House Speaker Mike Johnson is rebuffing pressure to act on the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, instead sending members home early for a month-long break from Washington after the week's legislative agenda was upended by Republican members who are clamoring for a vote.

Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said Tuesday morning that he wants to give the White House "space" to release the Epstein information on its own, despite the bipartisan push for legislation that aims to force the release of more documents.

President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, planned to head to the Middle East as the U.S. tries once again to reach a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, the State Department's spokesperson said Tuesday.

Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters that Witkoff was going to the region with a "strong hope" that the U.S. can deliver a ceasefire deal as well as a new humanitarian corridor for aid distribution.

Australia's Parliament resumed Tuesday for the first time since the center-left Labor Party won one of the nation's largest-ever majorities in the May elections. The day was largely ceremonial, with reminders of conflict in the Middle East.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside Parliament House on Tuesday, calling for the government to impose sanctions on Israel after Australia joined another 27 countries in issuing a joint statement, saying the war in Gaza "must end now."

The United States announced Tuesday it will again pull out of the U.N.'s educational, scientific and cultural agency because of what Washington sees as its anti-Israel bias, only two years after rejoining.

This will be the third time that the United States leaves UNESCO, which is based in Paris, and the second time during a Trump administration. President Donald Trump had already pulled out during his first term and the United States returned after a five-year absence after the Biden administration applied to rejoin the organization.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday renewed his offer to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, but hopes of any progress were low as delegations from both governments prepared to hold a third round of direct talks.

Russian forces, meanwhile, pounded four Ukrainian cities in nighttime attacks that officials said killed a child.

The Kremlin on Tuesday said it wasn't expecting "miraculous breakthroughs" from upcoming talks with Ukraine, the third such round of negotiations in recent months.

"We don't have any reason to hope for some miraculous breakthroughs" at the talks on Wednesday, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a briefing.

The ceasefire that ended Iran's 12-day war with Israel has held for nearly a month without incident, but many Iranians remain uneasy, struggling with uncertainty as fears of another confrontation linger.

Iran has no plans to abandon its nuclear program including uranium enrichment despite the "severe" damage caused by U.S. strikes to its facilities, the country's foreign minister said ahead of renewed talks with European powers.

Russia is open to peace with Ukraine, but achieving its goals remains a priority, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday, days after U.S. President Donald Trump gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire or face tougher sanctions.

Russia unleashed one of its largest aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent months, only hours before the U.K. and Germany chaired a meeting to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump's plans for NATO allies to provide Ukraine with weapons.