Western officials are hoping for progress this weekend in EU-mediated talks between Serbian and Kosovo leaders. These represent another attempt to defuse decades of tensions between the Balkan neighbors and wartime foes. Serbia's president and Kosovo's prime minister are to meet on Saturday at North Macedonia's lakeside resort of Ohrid. They tentatively agreed last month to the wording of an 11-point EU plan to normalize relations following their 1998-1999 war and Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008. Solving the longstanding dispute has become more important as war rages in Ukraine and fears mount that Russia could try to stir instability in the volatile Balkan region where it holds historic influence.

The International Criminal Court says it has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. It was the first time the global court has issued a warrant against one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. The warrant Friday also was for the arrest of Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Putin's office, on similar allegations. A possible trial of any Russians at the ICC remains a long way off. Moscow does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction or extradite its nationals.

Coils of red-robed and white-capped women are becoming ominous fixtures of the mass anti-government protests roiling Israel. Heads bowed and hands clasped, they are dressed as characters from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and are growing in numbers as the protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policies intensify. They say they are trying to ward off what they believe will be a dark future — much like the novel's chilling dystopia where women are stripped of their rights — if the government follows through on its plan to overhaul the judiciary.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has signed a bill that will restrict electric car manufacturers from selling vehicles in person unless they open franchised dealerships. Reeves enacted the measure into law Tuesday despite calls from some fellow Republicans in the Legislature to veto it. The law will force electric car companies to sell vehicles through franchises rather than company-owned stores. Reeves says small dealerships in the state are seeking assurances that big manufacturers like Tesla don't retain a competitive advantage. Republican opponents say the law will interfere with the automobile market and stop electric carmakers from bringing new technology and jobs to the state.

The U.S. military said a Russian warplane struck the propeller of a U.S. drone over the Black Sea, causing America forces to bring the unmanned aircraft down in international waters. The U.S. European Command said two Russian Su-27 fighter jets “conducted an unsafe and unprofessional intercept” of the MQ-9 drone in international airspace over the Black Sea. The State Department called it a “brazen violation of international law.” Moscow said the U.S. drone maneuvered sharply and crashed into water following an encounter with Russian fighter jets scrambled to intercept it near Crimea, but insisted its warplanes didn’t fire their weapons or hit the drone.

President Xi Jinping is calling for China to play a bigger role in managing global affairs after Beijing scored a diplomatic coup by hosting talks that produced an agreement by Saudi Arabia and Iran to reopen diplomatic relations. Xi spoke Monday following a legislative session that installed a government of loyalists to tighten his control over the economy and society. Xi gave no details of the ruling Communist Party's ambitions abroad. But his government has pressed for changes in the International Monetary Fund and other entities that it complains fail to reflect the needs and desires of developing countries.

News of the rapprochement between long-time regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran sent shock waves through the Middle East and dealt a symbolic blow to Israel's prime minister. Benjamin Netanyahu had made the threat posed by Tehran a public diplomacy priority and personal crusade. The Iran-Saudi deal came after more than a year of negotiations in Baghdad and more recent talks in China. The breakthrough also became ensnared in Israel’s internal politics, reflecting the country’s divisions at a moment of national turmoil. In countries like Yemen and Syria, long caught between the Sunni kingdom and the Shiite powerhouse, the deal stirred cautious optimism.

German police say shots were fired inside a building used by Jehovah’s Witnesses in the northern German city of Hamburg and an unspecified number of people were killed and wounded. The shooting took place Thursday evening in the Gross Borstel district, a few kilometers (miles) north of the downtown area of Germany’s second-biggest city. Police say that several people were seriously wounded, some of them fatally, but haven’t given a precise figure. They say there is no immediate indication a shooter is on the run, and it appeared likely that the perpetrator or perpetrators were either in the building or among the dead.

A letter claiming to be from the Mexican drug cartel blamed for abducting four Americans and killing two of them condemns the violence and says the gang turned its own members who were responsible over to authorities. In a letter obtained by The Associated Press through a Tamaulipas state law enforcement source, the Scorpions faction of the Gulf cartel apologized to the residents of Matamoros where the Americans were kidnapped, the Mexican woman who died in the cartel shootout and the four Americans and their families. Drug cartels have been known to issue comuniques to intimidate rivals and authorities, but also at times like these to do some public relations work to try to smooth over situations that could affect their business.