The United Nations has warned that the increasing intensity of exchanges between Hezbollah and Israel “heightens the risk of a full-scale war.”

“Escalation can and must be avoided,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Participants delighted the crowds as they raced in high heels through Madrid's Chueca neighborhood during Pride Week.

In the heart of the city's gay district, competitors in vibrant footwear elicited cheers and applause Thursday as they crossed the finish line.

Stung by past failures to prepare for hurricanes, the Mexican government on Wednesday began evacuating even sea turtle eggs from beaches ahead of Hurricane Beryl.

While Beryl remains far offshore in the Caribbean near Jamaica, it is expected to hit somewhere south of Cancun by late Thursday or early Friday.

The return to Cambodia this week of 14 sculptures that had been looted from the country during a period of war and unrest is like welcoming home the souls of ancestors, Cambodia's culture minister said Thursday.

The items repatriated from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Ar t arrived Wednesday and were displayed to journalists and VIPs on Thursday at the National Museum in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.

Jin, the oldest member of K-pop supergroup BTS, will be an Olympic torchbearer at the Paris games after recently completing his mandatory military service.

The 31-year-old singer is expected to represent South Korea in the torch relay in hopes of spreading the message of "harmony" and "peace," according to a statement. He finished his 18-month military service last month.

Around 134 million people in the U.S. are under alerts as an "extremely dangerous and record-breaking" heat wave broils much of the country, according to the National Weather Service.

Pope Francis will preside over an interfaith meeting in a mosque in the world's largest predominantly Muslim country during a four-nation Asian visit in September that will be the longest and most complicated foreign trip of his pontificate.

The Vatican on Friday released the itinerary for Francis' Sept. 2-13 trip to Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Singapore. The packed schedule makes clear that the 87-year-old pontiff, who has battled health problems and is increasingly reliant on a wheelchair, has no plans to slow down.

Months of scorching temperatures sometimes over 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in parts of India this year — its worst heat wave in over a decade — left hundreds dead or ill. But the official number of deaths listed in government reports barely scratches the surface of the true toll and that's affecting future preparations for similar swelters, according to public health experts.

India now has a bit of respite from the intense heat, and a different set of extreme weather problems as monsoon rain lashes the northeast, but for months the extreme heat took a toll on large swaths of the country, particularly in northern India, where government officials reported at least 110 heat-related deaths.

Shares advanced Friday in Europe after Britain's Labour Party prevailed over the Conservatives in this week's national election.

In London, the FTSE 100 climbed 0.3% to 8,264.59. The British pound rose to $1.2779 from $1.2760 late Thursday. The euro rose to $1.0830 from $1.0812.

Tsenguun Saruulsaikhan, a young and newly minted member of Mongolia's parliament, is unhappy with below-cost electricity rates that she says show her country has yet to fully shake off its socialist past.

Most of Mongolia's power plants date from the Soviet era and outages are common in some areas. Heavy smog envelops the capital Ulaanbaata r in the winter because many people still burn coal to heat their homes.