DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As tensions with Iran have escalated over its nuclear program, the U.S. military this month posted pictures of a powerful bomb designed to penetrate deep into the earth and destroy underground facilities that could be used to enrich uranium.

The U.S. Air Force on May 2 released rare images of the weapon, the GBU-57, known as the “Massive Ordnance Penetrator.” Then it took the photos down — apparently because the photographs revealed sensitive details about the weapon’s composition and punch.

BOCA RATON, Florida, May 22 (Reuters) - Ukrainian-American businessman Lev Parnas and his business partner were arrested in 2019, accused by the U.S. government of funneling a Russian oligarch’s money into American political campaigns. One recipient of Parnas’ donations -- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis -- has said he was barely an acquaintance.

22 May 2023; MEMO: Iran on Sunday welcomed back a Navy flotilla comprising Moudge-class frigate Dena and Makran forward base ship after a round-the-world cruise amid tensions with the US, Anadolu reports.

At a ceremony held in the southern coastal city of Bandar Abbas, the crew members of the Iranian Navy's 86th flotilla were received by top Iranian army officials, including chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri.

21 May 2023; MEMO: Tens of thousands of Israelis joined protests across the country, now entering their 20th week, on Saturday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's contested plans to tighten controls on the Supreme Court, Reuters reports.

The planned overhaul, which would give the government control over naming judges to the Supreme Court and let parliament override many rulings, was paused after opponents organised some of the biggest street protests ever seen in Israel.

LONDON (AP) — The European Union slapped Meta with a record $1.3 billion privacy fine Monday and ordered it to stop transferring user data across the Atlantic by October, the latest salvo in a decadelong case sparked by U.S. cybersnooping fears.

The penalty of 1.2 billion euros is the biggest since the EU’s strict data privacy regime took effect five years ago, surpassing Amazon’s 746 million euro fine in 2021 for data protection violations.

May 22 (Reuters) - The inflation wave that crested at a 40-year high last year and remains elevated has eroded U.S. households' sense of financial security, the Federal Reserve reported Monday, with many saying they had reduced their savings to make ends meet, felt less secure about retirement, and had delayed purchases or swapped into cheaper products as they shopped.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s first astronauts in decades rocketed toward the International Space Station on a chartered multimillion-dollar flight Sunday.

SpaceX launched the ticket-holding crew, led by a retired NASA astronaut now working for the company that arranged the trip from Kennedy Space Center. Also on board: a U.S. businessman who now owns a sports car racing team.

The four should reach the space station in their capsule Monday morning; they’ll spend just over a week there before returning home with a splashdown off the Florida coast.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Joe Biden embarks on his reelection campaign, just 33% of American adults say they approve of his handling of the economy and only 24% say national economic conditions are in good shape, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

CANBERRA, Australia: (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was working in the “most effective way possible” to secure the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, but declined an invitation Monday to meet the Australian citizen’s wife.

Independent lawmaker Andrew Wilkie asked Albanese if he would meet Assange’s wife Stella Assange, who was watching Parliament from the public gallery. Albanese said a meeting with Stella Assange wouldn’t help her 51-year-old husband who is in a London prison fighting extradition to the United States.

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis will travel to Portugal for World Youth Day in the first week of August and include a stop at the popular Marian shrine in Fatima, the Vatican said Monday.

The Aug. 2-6 visit is longer than originally expected and covers almost the entire week of the big Catholic rally that St. John Paul II inaugurated to try to invigorate young people in their faith.

BEIJING, May 22 (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry on Monday urged the United States to have the right understanding of China, meet it halfway and bring bilateral relations back on track.

Mao Ning, a ministry spokesperson, made the remarks in response to U.S. President Joe Biden suggesting that a shift in U.S.-China relations could occur soon.

KINGSTON (Jamaica), May 22 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Britain Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is visiting countries across Latin America, Colombia, Chile and Brazil, and Jamaica in the Caribbean over the next 7 days to renew the UK’s relationship with the influential region.

Cleverly arrived in Jamaica on May 18, on the first leg of a 4-country trip that will focus on climate, democracy, and the links between our people.