Artemisia Gentileschi's painting skills quickly surpass her father's, but society dictates that as a woman, she must stay home and protect her virtue. Art — with its unsavory types and naked models — isn't exactly fit for a good Roman Catholic girl. And when her painting tutor attacks her, it sets off a cascade of seemingly insurmountable problems and impossible choices.

Author Elizabeth Fremantle deftly paints Artemisia's painful but inspiring story in her latest biographical fiction, "Disobedient." Having already established herself as a writer who champions powerful female leads, Fremantle fleshes out the 17th-century artist who defied the limits placed upon her and became one of the best painters of the Baroque period.

Norwegian authorities warned Tuesday to prepare for "extremely heavy rainfall" after Storm Hans caused two deaths, ripped off roofs and upended summertime life in northern Europe.

Strong winds continued to batter the region along with rains, causing a lengthy list of disruptions in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Finland, Estonia and Latvia. Ferries were canceled, flights were delays, roads and streets were flooded, trees were uprooted, people were injured by falling branches and thousands remained without electricity Tuesday.

The death toll from Russian missile strikes that hit apartment blocks and other buildings in an eastern Ukrainian city has climbed to seven, with 67 injured, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said Tuesday.

Two Russian missiles slammed into the downtown area of Pokrovsk, in the eastern Donetsk region that is partially occupied by Russia, on Monday evening, local authorities said.

Israeli security forces on Tuesday demolished the West Bank home of a Palestinian man accused of carrying out a deadly shooting attack earlier this year, the military said, the latest incursion to fuel tensions in the occupied territory.

Israel's decades-old tactic of leveling the family homes of alleged Palestinian assailants has drawn intense criticism from human rights groups, which call it collective punishment — prohibited under international law.

Niger's mutinous soldiers closed the country's airspace and accused foreign powers of preparing an attack, as the junta defied a deadline to reinstate the ousted president.

State television announced the move Sunday night, hours before the deadline set by West African regional bloc ECOWAS, which has warned of using military force if the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum isn't returned to power.

Russia said Monday its troops had advanced three kilometers along the Kupiansk front in northeast Ukraine over the last three days, as it seeks to regain territories it lost earlier in its offensive.

The city of Kupiansk and surrounding areas of Ukraine's Kharkiv region were liberated by Ukrainian forces last September, but Moscow has since renewed its assault on the region.

Dust and rubble fill the street as an excavator tears off chunks of concrete from an old apartment building. Bystanders and former residents watch from afar as construction equipment tears down the structure. Among the bystanders is Ibrahim Ozaydin, 30, a former resident. He watches the demolition not with worry, but with relief, as his building was marked by officials as unsafe months ago.

Ozaydin and his family were shocked to learn that the municipality deemed his building uninhabitable. "We decided to build our own house," he told The Associated Press as he watched his former home being torn down. "Instead of living in a poorly built house, let us take our own precautions."

Arsenal has started the English season how the team hopes to end it — by getting the better of Manchester City.

Arsenal beat City 4-1 in a penalty shootout, after equalizing in the 101st minute in regulation time to draw 1-1, to win the Community Shield at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.

Saudi state-run oil giant Aramco said Monday that it made $30 billion in profit in the second quarter, a nearly 40% decline from the same period the previous year that it attributed to lower oil prices.

Total sales stood at just over 400 billion riyals (about $106 billion), down from 562 billion riyals ($150 billion in the second quarter of 2022. In an earnings report filed with the Saudi stock exchange, Aramco said the decrease "mainly reflected the impact of lower crude oil prices and weakening refining and chemicals margins."

Iran on Monday began registering candidates for parliamentary elections in March, which will be the first since nationwide protests rocked the country last year.

Iran has held regular presidential and parliamentary elections since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But a clerical body vets candidates — disqualifying any seen as disloyal to the Islamic Republic — and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on all major policies.