GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) – Israel declared Gaza’s largest city a dangerous combat zone and recovered the remains of two hostages on Friday as the army launched the “initial stages” of a planned offensive that has drawn international condemnation. As the military announced the resumption of fighting, health officials said the death toll in Gaza has risen to 63,025.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – Three young sisters have died after an overcrowded rubber dinghy took on water in bad weather while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Italy, a German nonprofit organization reported Sunday.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – The death toll in a major Russian missile and drone strike on the Ukrainian capital rose to 23, including four children, officials said Friday, as U.S.-led efforts to end the three-year war remain stuck in apparent limbo. Authorities in the Kyiv region declared Friday an official day of mourning. Flags flew at half-staff and all entertainment events were canceled.

CAIRO (AP) – Sudan’s notorious paramilitary forces attacked a group of people on a road in the country’s troubled Darfur region on Sunday, killing at least 13, mostly women and children, a medical group said.

Stocks lost ground on Wall Street a day after the market hit its latest all-time highs. The S&P 500 fell 0.6% Friday. The index ended August up 1.9%, its fourth straight month of gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 92 points, or 0.2%. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.2%.

ROME (AP) – Pope Leo XIV strongly affirmed the rights of the weakest against the ambitions of the powerful during an audience Saturday with exiled refugees from Chagos, the contested Indian Ocean archipelago that is home to the strategic U.S.-U.K. military base, Diego Garcia.

BRUSSELS (AP) – European defense ministers pledged Friday to ramp up support for Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia, a day after a Russian air assault on Kyiv killed 23 people and badly damaged a European diplomatic compound. Outrage over the attack propelled Europe’s leaders to increase support for Ukraine’s military and membership in the European Union.

GOMA, Congo (AP) – Congo’s public prosecutor on Friday asked for the death penalty for former President Joseph Kabila, who is being tried in absentia in a treason case that includes war crimes charges related to his nearly 20-year rule of the West African nation.