President Joe Biden strode into the White House four years ago with a foreign policy agenda that put repairing alliances strained by four years of Republican Donald Trump's "America First" worldview front and center.

The one-term Democrat took office in the throes of the worst global pandemic in a century and his plans were quickly stress-tested by a series of complicated international crises: the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and Hamas' brutal 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in the Middle East.

After a weekend spent blocking the explosive growth of fires that destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 24 people in the Los Angeles area, firefighters got a slight break with calmer weather but cast a wary eye on a forecast for yet more wind.

Should that happen, already burned homes and valleys could flare anew, sending embers to unburned territory miles downwind. New fires could add to the complication.

Iran is set to hold nuclear talks with France, Britain and Germany on Monday, just a week before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

The death toll from the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area rose to 16 as crews battled to cut off the spreading blazes before potentially strong winds return that could push the flames toward some of the city's most famous landmarks.

Five of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire and 11 resulted from the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said in a statement Saturday evening.

The United States and Britain have announced sanctions against Russia's energy sector, including oil giant Gazprom Neft, just days before outgoing President Joe Biden leaves office.

Californians are demanding to know who is at fault for the vast devastation caused by the raging Los Angeles wildfires, as a strict curfew went into force to prevent looting and lawlessness.

In a singular moment in U.S. history, President-elect Donald Trump faces sentencing Friday for his New York hush money conviction after the nation's highest court refused to intervene.

Like so much else in the criminal case and the current American political landscape, the scenario set to unfold in an austere Manhattan courtroom was unimaginable only a few years ago. A state judge is to say what consequences, if any, the country's former and soon-to-be leader will face for felonies that a jury found he committed.

Iran is reeling from a cratering economy and stinging military setbacks across its sphere of influence in the Middle East. Its bad times are likely to get worse once President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House with his policy of "maximum pressure" on Iran.

Facing difficulties at home and abroad, Iran last week began an unusual two-month-long military drill. It includes testing air defenses near a key nuclear facility and preparing for exercises in waterways vital to the global oil trade.

French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau on Friday accused Algeria of "trying to humiliate France" after the North African country refused to admit one of its nationals who was being deported.

The influencer was arrested in the city of Montpellier on Sunday on charges of inciting violence in videos he posted on social media. French immigration officials put him on a flight to Algiers Thursday, but Algeria refused to admit him, saying he was banned from entering its territory. He was finally sent back to France that evening, the French interior ministry said.

The Kremlin has welcomed U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's readiness to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a senior Moscow official said Friday.

Russia attaches no conditions to the possibility of face-to-face talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a conference call.