Veteran Labour Party politician and popular former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is set to become Britain's next prime minister on Monday, formally taking over from Keir Starmer, who announced his resignation last month.

Burnham was the only candidate to secure enough support from his fellow Labour lawmakers to replace Starmer as leader of the governing party. Because Labour holds a majority in government, its leader also becomes the U.K. prime minister.

It took Andy Burnham a long time to get to the top. He won't have much time to prove he's up to the job.

A decade ago, Burnham abandoned a 20-year climb up the Labour Party ladder in London to head north and run for mayor of Greater Manchester. A month ago, he returned to Parliament by winning a risky special election. On Monday, he will become Britain's 59th prime minister.

Ukraine fired more than 400 drones toward Moscow in its latest major attack on the Russian capital, the city's mayor said Monday.

The blitz came hours after Russia bombarded Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with ballistic missiles in a relentless cycle of tit-for-tat strikes that make a settlement to end Moscow's more than 4-year-old all-out invasion appear a distant possibility.

Russia attacked Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with ballistic missiles, drones and guided bombs Sunday, killing at least six people and wounding dozens, authorities said, again highlighting Ukraine's shortage of U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems.

Moscow has in recent weeks stepped up its use of ballistic missiles as it seeks to choke off Ukrainian strikes on oil facilities deep inside Russia that have caused critical fuel shortages affecting both the military and the civilian population.

U.S. President Donald Trump will bask in the spotlight at the World Cup final on Sunday -- after already providing one of the tournament's most controversial moments.

The United States said airstrikes on Sunday aimed to "punish" Iran over the first U.S. military deaths since renewed hostilities with the Islamic republic.

Iran rapidly announced its own retaliation, saying two U.S. bases in Kuwait were targeted in response to more than a week of intensifying attacks -- which Tehran said included strikes on an airport, a railway station and bridges.

Hostilities in the Middle East intensified on Saturday after a seventh straight night of U.S. attacks on Iran, with Tehran threatening a "full-scale offensive" in response and the strategic Strait of Hormuz remaining virtually closed.

Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight killed at least four civilians and wounded 20 other people, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, as he faces a political crisis after firing his popular defense minister.

Zelensky's major reshuffle of his government on Thursday, which included the appointment of a new prime minister, unsettled the country's military leadership and trigged a public outcry. It was an unwelcome difficulty after Ukraine has gained traction in its fight against Russia's more than 4-year-old invasion.

Deadly U.S. strikes overnight hit an airport, a railway station in the port city of Bandar Abbas and two bridges in southern Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media said Friday.

Pakistan said on Thursday it would encourage the United States and Iran to stop violence and resume talks under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) it helped mediate last month.