Nearly 90 countries and organizations, half from Europe, have confirmed attending the Swiss-hosted Ukraine peace summit over the weekend despite Russia's refusal to participate, Switzerland's president said Monday.

Viola Amherd told reporters in the Swiss capital, Bern, that the summit, on Saturday and Sunday, will aim to chart a path toward possible peace nearly 28 months after Russian forces invaded Ukraine and the war grinding on.

Ukraine may keep some of the F-16 fighter jets it's set to receive from its Western allies at foreign bases to protect them from Russian strikes, a senior Ukrainian military officer said Monday.

Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have committed to providing Ukraine with over 60 U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to help it fend off Russian attacks. Ukrainian pilots are currently undergoing training to fly the warplanes ahead of the deliveries expected to start later this year.

Nearly 400 million European Union citizens have been going to polls this week to elect members of the European Parliament, or MEPs, in one of the biggest global democratic events.

Far-right parties are seeking to gain more power amid a rise in the cost of living and farmers' discontent, while the wars in Gaza and Ukraine stay on the minds of voters.

Iran's Guardian Council has approved the country's hard-line parliament speaker and five others to run in the country's June 28 presidential election following a helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others.

The council again barred former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a firebrand populist known for the crackdown that followed his disputed 2009 re-election, from running.

Far-right parties made big gains in the European Parliament in election results that rattled the traditional powers and made French President Emmanuel Macron call snap legislative elections.

Macron's party suffered a heavy defeat from the far-right National Rally party, while in Germany support for Olaf Scholz's center-left Social Democrats sank to a projected 14%, behind the extreme-right Alternative for Germany, which surged into second place.

Fresh from declaring victory in India's election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered few details on the agenda for his third term, but went out of his way to underline he would continue to focus on raising the country's military preparedness and clout.

That should come as good news to the United States and its other allies, as they focus increasingly on keeping China's sweeping maritime claims and growingly assertive behavior in the Indo-Pacific region in check.

Federal prosecutors are wrapping up their gun case against Hunter Biden, with two more witnesses expected Friday in their effort to prove to jurors that the president's son lied on a mandatory gun purchase form when he said he wasn't "an unlawful user of, or addicted to" drugs.

Prosecutors were still planning to call a drug expert and an FBI chemist, capping a week that has been largely dedicated to highlighting the seriousness of his drug problem through highly personal and sometimes salacious testimony.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday for the first time publicly apologized to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a monthslong holdup in American military assistance that let Russia make gains on the battlefield.

Speaking in Paris, where they both attended ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Biden told Zelensky that he apologized to the Ukrainian people for the weeks of not knowing if more assistance would come while Congress waited six months before sending Biden a $61 billion military aid package for Ukraine.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to address a joint meeting of Congress on July 24, setting the stage for what is expected to be a contentious speech at a crucial moment for the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Congressional leaders confirmed the date of the address late Thursday after formally inviting Netanyahu to come speak before lawmakers last week. It is the most recent show of wartime support for the longtime ally despite mounting political divisions over Israel's military assault on Hamas in Gaza.

A contingent of U.S. lawmakers from the House of Representatives is preparing for a commemorative parachute jump at Normandy marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the historic assault that launched the end of World War II.

Organized by Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., the bipartisan group is expected to include 10 congressmen, all veterans themselves, making the trek to France to honor and pay tribute Friday to the U.S. and Allied troops at a defining moment at home and abroad.