Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned of potential global economic damage from rising tensions in the Middle East as the Biden administration said it was readying new sanctions in response to Iran's malevolent activity in the region.

Yellen spoke out against Iran's "malign and destabilizing activity" in remarks ahead of this week's spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, saying Iran's weekend missile and drone attack on Israel "underscores the importance of Treasury's work to use our economic tools to counter Iran's malign activity."

Group of Seven foreign ministers are meeting on the Italian resort island of Capri, with soaring tensions in the Mideast and Russia's continuing war in Ukraine topping the agenda.

Under Italy's rotating stewardship, the G7 leaders are expected to issue a united call for Israel to exercise restraint after Iran's unprecedented weekend attack involving hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles fired toward the Jewish state.

Heavy thunderstorms lashed the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, dumping the heaviest rain ever recorded in the country in the span of hours as it flooded out portions of major highways and Dubai's international airport.

The state-run WAM news agency called the rain "a historic weather event" that surpassed "anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949." That's before the discovery of crude oil in this energy-rich nation then part of a British protectorate known as the Trucial States.

European leaders' discussions at a summit in Brussels were set to focus on the bloc's competitiveness in the face of increased competition from the United States and China.

Tensions in the Middle East and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine decided otherwise and the 27 leaders will dedicate Wednesday evening talks to foreign affairs.

Hezbollah on Tuesday fired rockets at Israel's Meron air control base and the Beit Hillel military base in response to Israeli drone strikes that killed two of its military commanders in the southern towns of Ain Baal and Shehabiyeh.

The Israeli army and a source close to Hezbollah confirmed that a military commander was killed in the Ain Baal strike.

Nearly 14,500 homes have been flooded in a Russian region bordering Kazakhstan after water levels spiked in a local river, local authorities said Tuesday.

The floods sparked evacuations of thousands in the Orenburg region, located some 1,200 kilometers (745 miles), southeast of the capital, Moscow, after a dam on the Ural River burst last week under the pressure of surging waters.

In Salman Rushdie's first book since the 2022 stabbing that hospitalized him and left him blind in one eye, the author wastes no time reliving the day he thought might be his last.

"At a quarter to eleven on August 12, 2022, on a sunny Friday morning in upstate New York, I was attacked and almost killed by a young man with a knife just after I came out on stage at the amphitheater in Chautauqua to talk about the importance of keeping writers safe from harm," Rushdie writes in the opening paragraph of the memoir "Knife," published Tuesday.

The artist and curators representing Israel at this year's Venice Biennale announced Tuesday they won't open the Israeli pavilion exhibition until there is a cease-fire in Gaza and an agreement to release hostages.

Their decision was posted on a sign in the window of the Israeli national pavilion on the first day of media previews, just days before the Biennale contemporary art fair opens Saturday.

Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel will seek to echo the spirit of 2021's Champions League-winning run with Chelsea in Wednesday's home quarter-final second leg against Arsenal.

Bayern put aside their domestic struggles in the first leg, returning from London with a 2-2 draw, another Harry Kane goal against his old foes and the knowledge victory in Germany will see them through to the final four.

The male coach of a Brazilian women's football team resigned on Monday after accusations against him of sexual harassment drew league-wide protests.

Kleiton Lima left Santos club in September when the accusations were brought to light by media. He was restored as the women's coach on April 2 when Santos officials said they found no evidence of wrongdoing.