ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan moved ahead Monday with preparations for a new round of talks between the United States and Iran two days before a tenuous ceasefire is set to expire, even as renewed conflict around the Strait of Hormuz raised questions about whether the meeting would take place.

TOKYO (AP) — An earthquake registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.7 off northern Japan on Monday prompted a short-lived tsunami alert and the advisory of a higher risk of a possible mega-quake for coastal areas there.

HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — A vessel that went missing with six people on board after a typhoon hit was found overturned in waters near the U.S. territory of Saipan, the U.S. Coast Guard said Monday.

LONDON (AP) — British police have arrested two teenagers in connection with a weekend arson attack on a synagogue in northwest London, as Jewish leaders express concern about a wave of incidents targeting their community.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship it said had tried to evade its naval blockade near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, and Iran's joint military command vowed to respond, throwing a fragile ceasefire into question days before it expires.

LONDON (AP) — U.K. police said Sunday they are investigating whether a string of arson attacks on Jewish sites in London are the work of Iranian proxies, as the country's chief rabbi said British Jews are facing a campaign of violence and intimidation.

BEIRUT (AP) — Iran said Friday it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels, but President Donald Trump said the American blockade on Iranian ships and ports “will remain in full force” until Tehran reaches a deal with the U.S., including on its nuclear program.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military has widened its efforts beyond the blockade of Iran's ports to allow its forces around the world to stop any ship tied to Tehran or those suspected of carrying supplies that could help its government, from weapons to oil, metals, and electronics.

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — A 10-day truce began in Lebanon on Friday that could pause fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah terrorist group and boost attempts to extend the ceasefire between Iran, the United States, and Israel after weeks of devastating war.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia hammered civilian areas of Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in an attack that stretched for hours from daytime into the night, killing at least 16 people and wounding more than 100 others as terrified residents cowered in their homes, officials said Thursday.

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — When a Ukrainian agricultural tycoon founded a volunteer unit of 30 people in the early days of Russia’s invasion, he had no certainty he would live to see what came next — but he did, and so did the force he created.

PORT SUDAN, Sudan (AP) — Famine. Massacres. And now badly needed food and other supplies are under strain. Sudan on Wednesday enters a fourth year of war that's being called an “abandoned crisis,” as a new conflict in the Middle East throws into shadow the fighting that has forced 13 million people to flee their homes.

CAIRO (AP) — Pakistan’s army chief met Wednesday in Tehran with Iran's foreign minister in the latest diplomatic move to ease tensions in the Middle East and arrange a second round of negotiations between the United States and Iran after almost seven weeks of war.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that the stability and certainty of China-Russia relations are particularly "precious” in the face of an international landscape intertwined with change and chaos.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — At least 250 people, including Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals, were missing after a boat capsized in the Andaman Sea recently on the way to Malaysia, according to the U.N. refugee and migration agencies.

PARIS (AP) — A Parisian art enthusiast could not believe his luck when he found out Tuesday he'd won a Pablo Picasso painting worth $1 million with a $117 raffle ticket.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Diplomats worked through back channels Tuesday to arrange a new round of talks between the United States and Iran after Washington enacted its blockade of Iranian ports, while Tehran threatened to retaliate by striking targets across the region.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lebanon and Israel held their first direct diplomatic talks in decades on Tuesday in Washington following more than a month of war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling it a “historic opportunity” but making clear that no breakthrough agreement would happen right away.

A super typhoon steadily battered a pair of remote U.S. islands in the Pacific Ocean with ferocious winds and relentless rains, shredding tin roofs and forcing residents to take cover from flying tree limbs.

CAIRO (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday the American military had begun a blockade of Iranian ports as part of his effort to force Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz and accept a deal to end the war that has raged for more than six weeks.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s election winner Péter Magyar called Monday on the country's president to convene the parliament to form a new government “as quickly as possible," in hopes that he can take over from Viktor Orbán as prime minister as early as May 5.

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Thousands of Peruvians were back at the polls on Monday for a second day of voting after failure to deliver ballots to voting centers extended Sunday’s election by a day.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — President Donald Trump said Sunday the U.S. Navy would swiftly begin a blockade of ships entering or leaving the strategic Strait of Hormuz, after U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan ended without an agreement.

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — A Nigerian Air Force strike targeting jihadi rebels hit a local market in northeastern Nigeria, killing over 100 civilians, including children, and injuring many others, a rights group and local media reported on Sunday. Officials confirmed a misfire without providing details.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — With the ceasefire in Iran still shaky, U.S. Vice President JD Vance headed Friday to Pakistan for high-level talks with Iranian officials, as Israel and Hezbollah militants traded fire and Tehran maintained its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz.