The U.S. is "deeply troubled by the images of Israeli police intruding into the funeral procession" of Palestinian American Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Jerusalem on Friday, Secretary of State Tony Blinken said in a statement.
Driving the news: Footage aired live on Al Jazeera shows Israeli police beating Palestinian mourners, including some carrying the coffin of Abu Akleh, with batons and firing stun grenades as they tried to leave a Jerusalem hospital at the start of the procession.
Israeli police beat mourners carrying the casket of Shireen Abu Akleh during the start of the Palestinian American journalist's funeral procession on Friday.
The big picture: The death of the veteran Al Jazeera journalist, who was shot dead Wednesday while covering an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, sent shockwaves throughout the Middle East and across the rest of the world.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke Friday with Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu in the leaders' first conversation since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
Driving the news: Austin "urged an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication," Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said in a statement.
Group of 7 nations should seize Russian assets and hand them over to Ukraine to help the country's rebuilding effort, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters Friday.
Driving the news: The cost of the ongoing war has already topped $94 billion worth of direct damage to civilian and military infrastructure in Ukraine and leeched hundreds of billions of dollars from the country's economy.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Friday that his government does not support Finland and Sweden joining NATO, claiming the Scandinavian countries are home to Kurdish "terrorist organizations."
Why it matters: A formal objection by Turkey would derail Finland and Sweden's expected NATO applications, which must be approved by all 30 NATO allies. Finland's leaders on Thursday officially expressed support for applying to NATO "without delay," while Sweden's ruling party is expected to follow suit on Sunday.
United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan died Friday at the age of 73, state media reported.
The big picture: Sheikh Khalifa had rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2014. His brother, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, has been considered the de facto ruler of the country since then.
Senior U.S. officials are huddling weekly to assess and share information on the environmental threats Ukraine faces due to Russia's invasion, Axios has learned.
The goal of the interagency group, which is comprised of 21 federal agencies, is to assist the Ukrainian government with tracking and mitigating environmental hazards, some of which could last for years after fighting ends.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's rumored mistress, Alina Kabaeva, is among the targets of a new round of sanctions announced by U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Friday, aimed at Putin's inner circle.
Why it matters: The U.K.'s decision to sanction Kabaeva, a former Olympic gymnast, comes several weeks after U.S. officials made a "last-minute" decision to exclude her from U.S. sanctions for fear of further escalating tensions between the U.S. and Moscow, the Wall Street Journal reported.
President Biden is hosting the leaders of eight countries in Southeast Asia on Thursday and Friday, underscoring the importance of the region by holding a summit with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the White House for the first time.
Why it matters: Home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies and most contested waters, Southeast Asia is an epicenter of U.S.-China competition.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Bolivian President Luis Arce have threatened to reject Biden's invitation to the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles on June 6–10 if the leaders of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela are excluded.
Why it matters:Last held in 2018 and returning to U.S. soil for the first time since 1994, the Summit of the Americas is the preeminent gathering of regional leaders — but López Obrador and Arce aren't the only ones considering skipping it.
The cost of direct damage to civilian and military infrastructure in Ukraine since the war began totals more than $94 billion, according to an analysis of public sources by the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE).
Why it matters: The sheer scale of destruction is sometimes overshadowed by the media and government's intense focus on territorial gains and human atrocities. The tally is another index of the challenge Ukraine will face to rebound — whenever the shooting stops.
