Axios

An explosion at a packed mosque in the Afghan capital Kabul on Friday killed at least 10 people and injured dozens of others, AP reports.

Driving the news: The blast at the Khalifa Aga Gul Jan Mosque, a Sunni mosque in western Kabul, took place as worshippers gathered for prayers on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan. Officials fear the death toll will rise.

Russian forces appear to be "several days behind where they wanted to be" in their latest assault on Ukraine's Donbas region, a senior U.S. defense official said on Friday.

Driving the news: Russian troops pulled back from Kyiv and refocused their efforts on the Donbas region earlier this month after failing to seize the Ukrainian capital. The Pentagon believes Russian forces intended to be further along in their efforts to completely encircle Ukrainian troops in the east, the official said.

More than 3,000 people died or went missing trying to reach Europe via Mediterranean or Atlantic sea routes last year, the UN refugee agency said in a report Friday.

The big picture: The figure is nearly double the number from the previous year, when 1,776 asylum seekers, refugees and others were reported dead or missing while trying to cross central and western Mediterranean routes or the northwest African maritime route to the Canary Islands, the agency added.

Former U.S. Marine Willy Joseph Cancel was killed Monday while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces during Russia's invasion, his mother, Rebecca Cabrera, told CNN.

The big picture: Cancel, 22, is believed to be the first U.S. citizen killed while fighting in Ukraine.

The body of Vira Hyrych, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist, was found Friday morning after a Russian air strike hit her residential building in Kyiv the night before, the news outlet said Friday.

What they're saying: "We are deeply saddened by the death of our Ukrainian Service staffer Vira Hyrych in Kyiv overnight. We have lost a dear colleague who will be remembered for her professionalism and dedication to our mission," RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said in a statement.

Russia struck the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Thursday with at least two missiles while United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres was in the city meeting Ukrainian officials.

Why it matters: The strikes killed at least one person and injured several others, according to the UN. They came just days after Guterres met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who claimed Russia is still seeking a "diplomatic outcome" in Ukraine and denied that his military has deliberately killed Ukrainian civilians.

Some members of Congress are calling for President Biden to invoke the Defense Production Act amid concern the diversion of Javelin anti-tank and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine could leave the U.S. itself militarily vulnerable.

Why it matters: The president is planning to visit a Lockheed Martin facility in Alabama that makes Javelins next Tuesday. Having a ready supply of such potent and proven weapons is seen as vital not only to Ukraine but to ensuring Taiwan is prepared for a potential Chinese invasion.

Republicans — and independents who lean Republican — are more likely to call China an enemy than Democrats. They're also more likely to describe China’s power and influence as a major threat to the U.S., new data from Pew Research shows.

Why it matters: The partisan split is another divide heading into the midterms. It's being expressed as Americans' view of China grows more and more negative overall.

Authorities in Transnistria reported explosions this week at sites including state security headquarters and radio towers used to broadcast Russian-language news.

The big picture: Transnistria, a breakaway republic that governs a narrow strip of territory on the border with Ukraine, is an international anomaly dating to the breakup of the Soviet Union. It is aligned with Russia and hosts 1,500 Russian troops, but it's internationally recognized as part of Moldova and uses some Moldovan public services.

The war in Ukraine seems to have reached Russian soil: three separate explosions were reported Wednesday at military storage depots, following fires on Monday at two oil storage facilities near the border.

State of play: Footage shared on social media of one of those earlier explosions suggested it was likely an “air or missile strike,” military analyst Rob Lee tweeted. Other fires at sensitive facilities farther from the border are more mysterious still, perhaps resulting from accidents or sabotage.

President Biden's request for an additional $20 billion in military assistance is intended to equip Ukraine for the next five months of war. It's part of a broader mission to ensure "they have what they need to win this war," an administration official told reporters.

The other side: As Western assistance and ambitions grow, the Kremlin and its state media mouthpieces are increasingly framing the “special operation” in the Donbas as an existential battle against NATO — and signaling that they'd prefer to dramatically escalate, rather than lose it.

Mexican moms tired of government inaction have taken on searching for their missing loved ones, even as that increasingly places them in danger.

State of play: Mexico has nearly 100,000 disappeared and missing people, government data from police reports shows, though the real number is likely higher. Family members of the missing say there is no option but to search themselves, accusing the government of inaction.

Catholicism is losing its grip in Latin America as the percentage of people who say they identify as evangelical has grown, data shows.

Why it matters: The Catholic Church has historically influenced Latin American laws and politics. Its decline is starting to impact some countries' policies, even as other faiths grow.

The brother of former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who in 2020 was sentenced by a Russian court to 16 years in prison on spying charges that he and his family said are false, asked the Biden administration for more transparency in prisoner release negotiations.

Why it matters: David Whelan congratulated and thanked the Biden administration for working to free Trevor Reed, another former U.S. Marine, from a Russian prison on Wednesday, but he told CBS News that it needs to be "more transparent and perhaps more realistic" with the families of other Americans falsely imprisoned by adversarial countries.

In a first since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, prosecutors on Thursday filed criminal charges against 10 Russian soldiers accused of war crimes in Bucha, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Driving the news: The soldiers were “involved in torture of peaceful civilians” while occupying Bucha, Ukraine's General Prosecutor Iryna Venediktova said in a social media post. Ukraine said more than 300 people were found dead there this month after Russian forces withdrew from the suburb of Kyiv at the end of March.

While visiting towns around Kyiv on Thursday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, called Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine "an absurdity in the 21st century."

What he's saying: "When I see those destroyed buildings, I must say what I feel," Guterres said. "I imagined my family in one of those houses that is now destroyed and black. I see my granddaughters running away in panic, part of the family eventually killed. So, the war is an absurdity in the 21st century. The war is evil."

The loss of humid tropical rainforests continued at a blistering pace in 2021, contributing 2.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, which is equivalent to the annual fossil fuel co2 emissions of India – the world's fourth largest emitter, an authoritative new report finds.

Why it matters: The report, put together by Global Forest Watch and the University of Maryland, shows the stark challenge of reining in forest loss.

Russia has made about $66 billion in fossil fuel sales in the two months since its forces invaded Ukraine, according to a new study by an independent research group.

Why it matters: The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air's report indicates that Russia has almost doubled its revenues in sales of oil, gas and coal since Putin's forces began attacking Ukraine on Feb. 24, the Guardian notes.

The U.S. has "credible information" that a Russian military unit in Ukraine's Donetsk region "executed Ukrainians who were attempting to surrender, rather than take them into custody," a top American official told the United Nations Wednesday.

What they're saying: "If true, this would be a violation of a core principle of the laws of war," said Beth Van Schaack, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice in remarks to the UN Security Council.

A SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts successfully docked with the International Space Station on Wednesday for a five-month mission.

Why it matters: This is the first NASA crew equally made up of men and women — among them is Jessica Watkins, the first Black woman to take part in a long-term spaceflight, AP reports. She's also the first Black woman to be on an ISS crew, per Space.com and Smithsonian Magazine.

Measles cases jumped 79% globally in 2022 compared to the same period last year, United Nations health experts warned Wednesday.

Why it matters: The rise in January and February "is a worrying sign of a heightened risk for the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases," per a joint statement from the World Health Organization and UNICEF.

The House passed a bill on Wednesday urging President Biden to sell off frozen assets belonging to Russian oligarchs, including a fleet of multimillion-dollar luxury yachts, which have been seized by federal authorities.

Why it matters: The largely symbolic bill passed overwhelmingly 417-8, as both American and European lawmakers confront how to allocate frozen Russian assets following the Kremlin's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the New York Times reports.