Istanbul, the city nestled along the Bosphorus strait for more than 2,500 years, takes another small step on its journey through history this week as voters decide who will lead the metropolis for the next five years.

Local elections will be held across Turkey on Sunday but, as always, the focus will be on the battle to win Istanbul, the country's largest city and its beating heart.

Istanbul is set to host the 2027 European Games, giving the Turkish capital a chance to show it can stage an international multi-sports event as it eyes the 2036 Olympics.

The European Olympic Committees group said Wednesday that its executive committee unanimously picked Istanbul as the host, although the decision still needs to be approved by national members at a meeting in June.

Australia thrashed Lebanon 5-0 and became the first team to advance to the third round of Asia qualifying for the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday.

An early goal from Kusini Yengi in Canberra sent the Socceroos on the way to a fourth successive win in Group I and ensured progress to the next stage with two matches to spare.

The United States has imposed sanctions on a money exchanger and a group of firms across six countries involved in commodity shipments and business transactions that benefit Iran's military and the Houthi militant group in Yemen and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned six firms, two tankers and a money exchanger, all either based or registered in Liberia, India, Vietnam, Lebanon or Kuwait. They are accused of materially benefiting Iran, the Houthis and Hezbollah.

The head of a Lebanese Sunni political and militant group that has joined the Shiite militant group Hezbollah in its fight against Israel on Lebanon's border said Tuesday that the conflict has helped strengthen cooperation between the two groups.

The Secretary-General of al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Group, Sheikh Mohammed Takkoush said his faction decided to join the fighting along the Lebanon-Israel border because of Israel's crushing offensive on the Gaza Strip and its strikes against Lebanese towns and villages killing civilians, including journalists, since the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct.7.

Kate, the Princess of Wales, and her husband, Prince William, are said to be "extremely moved" by the public's warmth and support following her shocking cancer announcement as tributes continued to pour in from around the world.

After weeks of frenzied speculation on social media about her health and well-being, Kate said in a candid video message on Friday that she is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer following major abdominal surgery. The 42-year-old princess said the cancer discovery was a "huge shock" and she was now in the early stages of preventative chemotherapy.

Kevin Hart wiped away tears on stage as he looked up from the bronze bust on a pedestal to the trio of comedy legends who had come to witness his professional highlight.

In the VIP balcony of the Kennedy Center opera house, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle sat side by side, watching Hart accept the Mark Twain Prize for lifetime achievement in comedy Sunday night.

Shakira, the boundary-breaking Colombian performer, has been remarkably consistent since beginning her career in the early '90s. Without fail, she toured, released albums, won awards, woven global, genre-defying sounds into her pioneering singles, performed at the Super Bowl halftime show and more. Then, things slowed. Or so it appeared.

In reality, the last few years haven't been kind to Shakira. In 2022, after 11 years and two children together, she separated from soccer player Gerard Piqué, leading to what she's called the "dissolution of my family." She faced charges of tax evasion in Spain; in November 2023, she received a suspended three-year sentence and paid a fine of 7.3 million euros ($8 million) in addition to previously unpaid taxes and interest.

Along a stretch of bush by a muddy river, laborers dug and slashed in search of bamboo plants buried under dense grass. Here and there a few plants had sprouted tall, but most of the bamboo seedlings planted more than a year ago never grew.

Now, environment protection officers seeking to restore a 3-kilometer (1.8-mile) stretch of the river's degraded banks were aiming to plant new bamboo seedlings, clear room for last year's survivors to grow and look after them better than they did the first time.

On a dry riverbed one recent sunny morning, residents of Kasengela village toiled away mixing cement and sand to make concrete. The sound of their shovels resonated through the valley while other residents, working in pairs, carried rocks to the site in wooden frames.

They were building a sand dam, a structure for harvesting water from seasonal rivers. The barrier, typically made of concrete, impedes water flow and coarse grains of sand settle behind it, creating an artificial aquifer that fills up during rainy seasons.