The Brief

Rescuers freed two more workers Friday from a flooded hydropower tunnel in Nepal, bringing to three the number pulled out alive in recent days, CBS News and PBS NewsHour reported, more than 10 days after catastrophic floods hit the region.

Nepal's flood death toll has passed 1,331, with people still missing on both sides of the border with China, Al Jazeera reported. Fewer than one in 10 recovered bodies has been formally identified, and some relatives have held cremations without a body.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow on Friday for talks aimed at reviving efforts to end the war in Ukraine. A Kremlin aide described the discussions as "very frank and constructive," and the envoys were due to travel on to Kyiv next, the BBC and Al Jazeera reported. Putin, greeting the envoys on camera, said the situation "is not so easy."

Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to pause strikes on each other's capitals for three days during the talks, CBS News and PBS NewsHour reported. Even so, Al Jazeera reported at least five people were killed in Russian attacks elsewhere in Ukraine.

Israel's Defense Ministry said its forces had taken operational control of the Ali al-Taher ridge in southern Lebanon, a strategic highland that has seen daily Israeli shelling and airstrikes in recent weeks, Al Jazeera reported. Hezbollah had not commented on the claim.

The fighting marks a sharp escalation months after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, PBS NewsHour reported, with Hezbollah repeatedly attacking Israeli forces in the area using drones.

U.S. Central Command said it struck three Iranian oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman and near Iran's Kharg Island on Saturday, destroying one, after Iran launched ballistic missiles at a U.S. aircraft carrier and a destroyer. The Navy ships evaded the missiles, CENTCOM said, adding that the tankers were helping finance Iran's "regional proxies."

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it fired fresh missile salvoes at U.S. warships in response to what it called an American naval blockade, as the standoff around the Strait of Hormuz intensified. The renewed fighting has pushed U.S. gasoline and diesel prices higher and comes a day after President Trump played down the conflict as "small potatoes," NPR and PBS NewsHour reported.

Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is projected to take power in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt in this weekend's election, which would be the first time a far-right party has held state-level power in Germany since World War Two, according to the BBC, NPR and Al Jazeera. Polls had suggested the party could win an outright majority.

The state's own intelligence agency has classified the AfD's Saxony-Anhalt branch as a racist extremist group, CBS News reported.

The United Nations has backed a new world map that depicts Africa at its true relative size, moving away from the long-used Mercator projection that visually shrinks the continent, the BBC and NPR reported. The Togo-sponsored resolution was supported by 164 nations.

The United States was the only country to vote against the measure.