U.S. President Donald J. Trump was to address a crowd on the National Mall, the tree-lined national park in downtown Washington seen as “America’s front yard,” to celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday amid political controversy and a searing heat wave.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Friday that Russian forces had completed the capture of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, marking what Moscow described as a major milestone in the war, although Ukraine had not confirmed the claim and independent verification was not immediately possible.

Government delegations from China, Russia, India, Pakistan and Iraq arrived in Tehran on Friday, where the body of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lay in state.

Moldovan Prime Minister Alexandru Munteanu announced Friday that he was stepping down, triggering the resignation of his government in the strategically located nation sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania that has been a European Union candidate country since November 2025.

At least 40 people were killed and eight others injured early Friday after a speeding, overcrowded passenger bus plunged about 20 meters (70 feet) into a rocky ravine in southwestern Pakistan, officials said.

Authorities say the main suspect in a Monaco bomb attack this week that seriously injured a Ukraine-born business tycoon, his partner, and their 13-year-old son is a Ukrainian woman living in Germany who disguised herself as a man.

Indonesia’s military confirmed Friday it had recovered the body of an American mission pilot who was shot dead by separatist rebels in the country’s restive eastern Papua region, as the U.S. government said it was closely monitoring the investigation.

The U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly dipped to 4.2 percent in June, even as hiring slowed sharply and employers added far fewer jobs than economists had forecast, according to new Labor Department data released Thursday.

Despite the looming 2026 midterm elections and the growing list of congressional responsibilities, a persistent group of Republicans are vowing to obstruct all U.S. House business until leadership effectively forces the Senate to take up a voter ID bill.

Iran’s military command warned the United States and Israel on Thursday against launching any new attack as the Islamic Republic prepares a massive state funeral for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in Israeli airstrikes on February 28 at the opening of the war.