europeans can expect oil and gas prices to remain above what they were before the Iran war for at least until the end of 2027, with prices of other goods also following an upward trajectory.

EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said that higher energy prices are primarily responsible for driving inflation to a forecast 3.1% for this year and 2.4% for 2027. That's significantly higher than the earlier forecast for this year of 1.9%.

On the surface, Chinese leader Xi Jinping's back-to-back summits with U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin looked pretty similar, with formal handshakes in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, enthusiastic greetings from flower-waving children, and marching columns of soldiers with gleaming bayonets. But the visits also revealed how different China's relationship is with the two countries.

During Trump's visit, China sought to stabilize ties with the United States, while Putin's trip served to deepen its strategic partnership with Russia.

Cristiano Ronaldo has finally won a major trophy with Al-Nassr.

The 41-year-old Portugal star scored twice in a 4-1 win over Damac to help Al-Nassr clinch the Saudi Pro League title Thursday. It's the team's first major trophy since Ronaldo joined more than three years ago.

The day arrived when the Senate just said, No.

President Donald Trump's political revenge tour met its potential match this week as angry, upset Republican senators, pushed to a breaking point by his seemingly insatiable and outlandish demands — particularly a $1.776 billion fund for Jan. 6 rioters and others he believes were wrongly prosecuted — did the unthinkable.

The head of the World Health Organization said Friday that the Ebola outbreak in Congo is "spreading rapidly" and now poses a "very high" risk at the national level.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the U.N. health agency was revising upward to "very high" its assessment of the risk within Congo, which had previously been deemed as high. The risk remains high for regional spread and low at global levels, he told reporters.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday there was "slight progress" during talks with Iran amid uncertainty as to whether a deal will be reached or war will resume.

He spoke days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was holding off on a military strike on Iran because "serious negotiations" were underway. Trump has been threatening for weeks that the ceasefire reached in mid-April could end if Iran does not make a deal, with shifting parameters for striking such an agreement.