The U.S. military’s Central Command announced a new round of strikes early Monday, now into their ninth straight night. Central Command said it targeted “Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications networks.”

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported that the American strikes killed at least one person around Tabriz, a northwestern city about 520 kilometers from the capital, Tehran. Tabriz is believed to host underground missile bases run by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

Almost two decades ago, photographer Joan Monfort didn't think much of his photo shoot of a teenage Lionel Messi bathing a cute baby boy in a plastic bathtub. Not until the remarkable twist of fate became clear years later, when that infant blossomed into Lamine Yamal.

Now those images of the longhaired Messi, his hands covered in soap suds as if anointing Yamal as soccer's Next Big Thing, have become the most talked about — and gawked about — in the runup to Sunday's World Cup final, when Messi's Argentina will play Yamal's Spain for the biggest trophy in the sport.

Israel's parliament dissolved early Friday after passing a marathon of bills in the last moments of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition.

The Knesset, which was scheduled to break for its summer recess on Friday, will not reconvene before the elections scheduled on Oct. 27.

Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight killed at least four civilians and wounded 20 other people, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as he faces a political crisis after firing his popular defense minister.

Zelensky's major reshuffle of his government on Thursday, which included the appointment of a new prime minister, unsettled the country's military leadership and trigged a public outcry. It was an unwelcome difficulty after Ukraine has gained traction in its fight against Russia's more than 4-year-old invasion.

The expanding U.S. military campaign against Iran has put three small islands that sit at the confluence of the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz in the crosshairs once again.

The islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunb — which were seized in 1971 by Iran from what would become the United Arab Emirates — have become a garrison for Iran, helping it exert significant control over the strait, through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas passes in peacetime.

Fighting between the U.S. and Iran has intensified over control of the Strait of Hormuz, but hopes for a possible diplomatic solution have shown stubborn signs of life.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry on Thursday rejected suggestions that Islamabad had abandoned efforts to bring Washington and Tehran back to the negotiating table after brokering an initial ceasefire agreement last month that has now collapsed.

The United States expanded its airstrike campaign against Iran early Friday by hitting more bridges, electrical equipment and collapsing a tower at a key Iranian port, part of U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to start striking infrastructure to pressure Tehran to ease its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. Iran launched new missile attacks against U.S.-allied nations in the Middle East, including Qatar, a key mediator in the war.

The interim ceasefire agreed to last month has collapsed, and the region has endured days of back-and-forth attacks by the U.S. and Iran as they battle for control of the strait. Iranian officials say U.S. strikes have killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds of others, with new casualties reported in Friday's strikes.

It was just before sunrise when the last columns of Israeli tanks crossed from Lebanon back into Israel and then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who ordered the withdrawal, said the homecoming of Israeli troops sent "shivers down his spine."

That was May 24, 2000, the day Israel ended its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon.

The British government on Thursday urged FIFA to investigate Argentina's team after players posed with a banner claiming sovereignty over the contested Falkland Islands.

Argentina beat England 2-1 in a World Cup semifinal on Wednesday in Atlanta.

Ukraine's parliament on Thursday approved Serhii Koretskyi, the head of state energy company Naftogaz, as the country's new prime minister, as part of a major government reshuffle initiated by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky nominated Koretskyi, citing his record in the energy sector and arguing that he was best placed to help prepare Ukraine for another wartime winter. He was voted in with 289 votes in favor.