North Korea said Tuesday its top diplomat is visiting Russia, in another sign of their deepening relations as rival South Korea and Western nations say the North has sent thousands of troops to support Russia's war in Ukraine.

North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said a delegation led by Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui departed for Russia on Monday, but didn't specify the purpose of the visit. In a closed-door hearing at South Korea's parliament, the South's spy agency said Choe may be involved in high-level discussions on sending additional troops to Russia and negotiating what the North would get in return, according to Lee Seong-kweun, a lawmaker who attended the meeting.

With the U.S. presidential election just a week away, the Biden administration is not giving up hope for short-term deals for cease-fires in Gaza and Lebanon.

But U.S. officials are mindful that political uncertainty in the United States has made the sides reluctant to commit to any significant agreements before it is clear who has won the White House.

Iran on Tuesday accused European countries of "hypocrisy" after remarks by EU chief Josep Borrell saying the bloc was "considering measures in response" to the execution of Iranian-German Jamshid Sharmahd.

"Europe only stands for hypocrisy," Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X, accusing the EU of failing to "end the killing of more than 50k Palestinians in Gaza" or "to allow 1.5m refugees in Lebanon to return to their homes".

Bowls of labneh and platters of za'atar bread covered the tables in a Lebanese restaurant near Detroit, yet no one seemed to have much of an appetite.

On one side were Kamala Harris ' top emissaries to the Arab American community. On the other were local leaders who were explaining — once again — why many in the community couldn't vote for the vice president because of the war in Gaza.

Voters in this year's presidential election are choosing between two conflicting visions of the United States offered by Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump. The outcome will affect how the country sees itself and how it's viewed across the world, with repercussions that could echo for decades.

Since replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee, Harris has pledged to blaze her own path forward. But many of the vice president's ideas are well trod by Biden: middle-class tax cuts, tax increases on the wealthy and corporations, a restoration of abortion rights, a government that aggressively addresses climate change. and a commitment to uphold democratic values and the rule of law.

There is no doubt that the U.S. election will determine the trajectory of the war in Ukraine.

The status of military aid from Kyiv's chief international backer is dependent on who becomes president, as is any prospect for a cease-fire that could benefit Ukraine.

Iranian media on Monday said a civilian was killed during the Israeli strikes over the weekend which targeted military sites, although authorities had not previously reported civilian deaths.

"The martyr Allahverdi Rahimpour, a civilian who was killed near Tehran during the recent attack by the Zionist regime, has been buried," the local Fars news agency reported. Tasnim news agency also reported the death.

Georgia braced for protests on Monday, after the pro-EU opposition called for mass demonstrations, accusing the ruling party of "stealing" this weekend's parliamentary election in what the Caucasus country's president called a "Russian special operation."

Russian missile strikes killed four people including a child in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro last night, while a teenager and another person died in attacks on Kyiv and the surrounding region, officials said Saturday.

The U.S. and Britain called for "de-escalation" after Israel on Saturday hit military targets across Iran in deadly retaliatory strikes as Muslim countries blamed Israel for exacerbating the conflict.