WORLD

In three weeks of fighting between rival generals that has plunged the impoverished country into turmoil, thousands have rushed to escape, often only having had the time to grab their most basic essentials.

Prigozhin's Wagner group has spearheaded the grinding, months-long Russian assault on Bakhmut, almost capturing the city in the longest and bloodiest battle of the campaign.

Even as the United States and its European allies grapple with Russia's invasion of Ukraine and rising tensions with China, the smoldering crisis over Iran's nuclear program threatens to reignite.

The foreign ministers of India, Russia and Pakistan on Friday called for a representative government in Afghanistan and the protection of women's rights, almost two years after the Islamist Taliban swept to power in Kabul.

Asia-focused HSBC has urged shareholders to vote down the proposal at its annual general meeting in Birmingham, central England.

General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan pledged to take Sudan to civilian rule, but after going to war last month with his former partner in a military coup, that looks a distant promise.

At home in Mombasa, he has little to show for four years working various jobs in gas-wealthy Qatar, having spent his savings paying recruitment agents and to support his family.

Russia's war against Ukraine and the impact on the global economy also hammered home that now was not the time for Ankara to pick international fights, a feature of Erdogan's two decades in power.

Tehran has been a key ally to Damascus throughout Syria's long-running war, offering vital economic and military assistance that has helped the Syrian government claw back most of the territory it lost at the start of the conflict.

The sudden collapse into warfare has killed hundreds, triggered a humanitarian disaster, sent an exodus of refugees to neighbouring states and risks dragging in outside powers, further destabilising an already restive region.

The United States dismissed Russia's allegation on Thursday that Washington was behind what it said was a drone attack on the Kremlin, saying Moscow's assertion was a lie.

One of those requests had been for the Iron Dome, a short-range interceptor that Israel regularly uses to shoot down rockets fired by Palestinian militants in Gaza.

Turkey's longest-serving leader has campaigned tirelessly since bouncing back from a health scare that sidelined him for three days last week.

The Ukrainian leader is on a rare first visit to the lowlands country after meeting Nordic leaders a day before in Helsinki, and is drumming up military support ahead of Kyiv's offensive against Russia.

Nabeh Elganadi, a lawyer for the independent Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), said at least 10 of Eltantawy's relatives, friends and supporters - including two uncles - had been arrested.

Nuclear tensions between Russia and the United States have increased since the start of the conflict with Ukraine with Putin repeatedly warning that Russia is ready to use its nuclear arsenal if necessary to defend its "territorial integrity."

Inside Russia, it helped reinforce the Kremlin-backed narrative that its war in Ukraine is an existential one for the Russian state and people.

Last month the Taliban began enforcing the ban on Afghan women working for the U.N. after stopping most women working for aid groups in December.

Futures for markets in Europe, which also fell Thursday after the European Central Bank joined the Fed in increasing its main interest rate, were also making an uneven comeback.

The NBCTF document, which has not been previously reported, did not give any details on the value of the crypto seized, nor how the accounts were connected to Islamic State.

Two gunmen entered a school in the remote border town of Teri Mangal in Kurram district -- less than a kilometre (mile) from the Afghan border -- as teachers gathered exam papers students had completed earlier in the day.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is in the Indian coastal resort state of Goa for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting of foreign ministers, along with counterparts from China and Russia.

Country director Eddie Rowe, speaking to Reuters from Port Sudan via video link, described pillaging in the country as rampant and that some reports of WFP's supplies being stolen were still being verified.

After the emergency phase is completed, an additional $19 million will be needed for the second phase, Haq said, which will involve towing the Safer and securing the UN-purchased supertanker, the Nautica.

A humble Japanese runabout with a reliable albeit unglamorous reputation, the Toyota Corolla is said to be the world's most popular car, with over 50 million trundling off production lines since 1966.

Foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) gathered in India on Thursday to discuss regional security matters, including adding Iran and Belarus to a union of nations seen as a counterweight to Western influence in Eurasia.

Russia said on Thursday that the United States was behind what it says was a drone attack on the Kremlin that aimed to kill President Vladimir Putin, while Moscow's forces fired more combat drones at Ukrainian cities including the capital Kyiv.

Israeli forces on Thursday killed two Palestinian gunmen who shot dead a British-Israeli mother and her two daughters in April in the occupied West Bank, Israel's domestic security service said.

UAE's Foreign Trade and Industry Undersecretary Abdullah Al Saleh supported the plan to implement a unified visa, saying GCC countries have a common market and unified policies.