Representatives for former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris ‘ transition teams met for the first time at the White House, the Biden administration announced Wednesday, as the outgoing administration plans to smooth the handoff to whomever wins in November.

Modi will be in the U.S. this weekend, where he is slated to attend the Quad Leaders Summit in Wilmington, Delaware that is being hosted by President Joe Biden.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed frustration Wednesday at surprise escalations that threaten to derail efforts to broker a cease-fire deal in Gaza, noting that the United States is assessing a deadly attack that caused pagers used by Hezbollah to explode in Lebanon.

It is unclear how the unprecedented attack was carried out, but security experts said the shipment of pagers may have been implanted with explosives and set off remotely. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied any role in the incident.

Ukrainian drones struck a large military depot in a town deep inside Russia overnight, causing a huge fire and forcing some residents to evacuate, a Ukrainian official and Russian news reports said Wednesday. At least 13 people were injured.

Several Central European nations have been hit by severe flooding, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania as a result of heavy rainfall in the region last Thursday.

A Chinese aircraft carrier entered an area near Japan’s shores for the first time on Wednesday, leading Tokyo to convey its “serious concerns” to Beijing over China’s increasingly assertive military actions.

An investigation is underway into an allegation of abuse at a Child Development Center at Sagamihara Family Housing Area, about 2½ miles from Camp Zama.

Walkie-talkies and solar equipment exploded in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon on Wednesday in an apparent second wave of attacks targeting devices a day after pagers used by Hezbollah blew up, state media and officials for the militant group said. At least 20 people were killed and more than 450 wounded in the second wave, the Health Ministry said.

Israel rarely takes responsibility for attacks like the near-simultaneous explosion of hundreds of pagers used by Hezbollah members, and its military has declined to comment. However, the country has a long history of carrying out sophisticated remote operations.

The United States plans to sell Taiwan spare aircraft parts and related military equipment worth an estimated $228 million, according to statements this week from both countries.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels shot down two American MQ-9 Reaper drones in under a week, the United States military acknowledged Wednesday, further highlighting the regional spread of the Israel-Hamas war.

One of Japan’s largest warships, modified to carry fifth-generation fighters, is expected in California later this year for a test run.

Explosive ordnance technicians recently removed an unexploded World War II-era Japanese grenade from a construction site at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles on the final day of a three-day thanksgiving holiday, according to the South’s military.

The Federal Aviation Administration wants to fine SpaceX $633,009 for allegedly failing to follow launch rules, drawing an online rebuke from Elon Musk, the spaceflight company’s billionaire founder whom Donald Trump has said he would consider appointing to fight regulations in a Trump administration.

The U.S. military community is celebrating the day the U.S. Air Force became an independent branch of the military. The USAF has been the world’s most powerful air force for its entire history — and it has plans to stay that way.

A military court in Congo had handed down death sentences last Friday to 37 people, including three Americans. Fourteen people were acquitted in the trial.

Authorities shifted their strategy Tuesday while trying to track down an interstate highway shooter in Kentucky, pulling searchers from the woods to bolster patrols in communities near where the gunman opened fire, hitting a dozen vehicles and wounding five people.