Russian President Vladimir Putin struck a dark tone during his lengthy, rambling press conference following nearly four hours of talks with President Joe Biden in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday. 

When asked whether the meeting had helped build trust between the leaders, Putin turned philosophical. 

"There's no happiness in life," Putin said. "There's only a mirage on the horizon, so we'll cherish that."

He added, "but I believe there's a spark of hope in [Biden's] eyes." 

The Israeli military has launched airstrikes on the Palestinian territory of Gaza in response to reports of "incendiary balloons," according to news reports.

The strikes come just days after Naftali Bennett took over as Israeli prime minister, unseating Benjamin Netanyahu, and weeks after an Israeli campaign killed more than 200 Palestinians, including over 60 children.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it had attacked Hamas compounds in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported. The statement said Israeli stands "ready for all scenarios, including renewed fighting in the face of continued terrorist acts emanating from Gaza."

No Palestinians have been reported injured thus far, according to the BBC, which cited Hamas-affiliated media.

An Insider investigation has found that California's highest-ranking education official and leading public universities worked closely with a swaggering entrepreneur to give special accommodations to students at a private high school for elite families in China. UC Irvine offered summer school programs specially arranged for students at the private academy in Qingdao, China, dispatched admissions staffers to its campus to talk to students and their parents, and reported on the students' progress through the admissions cycle. At UC Riverside, the ties were even closer: The university pledged to work with the school's students to help them become competitive applicants and offered them special permission to submit applications even after the deadline had passed. The superintendent of a Southern California school district that worked with the Chinese school publicly proclaimed that UC Riverside guaranteed admission to all of its graduates, according to...

"The White House didn't ask for anything. There were no conditions attached, but my condition … was that all I'm asking for you guys to do is say thank you," Darrell Scott, Trump's representative, said he told the rapper's manager, according to the same Yahoo report.

In the documentary, the A$AP Mob member reflected on being bailed out of jail and revealed his true concerns with Trump's involvement in the process.

"It was a chess move and they tried to strong-arm a lot," he said in the film, according to Rolling Stone. "In reality, I had no problem saying thank you to the man, especially if he helped me. That's the narrative they pushin': That he got me out. And he didn't free me. If anything, he made it a little worse."

"I kinda was scared that Trump was going to fuck it up," he added. "But then on the other hand, I'm just like, 'That's what's up, man.'"