Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba 's ruling party opened official campaigning Monday to find his replacement who can restore political stability and voter support for the beleaguered Liberal Democrats.

Five candidates are vying for the Liberal Democratic Party's top job ahead of a highly unpredictable vote in early October. The race has a slogan: "Change, LDP."

Major European airports including Brussels, Berlin and London's Heathrow were Saturday hit by "cyber-related disruption" affecting automated check-in and baggage drop systems and causing delays.

"We have become aware of a cyber-related disruption to our MUSE software in select airports," airport service provider Collins Aerospace said.

The United Nations Security Council voted Friday to reimpose deep economic sanctions on Iran over its resurgent nuclear program after Britain, France and Germany called for action which Tehran called "unlawful."

A moment of truth: that's how French President Emmanuel Macron sees the recognition of a Palestinian state by France and other Western nations, with the hope to make it a landmark step in his push for peace in the Middle East as the devastating war in Gaza continues.

Weakened and unpopular at home, Macron is more than ever taking center stage in international talks. He is to formally declare France's recognition of a Palestinian state on Monday in New York at a United Nations conference co-chaired with Saudi Arabia, as the U.N. General Assembly starts.

The Taliban released on Friday a British couple held in Afghanistan for more than seven months on undisclosed charges, an official said, likely part of a wider effort to get their government recognized internationally years after taking power.

Iran decided at the last minute Thursday to withdraw a resolution prohibiting attacks on nuclear facilities that it had put forward along with China, Russia and other countries for a vote before an annual gathering of the U.N. nuclear watchdog's member nations.

Western diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the U.S. has been heavily lobbying behind the scenes to prevent the resolution from being adopted. The U.S. has raised the possibility of reducing funding to the International Atomic Energy Agency if the resolution was adopted and if the body moved to curtail Israel's rights within the agency, the diplomats said.

The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote on a resolution Friday on whether to reimpose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, as European officials warn Tehran that time is running out to come to a diplomatic resolution ahead of next week's annual United Nations gathering of world leaders.

There is "absolutely no evidence" that Russia's President Vladimir Putin wants to negotiate peace in Ukraine, the head of Britain's foreign intelligence agency said Friday in an outgoing speech.

Richard Moore, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6 as it is more commonly known, said Putin was "stringing us along."

Pakistan's defense minister says his nation's nuclear program "will be made available" to Saudi Arabia if needed under the countries' new defense pact, marking the first specific acknowledgment that Islamabad had put the kingdom under its nuclear umbrella.

At a moment of growing international alarm about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, more U.S. adults view Israel's military action in the Palestinian territory as excessive than at the beginning of the war, according to a new poll.