After the US blamed Putin for the ongoing gas price inflation in the country, the Russian president blamed the West for the emerging global food and energy crises and repeated his government's offers of safe passage for ships exporting grain from Ukraine if mines are removed from the waters.

Russia's war against Ukraine has hurt American families with gas prices shooting up and it is going to rise further, US President Joe Biden said after announcing a ban on the import of Russian oil and gas. Biden, however, promised of doing everything he can to minimise "Putin's price hike here at home".

By an executive order, Biden had banned the import of Russian crude oil and certain petroleum products, liquefied natural gas, and coal. This step is aimed at depriving Russia of billions of dollars in revenues from US drivers and consumers annually. Last year, the US imported nearly 7,00,000 barrels of crude oil and refined petroleum products from Russia daily. The executive order also banned new US investment in Russia's energy sector, to ensure that American companies and investors are not underwriting Vladimir Putin's efforts to expand energy production inside Russia, the White House said.

"Of course, we are now seeing attempts to shift the responsibility for what is happening on the world food market, the emerging problems in this market, onto Russia," he told Russian TV. I must say that this is an attempt, as our people say, to shift these problems from a sick to a healthy head.

As reported by the state-run Tass news agency, Putin also said Western sanctions against Russia would only worsen world markets reducing the harvest and driving up prices.

He said inflation stemmed from the unprecedented dollar printing press during the coronavirus pandemic and blamed short-sighted European policies for under-investment in alternatives to traditional energy supplies and price increases. The Kremlin leader said Russia wasn't blocking grain shipments from Ukraine and that the West is using Russia as a scapegoat for its problems.

Putin pledged that if the waters were demined, Russia wouldn't attack grain shipments and suggested they could be made from the Ukrainian port of Berdyansk or other countries, such as Belarus. Berdyansk is under Russian occupation.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has met with Finland's prime minister and spoken to Turkey's president as he seeks to overcome Turkish resistance to Finland and Sweden joining the alliance.

Stoltenberg, who visited Washington this week, tweeted late Friday that he met with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin while there and discussed the need to address Turkey's concerns and move forward with the Finnish and Swedish membership applications.

Russia's war in Ukraine pushed the Nordic countries to apply to join NATO, but Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses Sweden and Finland of supporting Kurdish militants deemed by Turkey to be terrorists.

Stoltenberg said he had a constructive phone call with Erdogan, calling Turkey a valued ally and praising Turkish efforts to broker a deal to ensure the safe transportation of grain supplies from Ukraine amid global food shortages caused by Russia's invasion. Stoltenberg tweeted that he and Erdogan would continue their dialogue, without elaborating.

The NATO chief's diplomatic efforts came before a gathering of senior officials from Sweden, Finland and Turkey next week in Brussels, where NATO is based, to discuss Turkey's opposition to the applications. 

Tesla shares tumbled about nine per cent on Friday on a report that CEO Elon Musk is considering laying off 10 per cent of the company's workers, as well as new questions from US regulators over complaints of the electric vehicles braking for no reason.

In an email Thursday to Tesla executives titled 'pause all hiring worldwide', Musk wrote that he had a super bad feeling about the economy and that the company needed to cut staff, Reuters reported.

Tesla had around 100,00 employees worldwide according to recent regulatory filings, including its subsidiaries.

Tesla shares have lost nearly one-third of their value since early April, shortly after Musk first publicly floated the idea of buying Twitter.

Tesla shares fell $66 to $709 Friday. Shares were trading around $1,150 just two months ago.

President Joe Biden, while giving a speech on Friday's jobs report in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, was asked about Elon Musk saying he's pessimistic about the US economy.

While Elon Musk is talking about that, Ford is increasing their investment overwhelmingly and I think Ford is increasing the investment in building new electric vehicles, Biden responded.

There were other issues Friday that may have been weighing on Tesla's stock.

Government regulators reported Friday that more than 750 Tesla owners have complained that cars operating on the automaker's partially automated driving systems have suddenly stopped on roadways for no apparent reason.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealed the number in a detailed information request letter to Tesla that was posted on the agency's website.

It is the fourth formal investigation of the Texas automaker in the past three years, and NHTSA is supervising 23 Tesla recalls since January of 2021.

Hong Kongers will be forced to break a tradition they've been observing for 32 years. Hong Kong police have told citizens that commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre would put them at the risk of breaking the law. Every year since the incident in 1989, Hong Kong citizens have held a candlelight vigil to commemorate the victims. 

Discussion of the crackdown that saw the Chinese government bring down tanks and troops on peaceful protesters, is forbidden in mainland China. Hong Kong hasn't been able to hold a vigil commemorating the incident since Beijing came down hard upon the 2019 pro-democracy protests and imposed the National Security law.

Last two years the government prevented citizens from gathering to hold vigil by citing the pandemic as a reason. Last year thousands of riot police were put on standby. Senior superintendent Liauw Ka-Kei told the Guardian, “When there are other people there, and you share a common goal to express some appeals, that’s already sufficient to make you a member of an unlawful assembly.” People will be in violation of the law even if they go to Victoria Park and just bring candles or flowers. Anniversary of the horrid incident is on June 4. 

The United Nations has agreed to Turkey's wish to be called Türkiye. "The change is immediate," Stephane Dujarric, the UN chief's spokesperson, told AFP.

"The process we started under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in order to increase our country's brand value is to be finalized," Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted. 

In a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Cavusoglu wrote: "I would like to inform you that, in line with the Presidential Circular ... dated December 2, 2021, on the use of the word 'Türkiye' in foreign languages and the subsequent branding strategy, the Government of the Republic of Turkiye, henceforth will start using 'Türkiye' to replace the words such as 'Turkey,' 'Turkei' and 'Turquie' that have been used in the past to refer to the 'Republic of Turkiye,” a CNN report reads. 

The request was accepted as soon as it was made, after ensuring that the document was legitimate. "Countries are free to choose the way they want to be named. It doesn't happen every day but it's not unusual that countries change their names," Dujarric said. 

The name would be pronounced as tur-key-yay-- as it is spelt and pronounced in Turkish. The country called itself Türkiye in 1923 after it declared independence, a Guardian report reads.

Queen Elizabeth II stepped gingerly onto the Buckingham Palace balcony Thursday, drawing wild cheers from the tens of thousands who came to join her at the start of four days of celebrations of her 70 years on the throne.

  Her fans sported Union Jack flags, party hats or plastic tiaras. Some had camped overnight in hopes of glimpsing the 96-year-old queen, whose appearances are becoming rare, and a chance to watch the Trooping the Color  a military parade that has marked each sovereign's official birthday since 1760.

It was an explosion of joy in the massive crowd, one of the first big gatherings in the UK since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Everybody has got the same mission, said Hillary Mathews, 70, who had come from Hertfordshire, outside London. All the horrors that's been going on in the world and in England at the moment are put behind us for a day, and we can just enjoy really celebrating the queen.

Elizabeth, who became queen at 25, is Britain's longest-reigning monarch and the first to reach the milestone of seven decades on the throne.

Yet after a lifetime of good health, age has begun to catch up with her. Buckingham Palace announced late Thursday that the queen would not attend a thanksgiving church service Friday after experiencing some discomfort at events on Thursday. The palace said with great reluctance the monarch has decided to skip the service at St. Paul's Cathedral.

The queen has had trouble moving around in recent months, and has pulled out of many public events.

But Elizabeth took part Thursday night in lighting a chain of ceremonial beacons at Windsor Castle as planned.

The Jubilee celebrations go on for a long weekend, and it was not immediately known how the news would affect Jubilee events on Saturday and Sunday.

The palace says the queen "greatly enjoyed" Thursday's events  and it showed.

She basked in her moment. Smiling, she chatted with her great-grandson Prince Louis, 4, who occasionally covered his ears as 70 military aircraft old and new swooped low over the palace to salute the queen. The six-minute display included a formation of Typhoon fighter jets flying in the shape of the number 70.

The queen, wearing a dusky dove blue dress designed by Angela Kelly, was joined on the balcony by more than a dozen royals  though not Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, who gave up front-line royal duties two years ago. The couple traveled to London from their home in California with their two young children to take a low-key part in the celebrations, and watched Thursday's Trooping the Color with other members of the family.

They did not appear on the palace balcony, because the monarch decided that only working members of the royal family should have that honor. The decision also, handily, excluded Prince Andrew, who stepped away from public duties amid controversy over his links with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew will also miss Friday's service of thanksgiving after testing positive for COVID-19.

The jubilee is being commemorated with a four-day holiday extravaganza and events including a concert at Buckingham Palace on Saturday and a pageant staged by thousands of performers drawn from schools and community groups around the country on Sunday. Thousands of street parties are planned nationwide, repeating a tradition that began with the queen's coronation in 1953.

Not everyone in Britain is celebrating. Many people have taken advantage of the long weekend to go on vacation. And 12 protesters were arrested Thursday after getting past barriers and onto the parade route. The group Animal Rebellion claimed responsibility, saying the protesters were demanding that royal land is reclaimed.

Yet the jubilee is giving many people  even those indifferent to the monarchy  a chance to reflect on the state of the nation and the huge changes that have taken place during Elizabeth's reign.

Former Prime Minister John Major, one of the 14 prime ministers during the queen's reign, said the monarch's stoic presence had helped steer the country over the decades.

The queen has represented our better selves for over 70 years, he told the BBC.

In a written jubilee message, the queen thanked people in Britain and across the Commonwealth involved in organizing the celebrations. This country does like a good party.

I know that many happy memories will be created at these festive occasions, Elizabeth said. I continue to be inspired by the goodwill shown to me, and hope that the coming days will provide an opportunity to reflect on all that has been achieved during the last 70 years, as we look to the future with confidence and enthusiasm.

Congratulations arrived from world leaders, including U.S. President Joe Biden and Pope Francis. French President Emmanuel Macron called Elizabeth the golden thread that binds our two countries and former President Barack Obama recalled the queen's grace and generosity during his first visit to the palace.

Your life has been a gift, not just to the United Kingdom but to the world, Obama told the BBC May the light of your crown continue to reign supreme.

Cheers and the clop of hooves rang out Thursday as horse-drawn carriages carried members of the royal family, including Prince William's wife, Kate, and their children Prince George, 8, Princess Charlotte, 7, and 4-year-old Prince Louis, from Buckingham Palace to Horse Guards Parade, a ceremonial parade ground about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) away, for the Trooping the Colour ceremony.

The annual tradition is a ceremonial reenactment of the way battle flags, or colors, were once displayed for soldiers to make sure they would recognize a crucial rallying point if they became disoriented in combat. 

A man shot two females to death and then apparently killed himself Thursday night outside a church in Ames, authorities said.

  The man killed the two females outside the Cornerstone Church, a megachurch on the outskirts of Ames, Story County Sheriff's Office Capt. Nicholas Lennie told the Des Moines Register. Investigators didn't know the ages of those killed, Lennie said.

The shooter appeared to have then shot himself but his death is still being investigated, Lennie said.

The church is near Interstate 35, about 30 miles (48.28 km) north of Des Moines.

The sheriff's office didn't identify those killed or give details about what led to the shooting. A news conference is planned Friday morning.

The sheriff's office told KCCI-TV that they received multiple calls at 6:51 pm. 

US President Joe Biden has said he was not briefed on the prospect of nationwide shortages of infant formula for about two months, and he acknowledged the strain on families as his administration struggles to address the situation.

  Yet company executives at a meeting Biden hosted from the White House told the president that they knew the substantial impact that the shutdown of a major production plant in February would have on the US supply almost immediately.

They did, but I didn't, Biden told reporters later on Wednesday, saying he was not made aware of the severity until early April.

The delay, unexplained by Biden or White House aides, undercut the administration's efforts to demonstrate that he has been on top of a problem that has compounded stress and economic difficulties for families with young children at a time when Americans are already struggling with inflation.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted that the administration began working to address the crisis within days of the plant's closure, but could not explain the delay in raising the issue to Biden. She acknowledged that he is frustrated by the situation.

We have been doing this whole of government approach since the recall, she said. We have been working on this for months, for months. We have been taking this incredibly seriously.

In recent weeks the government has imported foreign supplies and used the Defense Production Act to speed domestic production of infant formula. But those steps did not begin until mid-May, once retailers began rationing supplies and store shelves were emptying.

There's nothing more stressful than feeling you can't get what your child needs, Biden said, adding that as a father and a grandfather, he understands how difficult the shortages have been for parents and their children.

Jean-Pierre said Biden was satisfied with how the Food and Drug Administration has handled the response, though the agency itself has promised to conduct and after-action review of what it described as a deficient effort.

The agency's response was too slow and there were decisions that were suboptimal along the way, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf told lawmakers last week.

Biden hosted the roundtable with leaders of manufacturers ByHeart, Bubs Australia, Reckitt, Perrigo Co and Gerber. Notably absence was Abbott Nutrition, whose Michigan plant was shut down in February over safety concerns, leading to the domestic shortage. The White House did not explain why Abbott was not included.

The meeting Wednesday was a chance to provide an update on what the administration is calling Operation Fly Formula to import formula and to use the Korean War-era production law to require suppliers to prioritise their orders in a bid to ease bottlenecks.

The White House announced the third and fourth round of formula shipments from overseas would begin next week, from producer Kendamil in Britain and from Bubs Australia.

The shipments would bring Kendamil formula from Heathrow Airport in London to US airports over a three-week period, starting June 9. The flights will carry about 3.7 million 8-ounce bottle equivalents, shipped free of charge by United Airlines.

The first shipments will include Kendamil Classic Stage 1 and Kendamil Organic formulas, which will be available at Target stores across the United States.

And Bubs Australia will ship the equivalent of 4.6 million 8-ounce bottles of its infant formula on Defense Department-contracted commercial aircraft from its hub in Melbourne, Australia, to Pennsylvania and California on June 9 and June 11, respectively.

The imports will help but will not immediately bring an end to supply shortages that have left people who depend on formula facing empty shelves or limits on purchases.

The Food and Drug Administration began focusing on Abbott's plant last fall while tracking several bacterial infections in infants who had consumed formula from the facility. The four cases occurred between September and January, causing hospitalisations and two deaths.

After detecting positive samples of rare but dangerous bacteria in multiple parts of the plant, the FDA closed the facility and Abbott announced a massive recall of its formula on Feb 17.

US regulators and Abbott announced an agreement last month that would help pave the way for reopening the plant, though production has not restarted. 

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have arrived in the UK for the Queen's Jubilee celebrations. The monarch welcomed them with a special gesture as she sent a car to pick up the couple and their kids—Archie Harrison and Lilibet Diana. The Sussexes, upon arrival, were greeted by three of the Queen's protection officers. 

The family is expected to stay at Frogmore Cottage while they attend the Jubilee celebrations. The family will attend the Trooping the Colour ceremony. But, will not be present on the famed balcony. The balcony will hold only working royals. This also excludes Prince Andrew, who was accused of sexual abuse by a Virginia Giuffre, who said she was coerced by Ghislaine Maxwell girlfriend of New York financier Jeffrey Epstein into having sexual relations with the prince. 

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived secretly in a private jet ahead of the event. This will be the first time members of the royal family will be meeting their daughter Lilibet Diana, who turns one on June 4. The Sussexes will view the Trooping the Colour ceremony from the office of the Major General’s Office in the Buckingham Palace. 

The Palace recently released a new portrait of the Queen ahead of the big celebrations. 

The last rites of the four members of an Indian family who were killed in the plane crash in Nepal's mountainous Mustang district would be performed at the sacred Pashupatinath Temple here after their post-mortem, sources said on Tuesday.

Businessman Ashok Kumar Tripathi (54) and his Thane-based estranged wife Vaibhavi Bandekar Tripathi (51) were on a reunion trip to the Himalayan country along with their son Dhanush (22) and daughter Ritika (15), when the tragedy struck on Sunday.

The last rites would be performed at the Pashupatinath Temple once the family receives the bodies of the victims after the post-mortem, sources at the Indian embassy said.

The Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, situated along the banks of the Bagmati River, is one of the most important Hindu temples in Nepal.

All the 22 bodies of the victims of plane crash were currently at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital where post-mortem was being conducted. The bodies will be handed to the families of the victims after the post-mortem.

"Some bodies were brought to the hospital late in the afternoon so their post-mortem will be conducted on Wednesday," a source said.

The Canadian-built turboprop Twin Otter 9N-AET plane was carrying four Indians, two Germans and 13 Nepali passengers, besides a three-member Nepali crew when it crashed minutes after taking off from the tourist city of Pokhara on Sunday.

Rescuers on Monday recovered 21 bodies from the wreckage site of the plane belonging to Tara Air. On Tuesday, the last body was also retrieved from the wreckage site.

The bodies of 10 victims were brought to Kathmandu on Monday and the bodies of the remaining 12 were brought here by a Nepal Army helicopter on Tuesday.

Due to the geographical remoteness and adverse weather conditions, the search and the recovery mission were delayed. The plane was found scattered at an altitude of 4,200 metres, a four-hour uphill hike from the centre of Thasang Village Municipality.

The government has formed a five-member commission of inquiry headed by senior aeronautical engineer Ratish Chandra Lal Suman to find out the cause of the Tara Air plane crash, officials said. 

—PTI

Officials from India and Pakistan have discussed a wide range of water-related issues during a meeting as part of the Permanent Commission on Indus Waters (PCIW), the Foreign Office said on Tuesday.

A six-member delegation led by Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Waters Syed Muhammad Mehar Ali Shah attended the 118th meeting of the Pakistan-India Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) in New Delhi from May 30-31, it said.

The Indian delegation was headed by the Indian Commissioner for Indus Waters, A K Pal.

A wide range of water-related issues between Pakistan and India were discussed which included the advance sharing of flood information, the program of tours/inspections and signing of the report of the Permanent Indus Commission for the year ending March 31, 2022, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

"Both sides reiterated their commitment to implement the Indus Waters Treaty in its true spirit," it said.

It said that Pakistan also highlighted its objections on India's hydroelectric projects on the Western rivers and sought response to its objections on Indian projects including 1,000MW Pakal Dul.

The Indian side was also urged to communicate advance flood-flow information as per the provisions of the Treaty.

"Indian side assured to arrange tours/inspections after the coming flood season. Indian side also assured that Pakistan's outstanding objections would be discussed in the next meeting as the Indian side is still in the process of examining the details," according to the statement.

Both sides also expressed the hope that the next meeting of the Commission would be held at an early date in Pakistan.

India and Pakistan signed the treaty in 1960 after nine years of negotiations, with the Washington-based World Bank being a signatory.

The treaty sets out a mechanism for cooperation and information exchange between the two countries regarding their use of the rivers. However, there have been disagreements and differences between India and Pakistan over the treaty.

Under the Indus Water Treaty (IWT), all the waters of the eastern rivers - Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi - amounting to around 33 million acre feet (MAF) annually is allocated to India for unrestricted use. The waters of western rivers - Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab - amounting to around 135 MAF annually have been assigned largely to Pakistan.

India is permitted to construct the run of the river plants on western rivers with limited storage as per criteria specified in the treaty.

Under the provisions of Article VIII(5) of the Indus Waters Treaty, the Permanent Indus Commission is required to meet regularly at least once a year, alternately in India and Pakistan. 

The mayor of Sievierodonetsk says Russian forces have taken around half of the city in eastern Ukraine.

  Oleksandr Striuk told The Associated Press in a phone interview Tuesday that heavy fighting is ongoing and artillery bombardments threaten the lives of the thousands of civilians still sheltering in the ruined city.

Half of the city has been captured by the Russians and fierce street fighting is under way, Striuk said. 

The situation is very serious and the city is essentially being destroyed ruthlessly block by block.

He added that the Ukrainian military continues to resist this frenzied push and aggression by Russian forces.

Striuk estimated that around 13,000 people remained in the city out of a pre-war population of around 100,000 but said it was impossible to keep track of civilian casualties amid round-the-clock shelling. 

He said more than 1,500 people in the city who died of various causes have been buried since the war began in February. 

Evacuation efforts have been halted because of the danger of shelling.

He said that civilians are dying from direct strikes, from fragmentation wounds and under the rubble of destroyed buildings, since most of the inhabitants are hiding in basements and shelters.

Canada's government is set to authorise legislation to impose a ban on buying and selling of handguns, anywhere in the country. “The day this legislation goes into effect it will no longer be possible to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns in Canada,” Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau told the Guardian. He also said that there was no reason for anyone in Canada to have a gun unless it was for sport shooting or hunting. 

The country will also put a limit on long-gun magazines so that it doesn't hold more than five rounds. The country also is planning a ban on the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines. 

The mass shooting incident in an elementary school in Texas has raised concerns over gun safety all over the world. Canada already has stricter gun ownership rules in place. The freeze on handguns, if passed, will come into effect in autumn. 

The bill is the most ambitious effort by Trudeau's government yet to restrict access to firearms. The bill also proposes to take away firearms licenses of those involved in domestic violence and incidents such as stalking. 

Russian state gas giant Gazprom confirmed on Monday it will halt gas supplies to a Dutch gas trader starting Tuesday due to its refusal to pay for deliveries in roubles, a requirement to European nations Russian President Vladimir Putin put forward earlier this year.

GasTerra, based in the northern Dutch city of Groningen, announced the shutoff Monday. It said the move means Gazprom will not deliver some 2 billion cubic meters of gas through Oct. 1, the date the supply contract ends.

In its statement cited by the Russian state news agency Tass, Gazprom said that GasTerra has not paid for the gas supplied in April.

The Dutch trader said it has bought gas from other providers in anticipation of a possible Gazprom shutoff and Dutch Climate and Energy Minister Rob Jetten said in a statement that the government understands the cutoff will have no effect on the physical delivery of gas to Dutch households.

GasTerra is a private company that is owned by the Dutch arms of energy giants Shell and Esso and the Dutch government.

The leader of Russia-backed separatists who control part of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region says his administration will nationalise some of the ships in the port of Mariupol.

   Denis Pushilin was quoted by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday as saying that some of the vessels will come under the jurisdiction of the Donetsk People's Republic. 

The relevant decisions have been made. 

It wasn't immediately clear whether he was referring to Ukrainian vessels or ships from other countries.

Kyiv has accused Russia of blocking its sea ports and hindering grain exports, fuelling a global food crisis. Moscow has sought to pin the blame on the West and the sanctions it imposed on Russia.

Russian forces encircled Mariupol, a strategic port city on the Azov Sea, early in the war. 

They took full control of it this month after capturing nearly 2,500 Ukrainian fighters who had been holed up in the sprawling Azovstal steel mill, the last remaining pocket of Ukrainian resistance.

After severe backlash, the Pakistan government on Monday terminated an anchor associated with the state-owned television after he visited Israel as part of a delegation and met Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

Though the visit was not an official one, it came under blistering attack from various hawkish politicians and right wing groups.

Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) anchor Ahmad Quraishi, who was part of the delegation of Pakistani-Americans visiting Israel earlier this month, has been terminated.

"The PTV anchor has been terminated and taken off air. He went on the tour in a personal capacity," she was quoted as saying by the state-owned tv channel.

PTV also shared a policy statement of Marriyum who said there was no change in Pakistan's policy with regards to Israel.

"Pakistan's policy on Palestine is clear," she said.

She said that the world saw the two-state solution as a guarantee for lasting peace in the region. The minister said that the promise of a Palestinian state with pre-1967 borders and with Jerusalem as its capital should be fulfilled.

Dawn reported that the visit also came under attack in Senate where Jamaat-i-Islami's Senator Mushtaq Ahmad asked the government to clarify its position on the issue, as well as for the identification of those citizens who went on the trip.

"One of them is associated with PTV and has worked on major projects of the Pakistan Army," he said, adding that a ban should be placed on the NGO that organised the visit. The citizenship of those who went to Israel should be revoked, he demanded.

Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar maintained that there had been no change in Pakistan's policy regarding Israel. Pakistan does not recognise Israel as a state and no official visit took place, he said, adding that it was a serious matter.

On Sunday, the Foreign Office made it clear that no delegation from the country visited Israel and also rejected that any delegation from Pakistan visited Israel.

During a special address at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting on May 26 in Davos, Israel President Herzog said that he recently received a delegation of Pakistani-Americans in the Jewish state, calling it an "amazing experience".

Pakistan and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations. 

A man in a wheelchair dressed as an elderly woman threw a cake at the painting of Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris. The cake hit the protective glass of the painting.

The perpetrator, who was wearing a white wig and lipstick urged people to "think of the Earth" as he was being taken away by security officials. 

The man, whose identity was unknown, was also seen throwing roses in the museum gallery to slack-jawed guests.

The cake attack left a conspicuous white creamy smear on the glass but the famous work by Leonardo da Vinci wasn't damaged. The 36-year-old was taken to the sent to a police psychiatric unit.

“Think of the Earth! There are people who are destroying the Earth! Think about it. Artists tell you: think of the Earth. That's why I did this,” he after throwing the cake.

Security guards were later seen cleaning the glass.

-- With PTI inputs

The French news broadcaster BFM TV said a 32-year-old French journalist was killed Monday in eastern Ukraine, fatally hit by shell shrapnel while covering a Ukrainian evacuation operation.

  BFM TV said its journalist Frdric Leclerc-Imhoff was killed as he was covering a humanitarian operation in an armoured vehicle near Sievierodonetsk, a key city in the Donbas region that is being hotly contested by Russian and Ukrainian forces. He had worked for six years for the French television channel. 

French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Leclerc-Imhoff on Twitter. 

He was in Ukraine to show the reality of the war. Aboard a humanitarian bus, alongside civilians forced to flee to escape Russian bombs, he was fatally shot, Macron tweeted. 

Macron expressed condolences to his family, relatives and colleagues and spoke of France's unconditional support to those who carry out the difficult mission of informing in theaters of operations.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna called the journalist's death deeply shocking. 

France demands that a transparent inquiry be launched as soon as possible to shed full light on the circumstances of this tragedy, she added.

Earlier Monday, the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai, announced Leclerc-Imhoff's death in a Telegram post, saying that Russian forces fired on an armoured vehicle that was travelling to pick up people for evacuation. 

Shrapnel from the shells pierced the vehicle's armour, fatally wounding an accredited French journalist in the neck who was reporting on the evacuation. The patrol officer was saved by his helmet, he wrote.

As a result of the attack, the evacuation was called off, Haidai said.

He posted an image of Leclerc-Imhoff's Ukrainian press accreditation, and images of what he said was the aftermath of the attack.

Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko said another French journalist was wounded along with a Ukrainian woman who was accompanying them.

He said Leclerc-Imhoff's body was evacuated to the nearby Ukrainian-held city of Bakhmut, from where it will be taken to the central city of Dnipro for an autopsy. 

He said the patrol officer accompanying the vehicle was hit by shrapnel in the head and taken to a military hospital. 

European Union leaders agreed Monday to embargo most Russian oil imports into the bloc by year-end as part of new sanctions on Moscow worked out at a summit focused on helping Ukraine with a long-delayed package of new financial support.

The embargo covers Russian oil brought in by sea, allowing a temporary exemption for imports delivered by pipeline, a move that was crucial to bring landlocked Hungary on board a decision that required consensus.

EU Council President Charles Michel said the agreement covers more than two-thirds of oil imports from Russia. Ursula Von der Leyen, the head of the EU's executive branch, said the punitive move will effectively cut around 90% of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year.

Michel said leaders also agreed to provide Ukraine with a 9 billion-euro ($9.7 billion) tranche of assistance to support the war-torn country's economy. It was unclear whether the money would come in grants or loans.

Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, responded to the EU's decision on Twitter, saying: As she rightly said yesterday, Russia will find other importers.

The new package of sanctions will also include an asset freeze and travel ban on individuals, while Russia's biggest bank, Sberbank, will be excluded from SWIFT, the major global system for financial transfers from which the EU previously banned several smaller Russian banks. Three big Russian state-owned broadcasters will be prevented from distributing their content in the EU.

We want to stop Russia's war machine," Michel said, lauding what he called a remarkable achievement."

More than ever it's important to show that we are able to be strong, that we are able to be firm, that we are able to be tough, he added.

Michel said the new sanctions, which needed the support of all 27 member countries, will be legally endorsed by Wednesday.

The EU had already imposed five previous rounds of sanctions on Russia over its war. It has targeted more than 1,000 people individually, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and top government officials as well as pro-Kremlin oligarchs, banks, the coal sector and more.

But the sixth package of measures announced May 4 had been held up by concerns over oil supplies.

The impasse embarrassed the bloc, which was forced to scale down its ambitions to break Hungary's resistance. When European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed the package, the initial aim was to phase out imports of crude oil within six months and refined products by the end of the year.

Both Michel and von der Leyen said leaders will soon return to the issue, seeking to guarantee that Russia's pipeline oil exports to the EU are banned at a later date.

Hungarian Prime minister Viktor Orban had made clear he could support the new sanctions only if his country's oil supply security was guaranteed. Hungary gets more than 60% of its oil from Russia and depends on crude that comes through the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline.

Von der Leyen had played down the chances of a breakthrough at the summit. But leaders reached a compromise after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged them to end internal arguments that only prompt Russia to put more and more pressure on the whole of Europe.

The EU gets about 40% of its natural gas and 25% of its oil from Russia, and divisions over the issue exposed the limits of the 27-nation trading bloc's ambitions.

In his 10-minute video address, Zelenskyy told leaders to end internal arguments that only prompt Russia to put more and more pressure on the whole of Europe.

He said the sanctions package must be agreed on, it needs to be effective, including (on) oil, so that Moscow feels the price for what it is doing against Ukraine" and the rest of Europe. Only then, Zelenskyy said, will Russia be forced to start seeking peace.

It was not the first time he had demanded that the EU target Russia's lucrative energy sector and deprive Moscow of billions of dollars each day in supply payments.

But Hungary led a group of EU countries worried over the impact of the oil ban on their economy, including Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. Hungary relies heavily on Russia for energy and can't afford to turn off the pumps. In addition to its need for Russian oil, Hungary gets 85% of its natural gas from Russia.

Orban had been adamant on arriving at the summit in Brussels that a deal was not in sight, stressing that Hungary needed its energy supply secured.

Von der Leyen and Michel said the commitment by Germany and Poland to phase out Russian oil by the end of the year and to forgo oil from the northern part of the Druzhba pipeline will help cut 90% of Russian oil imports.

The issue of food security will be on the table Tuesday, with the leaders set to encourage their governments to speed up work on solidarity lanes to help Ukraine export grain and other produce. 

(AP)