MELEKHOVO, Russia (AP) — Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is preparing to hear the verdict Friday in his latest trial on extremism charges.

The prosecution has demanded a 20-year prison sentence, and the politician himself said he expects to receive a lengthy term. If the court finds Navalny guilty, it would be his fifth criminal conviction, all of which his supporters see as a deliberate Kremlin strategy to silence its most ardent opponent.

WASHINGTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Army on Friday became the second branch of the U.S. military to no longer have a Senate-confirmed leader, as a Republican senator continues to block military nominations, a move military leaders said threatens readiness and undermines retention of officers.

Retiring Chief of Staff of the Army General James McConville relinquished command on Friday. It will be the first time in history the U.S. military will have two branches, the Army and the Marine Corps, without a confirmed leader, the Pentagon said.

ST. PETERSBURG, July 29. /TASS/:  Russia received about 30 peace initiatives for a settlement in Ukraine through official and unofficial channels, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the sidelines of the second Russia-Africa summit.

"We are grateful to everyone. There were many such initiatives. It seems to me that a month ago there were already about 30 [initiatives] that were made by public figures through state channels or even in some private way," the diplomat noted.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 4 (NNN-XINHUA) — A UN official on Thursday called for a reinvigorated multilateral system for peace in order to address the root causes of hunger.

A quarter billion people suffered from acute food insecurity last year, the highest number recorded in recent years. Of these people, some 376,000 were facing famine-like conditions in seven countries. Another 35 million people were on the edge. As in all crisis situations, women and children are the most impacted, said UN Famine Prevention and Response Coordinator Reena Ghelani.

02 August 2023; MEMO: Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard launched a surprise military drill Wednesday on disputed islands in the Persian Gulf as the US military increased its presence in the region, AP reports.

According to the report, the elite force ran the drills mainly off the coast of Abu Musa which, along with Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb, are islands in the Gulf that Iran controls but have recently been increasingly the subject of political tensions.

ISLAMABAD, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) has launched the South Asian country's first-ever Chinese news service to further promote friendly relations between Pakistan and China.

The newly launched service would publish international, domestic and China-related news in the Chinese language, editors at the China News Desk told Xinhua Thursday.

03 August 2023; MEMO: Turkiye has appointed a woman as an Admiral for the first time in Turkish Naval Forces history, following a Supreme Military Council meeting Thursday, Anadolu Agency reports.

Staff Colonel, Gokcen Firat Yas, will become Rear Admiral in the Turkish Naval Forces.

The decision came after the closed-door meeting that was chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean police detained a man suspected of stabbing a high school teacher with a knife Friday in the city of Daejeon. The stabbing follows a separate, apparently random attack on Thursday in which 14 people were wounded near a busy subway station in Seongnam.

Officials at the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency didn’t immediately release the personal details of the suspect in the Friday morning attack on the teacher at Songchon High School, describing him only as a man in his late 20s.

NEW DELHI, Aug 4 (Reuters) - India's top court suspended opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi's defamation conviction on Friday, allowing him to return to parliament and contest national elections due next year.

Gandhi was convicted in March in a case brought by a lawmaker from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the western state of Gujarat over comments he made in 2019 deemed insulting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others with the same name, including the lawmaker.

MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/: The Ukrainian military has lost over 43,000 troops and about 5,000 items of military hardware, including 26 combat aircraft and 25 Leopard tanks since it launched its counteroffensive, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported on Friday.

"The Ukrainian army’s losses in combat operations already exceeded 43,000 personnel in June-July since the Kiev regime launched its so-called offensive," the spokesman said.

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday he hopes to discuss further strengthening of three-way strategic cooperation with leaders of the United States and South Korea at a summit hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden at Camp David later this month.

The Aug. 18 summit with Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is the first stand-alone summit among leaders of the three countries, not in connection with international meetings.

TBILISI, Aug 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least six people have been killed by a landslide in the western Georgian region of Racha, the interior ministry said on Friday.

“So far, six bodies have been found during the search and rescue operation,” the ministry said in a post on social media.

It said in an earlier post that rescue efforts were underway and that 140 people had been evacuated. Two helicopters and rescue dogs were involved in the search efforts.

The landslide took place in Shovi, a small resort area in Georgia’s mountainous northwest.