UAE court sentences 3 people to death in killing of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Kogan

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A court in the United Arab Emirates has sentenced three people to death for the killing of Israeli-Moldovan Zvi Kogan, state media reported Monday. The state-run WAM news agency announced the verdicts of the three after a trial in Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeals’ State Security Chamber. It said a fourth person who aided the killing received a life sentence. It did not identify those charged. However, three Uzbek nationals had been arrested in Turkey and brought back to the UAE over the killing in November.

Quake compounds Myanmar’s humanitarian crisis as the death toll passes 2,000

BANGKOK (AP) — The death toll in last week’s massive earthquake in Myanmar has passed 2,000. That’s according to state media on Monday. Two hundred Buddhist monks were crushed by a collapsing monastery. Fifty children were killed when a preschool classroom crumbled. Seven hundred Muslims died while praying at mosques for Ramadan. Myanmar was already one of the world’s most challenging places for humanitarian organizations to operate because of civil war that displaced millions of people. The United Nations and others want fighting to stop to allow more help. Relief efforts after the 7.7 magnitude quake are also hampered by power outages, fuel shortages and spotty communications.

A Kremlin official says Russia sees efforts to end Ukraine war as a drawn-out process

(AP) — A Kremlin spokesman says Russia views efforts to end its three-year war with Ukraine as “a drawn-out process,” after U.S. President Donald Trump expressed frustration with the two countries’ leaders as he tries to bring about a truce. Dmitry Peskov said attempts to secure a settlement that stops the fighting are “ongoing” and that President Vladimir Putin is ready to speak to Trump. Russia has effectively rejected a U.S. proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting. The feasibility of a partial ceasefire on the Black Sea, used by both countries to transport shipments of grain and other cargo, was cast into doubt after Kremlin negotiators imposed far-reaching conditions.

Israeli military orders the evacuation of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military has issued sweeping evacuation orders covering Rafah. It indicates it could soon launch another major ground operation in the southernmost city in Gaza. Israel ended its ceasefire with the Hamas militant group and renewed its air and ground war earlier this month. It also cut off all supplies of food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid to the territory’s roughly 2 million Palestinians to pressure Hamas to accept proposed changes to the truce agreement. The new evacuation orders came during Eid al-Fitr, a normally festive Muslim holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.