Reuters

The security assistance package represents the 39th drawdown of equipment from the Department of Defense inventories, the Pentagon said.

South Africa is mulling its options over an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin should he accept an invitation to a BRICS summit in August, a government official said on Wednesday.

"It is certain that (North Korea's) military reconnaissance satellite will be correctly put on space orbit in the near future and start its mission," Kim, a powerful government official in her own right, said in an English-language statement carried by KCNA.

Tensions between the United States and China are expected to loom over Asia's top security meeting this week, as China has declined a bilateral meeting between the superpowers' defence chiefs.

The United Arab Emirates said on Wednesday it was no longer taking part in operations by a U.S.-led task force protecting Gulf shipping, which has been subjected to renewed tanker seizures by Iranian naval forces in recent weeks. The UAE was responding to a Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday which, citing U.S. and Gulf sources, said the Gulf state was frustrated by the lack of U.S. response to recent tanker seizures by Iran. This was a "mischaracterisation" of conversations between the two countries, a UAE statement said.

Australia's defence chief said on Wednesday the United States warned him in 2021 that allegations Australian special forces soldiers killed prisoners and civilians in Afghanistan may trigger a law prohibiting assistance from the United States.

President Tayyip Erdogan played up his plans to repatriate a million Syrian refugees as he rode a wave of nationalism to his third decade in power, but he could struggle to make good on the promise as conflict lingers on in neighbouring Syria.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is viewed as almost certain to include former economy chief Mehmet Simsek in his new cabinet either as finance minister or as a vice president responsible for the economy, four senior officials said.

Drones attacked two oil refineries just 40-50 miles (65-80 km) east of Russia's biggest oil export terminals on Wednesday, sparking a fire at one and causing no damage to the other, according to Russian officials.

U.S. peacekeepers stood behind a barbed-wire barrier as protestors gathered outside a municipal hall in ethnically divided northern Kosovo, where days of unrest have prompted NATO to send additional troops to stave off violence.

Sudan's army has suspended talks over a ceasefire and enabling humanitarian access, according to a Sudanese diplomatic source, raising fears of fresh bloodshed.

The Qatari prime minister held secret talks with the supreme leader of the Taliban this month on resolving tension with the international community, a source briefed on the meeting said, signaling a new willingness by Afghanistan's rulers to discuss ways to end their isolation.

A photo taken by Niloofar Hamedi for the pro-reform Sharq daily showing Amini's parents hugging each other in a Tehran hospital where their daughter was lying in a coma was the first sign to the world that all was not well with 22-year-old Amini.

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative between Moscow and Kyiv last July to help tackle a global food crisis aggravated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a leading global grain exporter.

Grossi, who spoke at the U.N. Security Council, has tried for months to craft an agreement to reduce the risk of a catastrophic nuclear accident from military activity like shelling at Europe's biggest nuclear power plant.

"The United States stands ready to support the efforts of both parties to conclude a durable and dignified peace agreement," the State Department said in a statement.

The Axiom 2 crew was led by retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, 63, who holds the U.S. record for most time spent in orbit with 665 days in space over three long-duration missions to the ISS, including 10 spacewalks. Ax-2's designated pilot was John Shoffner, 67, an aviator, race car driver and investor from Alaska. Rounding out the crew as mission specialists were the first two astronauts from Saudi Arabia to fly aboard a private spacecraft - Ali Alqarni, 31, a fighter pilot for the Royal Saudi Air Force; and Rayyanah Barnawi, 34, a biomedical scientist in cancer stem-cell research.

A senior U.S. senator who has long opposed the potential sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey said on Tuesday he wants Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to take a "less belligerent" stance toward NATO allies and Turkey's neighbors before lifting his opposition to the deal.

Pakistani former prime minister Imran Khan was on Tuesday granted bail on a new charge of abetting violence against the military by his protesting supporters after he was arrested and detained on May 9 in a corruption case, his lawyer said.

Deeming the forging of formal Israeli-Saudi ties a U.S. interest, President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, made a May 6-8 shuttle trip to the two countries.

Ukraine launched its biggest ever drone attack on Moscow on Tuesday but air defences destroyed all eight of the drones, Russia said, bringing the 15-month war in Ukraine to the heart of the capital.

"At the moment, work is continuing to contain fires in storage facilities for fuel and lubricants and munitions," the Khmelnitskiy regional governor's office said.

More than 350,000 people have already fled across Sudan's borders since war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted on April 15, with most heading to Egypt, Chad and South Sudan.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party identified the officer as Ashraf Sheikh Ibrahim, saying he had died "as he confronted the aggression and the occupation's storming of the city of Jenin".

The United Nations and Turkey brokered the Black Sea deal for an initial 120 days in July last year to help tackle a global food crisis that has been aggravated by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, one of the world's leading grain exporters.

Chief diplomatic adviser Ihor Zhovkva told Reuters that Ukraine had no interest in a ceasefire that locks in Russian territorial gains, and wanted the implementation of its peace plan, which envisages the full withdrawal of Russian troops.

The staff-level agreement has been delayed since November, with more than 100 days gone since the last staff-level mission to Pakistan, the longest such delay since at least 2008.

US President Joe Biden said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in a call on Monday repeated Ankara's desire to buy F-16 fighter jets from the United States, while Biden told him Washington wanted Ankara to drop its objection to Sweden's joining NATO.

"The attack was massive, came from different directions, in several waves," Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said on the Telegram messaging channel.