WORLD

After Pakistan's first purchase of discounted Russian oil in April, petroleum minister Musadik Malik told Reuters that Pakistan would only be buying crude, not refined products under the deal.

Sudan analyst Kholood Khair said the army was "expected to launch a massive offensive" to clear the paramilitaries from the streets of Khartoum.

The in-person ministerial meeting of the 13 OPEC members led by Riyadh and their 10 allies headed by Moscow will be the second at the OPEC headquarters in the Austrian capital since March 2020.

Ukrainian forces in Kyiv said on Friday they shot down 36 Russian missiles and drones in and around the capital overnight, with two people injured by falling debris before authorities lifted air raid alerts across most of the country.

Prominent Pakistani human rights activist and lawyer Jibran Nasir was abducted late on Thursday night in the southern city of Karachi, his wife said, prompting widespread outcry in the country.

Ahead of an expected Ukrainian counter-offensive in the 15-month war, Russia has come under repeated attack in recent days, including a major cross-border incursion and the biggest ever drone attack on Moscow.

The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement it targeted two companies affiliated with Sudan's army and two companies affiliated with the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), accusing them of generating revenue from the conflict and contributing to the fighting.

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.

Top diplomats from BRICS countries said the group was open to welcome new members, during talks in South Africa on Thursday, as the bloc seeks a larger voice in the international arena. The issue was discussed with Saudi Arabia's top diplomat, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, who was in Cape Town, Lavrov said. Foreign ministers from the five-nation grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa called for a "rebalancing" of the global order, as they met in Cape Town.

The National Council in Bern voted 98-75 against a parliamentary initiative put forward by a committee.

The United States said it will stop providing Russia some notifications required under the New START arms control treaty from Thursday, including updates on its missile and launcher locations, to retaliate for Moscow's "ongoing violations" of the accord.

Prince Hussein became heir to the throne in 2009 after his father removed the title from his half brother Hamzah in 2004.

Nonetheless, the allies appear to have found a workaround to enable the TNT sale amid global shortages of munitions.

With US default worries out of the way after senators struck a deal to expedite a debt ceiling bill following passage through the House, attention has returned to the central bank's drive to defeat decades-high inflation.

Saulo, a WMO vice-president who has headed Argentina's weather service since 2014, won a landslide vote at the UN climate and weather agency's congress in Geneva.

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Kyiv had not fixed a date for a summit that would set parameters to end the war because Kyiv was working to bring as many nations as possible to the table.

NATO said on Thursday it was ready to send more troops to an ethically divided region of Kosovo where dozens of people were injured in violence this week, while Pristina and Belgrade accused each other of fuelling tensions there.

The 28-year-old Prince Hussein, named as heir by his father King Abdullah in 2009, will tie the knot with Saudi architect Rajwa Al Saif, 29, who hails from a prominent family with links to her country's ruling dynasty.

"If something were to go wrong, indeed, many questions will be asked," said Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Development Program, which is in charge of salvage of the FSO Safer, underway since Tuesday.

The army on Wednesday blasted bases of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after pulling out of the truce talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah, accusing its rival of breaching the ceasefire meant to bring in aid.

There were scenes of jubilation in some German cities after Erdogan extended his two-decade rule in Sunday's runoff vote, with cars decked out with flags driving through the streets and honking.

Ukraine's air force said air defences shot down all 10 ballistic and Iskander cruise missiles fired by Russia in the 18th attack on the capital since the start of May.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February last year has galvanised the Western military alliance set up almost 75 years ago to face off against the Soviet Union.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday he would soon travel to Turkey to discuss Sweden's NATO membership, in a bid to close a process that has been delayed due to objections from member countries Turkey and Hungary.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on the Russian reports, in a week when the two countries accused each other of spreading terror in their capitals with air strikes.

An Iraqi citizen fighting with Russia's Wagner mercenary force was killed in Ukraine in early April, the first confirmed case of a Middle East native dying in the conflict, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin told Reuters on Wednesday.

As the preparatory work starts, the U.N. wants parallel talks to be held on widening the Black Sea deal that was agreed last July to include more Ukrainian ports and other cargoes, said the source, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The re-installed equipment is a fraction of what the International Atomic Energy Agency had planned to set up to improve its surveillance of Iran's nuclear activities, as the IAEA said it had agreed with Iran in March in a bid to defuse a standoff between both sides over Iran's cooperation. Iran's stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% has continued to grow and is now roughly enough for two nuclear bombs, one of the two confidential quarterly reports to member states showed.

Stressing that Ukraine "is today protecting Europe", Macron said in Bratislava that it is in the West's interest that Kyiv have security assurances from NATO.