MOSCOW (AP) – President Vladimir Putin hosted leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Wednesday as Russia seeks to bolster business and other ties with the nations of the regional bloc.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Senior U.S. officials dictated the memorandum of understanding with Iran to journalists Wednesday after days of secrecy, and Iran suggested that its deal with the United States could be signed by Presidents Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian.

Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) – Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip have killed 1,005 Palestinians since a ceasefire was reached between Israel and the militant group Hamas last October, the Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Most Americans believe civil liberties like the right to vote are under threat, according to a new AP-NORC poll, while also continuing to agree that the rights expressed in the nation’s founding documents are still core to American identity.

OSLO, Norway (AP) – Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway has undergone a successful lung transplant at a hospital in Oslo, the country’s royal house said Wednesday.

NEW YORK (AP) – U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week refused to release a cruise ship passenger exposed to hantavirus in early May from a quarantine facility in Nebraska, despite a federal medical review that said there’s no need to confine her far from her Florida home.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Iran’s top diplomat said Tuesday that the tentative deal to end the war with the United States would require Israel to withdraw from Lebanon – a condition Israel has already rejected and that could sink the agreement, leading to the resumption of all-out war.