AFP news

The one-hour conversation between Xi Jinping and Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday was the first since Russia invaded its pro-Western neighbour more than a year ago.

The US Navy demanded the immediate release of the Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, saying it was transiting international waters in the Gulf of Oman and slamming Iran's "continued harassment of vessels".

More than 16,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since the February 2022 invasion, according to Kyiv, with many allegedly placed in institutions and foster homes.

The "Friends of the Tree" group works to raise awareness about green areas around the capital Tripoli that are quickly disappearing because of drought, human activity and desertification.

The US is "showing that one cannot engage in this sort of awful behavior of using human beings as pawns, as bargaining chips, without paying consequences," said a senior US official.

Fears of further turmoil in the banking sector, which had acted as a drag on global markets, also appeared to be dissipating as shares in troubled US lender First National Bank rose after two battering sessions.

Ukrainian Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said there may be no other country in the world where citizens pay such heed to debates at the UN General Assembly or Security Council about their nation.

Erdogan is also expected to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin as he attempts to project health and vigour at one the more vulnerable moments of his two-decade rule.

"The aim of the decree is to create a compensation fund for the possible adoption of retaliatory measures against the illegal expropriation of Russian assets abroad," he said.

The governor of Mazandaran, Mahmoud Hosseinipour, said the attacker was a local security officer of the bank.

The nearly one-hour discussion, which reportedly included Xi advocating for peace negotiations, was met by Russian accusations that Ukraine was undermining efforts to end the fighting.

The fighting pits army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his fellow 2021 coup leader and former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Its first-quarter net income fell 86.1 percent to 1.57 trillion won, and sales dropped 18 percent to 63.75 trillion won.

Most Ukrainian refugees pass through Hungary quickly, moving further west -- but it can be tough for those who stay.

The 72-hour ceasefire brokered by the United States was already struggling to hold after the regular army launched renewed air strikes against rival paramilitary forces in the capital Khartoum late on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia has received several rounds of evacuees by air and sea since fighting broke out in Africa's third-biggest country on April 15, part of what analysts describe as an effort to position itself as a major player in responding to regional crises.

Myke and her youngsters "have been waiting under the sun for four days", she told AFP on the side of a road southeast of Khartoum.

The company said its engineers were working to establish why the landing had failed.

The 69-year-old Turkish leader on Tuesday gave three campaign speeches heading into a knife-edge parliamentary and presidential election on May 14.

Moscow has launched an aggressive military recruitment campaign complete with videos and ubiquitous billboards as Kyiv gears up for a counter-offensive after months of stalemate in eastern Ukraine.

Lacklustre US consumer data and mixed earnings reports fed those fears during trading hours, with US stocks in the red the entire day.

Scholars say it is one of the smallest Korans on record, with the minuscule holy book held inside a silver case blackened with age.

Itasha owners can spend thousands of dollars pimping their rides with huge vinyl stickers, turning their cars, motorbikes or even caravans into a canvas.

State media said police held people suspected of financing the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) or roping new members into the outlawed group.

Soldiers rush to aid the medic treating the shrapnel-wounded serviceman but dash for cover when another Russian rocket crashes into a courtyard nearby, reverberating around abandoned housing blocs.

It is believed some of his devotees could still be hiding in the bush around Shakahola, which was raided by police earlier this month after a tip-off from a local non-profit group.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield's comments came as Lavrov chaired a UN Security Council meeting at the world body's headquarters in New York.

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.