US officials made a rare visit to Myanmar this week to secure the release of an American businessman who had been detained in the war-torn country since June.

Oil prices fell around 1% as additional Saudi crude supplies helped ease disruption fears. Fresh Saudi-Houthi strikes raised concerns that the widening Middle East conflict could further threaten energy supplies.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he has spoken to Tehran "directly," adding that the Iranians "want to make a deal" with the United States. He also said the war, which began on Feb. 28, is "hopefully" coming to an end in the near term.

A third person has died from malaria near Frankfurt's main airport in what officials said is a rare air-travel-related outbreak of the disease.

The results of this week’s exceptionally close election dealt a blow to far-right nationalists, who have gained ground elsewhere.

Russia is holding parliamentary elections, the first since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in a political landscape in which critical opposition is effectively nonexistent

Iranian forces in recent days have brought down at least two American MQ-1 unmanned aircraft, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

A former Syrian government official who headed the Damascus Central Prison under ousted President Bashar al-Assad and was convicted of torture ​by a US federal jury has been sentenced to 60 years ‌in prison by a US judge,