BEIRUT — Syrian government forces closed the only road leading into and out of rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, besieging hundreds of thousands of people and giving President Bashar Assad's forces one of their biggest successes since the five-year conflict began.

Sunday's push raised worries among the city's civilian population of a humanitarian crisis as many feared food and medicine will run out in Aleppo within a short time.

The siege marks the biggest victory for the government in Aleppo since rebels captured parts of the city in the summer of 2012. Aleppo, Syria's former commercial center and the country's largest city, has been divided and contested since then.

Aleppo and its suburbs have seen intense fighting in recent months, with Syrian troops and their allies advancing with the aid of Russian airstrikes. Earlier this year the government launched a large-scale offensive that captured much of the city's northern outskirts.

The capture of the road came as Russia and the United States, who support rival parties in the conflict, are negotiating a possible military partnership over Syria. Both countries have been trying to end the conflict in Syria, now in its sixth year.

An eventual government victory in Aleppo would be a major turning point in the conflict in favor of Assad.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces and members of Lebanon's Hezbollah group reached the Castello road early Sunday. Government forces reached a point where they could fire on the road earlier this month, effectively cutting it off, though some people still made the dangerous journey.

In quest for cure, Biden visits cancer center in Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia — Vice President Joe Biden visited an Australian cancer research center Sunday on the first day of his trip Down Under, as he continues his push to accelerate efforts toward a cure.

Biden, who arrived in Australia on Saturday as part of a tour of the Pacific, met with researchers at the newly opened Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre in the southern city of Melbourne, where he praised the scientists for their efforts.

“We all have reasons to be in this fight,” he said. “What you're doing here is profound. It has an impact in every corner of the world.”

Biden's son, former Delaware state Attorney General Beau Biden, died of brain cancer last year. Following his son's death, Biden pledged to spend his final year in office working to double the pace of cancer research toward a cure.

Milwaukee cops: Suspect wounds officer then kills self

MILWAUKEE — A domestic violence suspect opened fire on a Milwaukee police officer who was sitting in his squad car early Sunday, seriously wounding him before fleeing and apparently killing himself shortly afterward, authorities said.

The suspect, a 20-year-old man from the suburb of West Allis, had two felonies on his arrest record, according to police spokesman Sgt. Tim Gauerke, who did not disclose the man's name.

The 31-year-old officer, identified by authorities as Brandon Baranowski, was taken to a hospital with serious wounds that weren't considered life-threatening, he said.

Baranowski, a 13-year Police Department veteran, was wearing body armor that protected him from the shots to his chest, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said.

Rapper's anti-gang summit in L.A. draws overflow crowd

LOS ANGELES — Rapper The Game said he was moved to call together gang members for an anti-violence summit Sunday after the recent killing of his foster brother in Los Angeles.

An overflow crowd of several hundred gathered at a community center in South Los Angeles to hear pleas for peace from current and former gang members, entertainers, activists and preachers from the Nation Of Islam.

Mayor Eric Garcetti and police Chief Charlie Beck shook hands with The Game outside the venue in a show of unity. Beck said the meeting was a “great first step” in the right direction toward curbing violence, especially considering the police shootings Sunday morning in Baton Rouge, La.

The Game announced the summit word last week on social media.

Report: Al-Qaida commander in Mali dies in raid

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — A group that monitors online extremist activity says al-Qaida's North Africa branch has reported the death of a commander in Mali.

The SITE Intelligence Group on Sunday quoted a statement from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb saying Abu Bakr al-Shinqiti was killed during a raid on a Malian army barracks near the border with Burkina Faso. SITE said he was Tunisian.

The statement did not specify the date or location of the raid, nor did it report any Malian casualties.

On July 10, an official in Mali's Koro region near the Burkina Faso border said gunmen had killed two Malian soldiers in a raid on a military checkpoint. Northern Mali was occupied in 2012 by al-Qaida and other jihadist groups before a French-led military operation drove them from cities and towns.

Report: Saudi women's lives dictated by guardianship

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia's guardianship system, which bars women from traveling abroad, obtaining a passport, marrying or exiting prison without the consent of a male relative, remains the most significant impediment to realizing women's rights in the kingdom, according to a report released Sunday by a leading human rights group.

The Human Rights Watch study takes on increasing significance as the kingdom works to implement its “Vision 2030” and “National Transformation Plan” to wean the country off its dependence on oil, including government targets to boost women's participation in the workforce.

The report also comes just seven months after Saudi women were allowed the right to run and vote for the first time in the country's only local elections.

Phoenix rescue: A man and a woman who became stuck after crawling miles through a storm drain system have been rescued by Phoenix firefighters.

Fire officials say the two entered a storm drain early Sunday to search for a dog. According to firefighters, they crawled several miles and then became trapped. The dog was not found.

Bahrain crackdown: A Bahrain court ordered the country's main Shiite opposition group to be dissolved Sunday, deepening a crackdown on dissent in the strategically important Western-allied kingdom. The order against al-Wefaq marks one of the sharpest blows yet against civil society activists in the Sunni-ruled island nation.