World News Roundup: Putin discusses Russia-Ukraine talks, Middle East with Palestinian leader Abbas; Sri Lankan

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Putin discusses Russia-Ukraine talks, Middle East with Palestinian leader Abbas

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas about negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Monday. They also talked about “the problems of the Middle East settlement in the context of escalating tensions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem”, the Kremlin said.

Sri Lankan president digs in heels, expands cabinet ahead of IMF talks

Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced 17 new ministerial appointments on Monday – but notably left out some members of his own family in the wake of protests over the government’s handling of a devastating economic crisis. The president and his elder brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, will stay on despite demands from protesters and the opposition for them to quit. Rajapaksa has governed the South Asian island nation since 2019 with numerous other family members in top government positions.

Four civilians shot dead while fleeing town in Ukraine’s Luhansk region – governor

Four civilians were shot dead while trying to flee by car from the town of Kreminna in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region during a Russian attack, regional governor Serhiy Gaidai said in a post on messaging app Telegram on Monday. A fourth person was seriously injured, he said. Reuters could not independently verify the information.

COVID-shaming pits neighbor against neighbor in locked-down Shanghai

The tensions of lockdown have exposed divisions among Shanghai residents, pitting young against old, locals against outsiders, and above all, COVID-negative against COVID-positive people. Shanghai’s 25 million people, most of whom live in apartment blocks, have forged new communal bonds during the city’s coronavirus outbreak, through barter and group buying and setting up food-sharing stations.

U.S. envoy vows ‘strongest possible deterrent’ over N.Korea weapons tests

The United States and South Korea would maintain the “strongest possible joint deterrent” over North Korea’s “escalatory actions”, the U.S. envoy on North Korea said on Monday, amid concerns that Pyongyang was preparing to resume nuclear testing. U.S. Special Representative Sung Kim and his deputy, Jung Pak, met South Korean officials, including nuclear envoy Noh Kyu-duk, after arriving in Seoul early on Monday for a five-day visit.

Vietnam arrests former coast guard chief over ’embezzlement’ case

Vietnam’s Defence Ministry has detained a former commander of its coast guard on suspicion of embezzlement, the government said on Monday, the latest arrest as the ruling Communist Party intensifies its long-running crackdown on graft.

Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Son was arrested last Wednesday along with six other senior coast guard officials for their involvement in an “embezzlement case”, the government said in a statement, which did not elaborate on the alleged offense.

Serbia accuses Ukraine and an unnamed EU country of Air Serbia bomb hoaxes

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic accused Ukraine and an unidentified EU country of being behind a series of hoax bomb threats against Air Serbia planes. Since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in late February, more than a dozen Air Serbia flights have been forced to return to Belgrade or Moscow due to bomb threats, and Belgrade’s airport was evacuated at least three times.

Senior U.S. officials to visit the Solomon Islands amid China’s security concerns

White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell and the State Department’s top official for Asia will travel this week to the Solomon Islands, the White House said on Monday, amid concerns that the Pacific Island country is making a security pact with China. Campbell and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink will lead a delegation that includes Department of Defense and U.S. Agency for International Development officials to three countries: the Solomon Islands, Fiji and Papua New Guinea, the White House National Security Council said in a statement.

Second Global COVID-19 Summit scheduled for May 12

A second Global COVID-19 Summit will be held virtually next month for countries to discuss efforts to end the pandemic and prepare for future health threats, according to a joint statement on Monday. “The emergence and spread of new variants, like Omicron, have reinforced the need for a strategy aimed at controlling COVID-19 worldwide,” the White House said in a news release with the Group of Seven and Group of 20 nations.

Russia hits targets across Ukraine, fighters cling on in Mariupol

Russia said on Monday it had hit hundreds of military targets in Ukraine overnight, destroying command posts with air-launched missiles, while authorities in the western city of Lviv, which had escaped heavy bombardment, said a missile attack killed seven. The Russian defence ministry said in a statement it had destroyed 16 Ukrainian military facilities in the Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions and in the port of Mykolayiv, in the south and east of the country.

(With inputs from agencies.)