Ukrainian defenses face a challenge as Russian troops make gains ahead of the Putin-Trump summit

DONETSK REGION, Ukraine (AP) — Days before the leaders of Russia and the U.S. hold a summit meeting in Alaska, Moscow’s forces breached Ukrainian lines in a series of infiltrations this week in the country’s industrial heartland of Donetsk. The advances amount to only a limited success for Russia, since Moscow still needs to consolidate its gains before achieving a true breakthrough. Still, some observers say it’s a potentially dangerous moment. Analyst Mykola Bieleskov says Russian President Vladimir Putin will likely try to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to pressure Kyiv by arguing the 3 1/2-year-old war is going badly for Kyiv.

Trump and Putin to meet in Alaska for high-stakes summit on Russia-Ukraine war

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump is meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska at a U.S. military base for a crucial summit. This Friday’s meeting could influence the war in Ukraine and European security. Trump aims to showcase his skills as a dealmaker. For Putin, it's a chance to negotiate terms that favor Russia. The summit excludes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which could undermine Ukraine's interests. Trump has expressed hopes for a broader peace deal, but success is uncertain. The meeting's outcome could have significant implications for international relations and U.S. diplomacy.

Trump's friendly-to-frustrated relationship with Putin takes the spotlight at the Alaska summit

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s meeting in Alaska with Vladimir Putin could be a decisive moment in the war in Ukraine and in the U.S. leader’s anomalous relationship with his Russian counterpart. Trump has long boasted that he’s always gotten along well with Putin and spoken admiringly of him, even praising him as “pretty smart” for invading Ukraine. But in recent months, he’s expressed open frustrations with Putin and called him “CRAZY” while threatening to impose sanctions on Russia. Still, Trump’s self-imposed deadline for sanctions came and went without any announced penalties or explanation from the White House and the Republican president, tempering expectations for their Friday summit.

Bondi names DEA head as DC's 'emergency police commissioner,' but capital leaders push back

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Pam Bondi has named the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration as Washington’s “emergency police commissioner,” saying she is granting him the powers of the police chief amid President Donald Trump’s takeover. Bondi said in an directive issued Thursday evening that DEA boss Terry Cole will assume “powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police.” But the capital’s attorney general responded that Bondi's order was “unlawful” and said local officers must continue to follow Police Chief Pamela Smith's orders. Mayor Muriel Bowser says “there is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official.”

20 years after its landmark withdrawal from Gaza, Israel is mired there

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip 20 years ago, dismantling 21 Jewish settlements and pulling out its forces. The Friday anniversary of the start of the landmark disengagement comes as Israel is mired in a nearly two-year war with Hamas. The conflict has devastated the Palestinian territory and is likely to keep troops there long into the future. Israel’s disengagement included removing four settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and was then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s controversial attempt to jump-start negotiations with the Palestinians. But it bitterly divided Israeli society and led to the empowerment of Hamas, with implications that continue to reverberate today.

California pushes left, Texas to the right, with US House control and Trump agenda in play

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A political standoff in Texas over new U.S. House maps aimed at adding five Republican seats is poised to enter a new phase. Meanwhile, heavily Democratic California plans for a November election intended to erase all but a sprinkle of the state’s GOP House districts in the fight over control of Congress. The jockeying in the nation’s two most populous states underscores the stakes for both parties in the narrowly divided House that could determine the fate of President Donald Trump’s agenda in the second half of his term. California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom wants other Democratic-led states to get involved.

Plastic pollution treaty talks in Geneva end without an agreement

GENEVA (AP) — Talks on a treaty to address the global crisis of plastic pollution in Geneva ended without an agreement Friday. The session was adjourned and will be resumed at a later date. Nations were meeting for an 11th day at the United Nations office to try to complete a landmark treaty to end the plastic pollution crisis. They remain deadlocked over whether the treaty should reduce exponential growth of plastic production and put global, legally binding controls on toxic chemicals used to make plastics. The negotiations at the U.N. hub were supposed to be the last round and produce the first legally binding treaty on plastic pollution, including in the oceans.

On India's Independence Day, Modi vows to punish Pakistan for future attacks

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has warned Pakistan that India will punish its archrival neighbor if there are future attacks on India. Modi made the remarks Friday while marking 78 years of India's independence from British colonial rule. Modi says India has now established a new normal that does not differentiate between terrorists and those who support terrorism. Modi says he will tolerate what he calls Islamabad’s “nuclear blackmail.” India and Pakistan exchanged tit-for-tat military strikes in May that brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of war. The strikes followed an April gun massacre in Kashmir that India blamed on Pakistan. Pakistan denied responsibility.

Trump's 'safe and beautiful' move against DC homeless camps looks like ugliness to those targeted

WASHINGTON (AP) — The clearing of homeless encampments in the nation's capital is unfolding under what President Donald Trump calls his Making D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force. For many of those targeted, there's an ugliness to what is going on, and nothing beautiful about it. People being forced from their makeshift living quarters in Washington spoke to The Associated Press about feeling persecuted by the move to expel them. Trump opened his presidency with a round of housecleaning in official Washington. Now he's taking on another side of the city. He's sent some 800 National Guard troops to help local police go after crime, homeless camps and grime.

Japan marks 80th anniversary of WWII surrender as concern grows about fading memory

TOKYO (AP) — Japan is paying tribute tribute to more than 3 million war dead as the country marks its surrender 80 years ago, ending World War II. But there is growing concern about the fading memories of the tragedy of war and the bitter lessons from the era of Japanese militarism. In a national ceremony Friday at Tokyo’s Budokan hall, about 4,500 officials and bereaved families and their descendants observed a moment of silence at noon. Just a block away at Yasukuni Shrine, seen by Asian neighbors as a symbol of militarism, dozens of rightwing politicians came to pray.