AFP news

The European Union's three Baltic countries summoned China's envoys to account for Ambassador Lu Shaye questioning the sovereignty of former Soviet states.

Last week the UN's annual State of World Population report had said the milestone would come by midyear 2023.

On the first anniversary of the war in February, the UN General Assembly voted by an overwhelming majority to repeat its demand for the "immediate" withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

The explosions levelled the specialist counter-terrorism station in Kabal town of Swat Valley, in the northwestern region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which neighbours Afghanistan.

Even so, those who reached Saudi soil on Monday said they were grateful to be out of a country where the doctors' union has reported that "morgues are full" and "corpses litter the streets".

Investors will also be watching important economic data from Australia and the eurozone, as well as a policy meeting of the Bank of Japan.

n August 2014, IS swept over Mount Sinjar, the Kurdish-speaking minority's historic home in northern Iraq.

Hosted by Belgium in the coastal town of Ostend, the meeting will gather the leaders of EU members France, Germany, Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen also attending.

Jordanian foreign ministry spokesman Sinan Majali said Saturday that Amman had begun the evacuation of some 300 Jordanian citizens, adding there was "continuous cooperation with the UAE and Saudi Arabia".

Raab's resignation gives Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a headache some two weeks before local elections at which the Conservatives are expected to lose seats.

More than a year after Russia invaded, Trubacheva is a lifeline to hold-out residents when its forces -- or even just everyday ailments -- turn on what's left of Siversk's population of 10,000.

While rare elsewhere, natural pearls prised from seabed oysters by divers are the only variety produced in the Gulf kingdom, which is fiercely proud of its pearling tradition.

The series, "Smile, General", is set in an imaginary Arab country. But references to the Assad dynasty, in power in Syria for more than half a century, are clear through various characters and aspects of the plot.

Despite the failure to complete the full 90-minute flight test and reach orbit, SpaceX and Musk, the founder and CEO of the private space company, declared it a success.

Zelensky spoke during a visit to Kyiv by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg -- his first since the start of Russia's invasion in February 2022.

Investors were also spooked by earnings reports from US regional banks that pointed to a weakening profit outlook following sector turmoil last month that saw three lenders collapse.

Owner Elon Musk, who has seen his $44 billion investment in the site shrivel, earlier pledged to get rid of what he described as a "lords & peasants system."

Lavrov, who also met Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and his predecessor Raul Castro on Thursday, blasted US sanctions against Cuba as "illegal and illegitimate."

In some countries with a Shiite Muslim majority, authorities have said the holiday will start on Saturday.

Since the fall of dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019, international mediators have sought to bring civilians and the military to the negotiating table.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will go to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers gathering in Goa from May 4-5, ministry spokeswoman Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told a briefing Thursday.

Alevis follow a heterodox Islamic tradition that separates them from Sunni and Shiite Muslims. Some view it as a cultural identity as much as a religious faith.

Some of the fiercest battles have taken place in the capital Khartoum, a city home to five million people, most of whom have been cloistered in their homes without electricity, food and water.

Three people were detained over the incident in Sanaa, Yemen's rebel-held capital, after large crowds gathered at a school to receive gifts of 5,000 rial (about $8) for the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.

She buried them both again on Wednesday, days after the barrage that killed her family, pulverised her home and forced her to confront the toll of Russia's brutal invasion.

Pahlavi, who lives in the United States, represents one of the many components of Iran's foreign-based opposition but has failed to gain unanimity among the diaspora.

Halkbank was hit with US criminal charges in 2019 that it took part in a yearlong scheme to launder billions of dollars worth of Iranian oil and natural gas proceeds, violating sanctions on Iran.

In recent days, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia temporarily banned the import of grain and other food items from Ukraine after a slump in prices triggered protests from local farmers.

IS massacred thousands of men and abducted thousands of women and girls as sex slaves.