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North Korean Leader Oversees Tactical Missile Weapons System

This picture taken on May 10, 2024 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 11, 2024 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspecting the 240mm multiple rocket launcher system at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
This picture taken on May 10, 2024 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 11, 2024 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspecting the 240mm multiple rocket launcher system at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
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North Korean Leader Oversees Tactical Missile Weapons System

This picture taken on May 10, 2024 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 11, 2024 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspecting the 240mm multiple rocket launcher system at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)
This picture taken on May 10, 2024 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 11, 2024 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspecting the 240mm multiple rocket launcher system at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (Photo by KCNA VIA KNS / AFP)

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday oversaw a tactical missile weapons system that will be newly installed at missile units of its army, state media KCNA reported on Wednesday.
Kim expressed satisfaction with missile system production in the first half of the year and emphasized it was important to carry out this year's military production plan, saying it would bring a breakthrough in the military's readiness for war, Reuters reported.
Missile launchers produced in the first half of this year will be installed at western fire strike units in charge of "important fire strike missions," KCNA added.
Last week, Kim inspected the country's artillery weapon system and attended the test-firing of such weapons

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US Says Rubio to Discuss Middle East in Vatican Visit

27 March 2026, France, Vaux-De-Cernay: Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State, attends the last working session at the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in France. (dpa)
27 March 2026, France, Vaux-De-Cernay: Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State, attends the last working session at the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in France. (dpa)
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US Says Rubio to Discuss Middle East in Vatican Visit

27 March 2026, France, Vaux-De-Cernay: Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State, attends the last working session at the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in France. (dpa)
27 March 2026, France, Vaux-De-Cernay: Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State, attends the last working session at the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in France. (dpa)

Pope Leo XIV will meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, the Vatican said, just weeks after the pontiff faced a barrage of criticism by President Donald Trump.

During his trip to Rome, the US diplomat is also expected to meet with Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who Trump insulted after she defended the Catholic leader.

"Secretary Rubio will meet with Holy See leadership to discuss the situation in the Middle East and mutual interests in the Western Hemisphere," the State Department said, confirming the Wednesday-Friday visit.

"Meetings with Italian counterparts will be focused on shared security interests and strategic alignment."

The trip by Rubio, a devout Catholic who regularly attends Mass, comes after Trump stunned many observers by attacking Pope Leo, the first American-born pontiff.

Trump called the pope "WEAK on crime, and terrible for foreign policy" after Leo called for peace in the Middle East war, and said that Trump's call to destroy Iranian civilization was unacceptable.

The pope has also spoken out against Trump's sweeping crackdown on immigration.

Italian media have presented this week's meetings as an attempt to "thaw" relations.

Rubio's private audience with the pope, at 11:30 am (0930 GMT) Thursday, comes the day before Leo marks one year as head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.

Christians across the world spoke out in support of Pope Leo after Trump's outbursts, which analysts say could hurt the US president politically.

Even before the clash, polls conducted in March and April showed growing disapproval of Trump among American Catholics, a warning sign after he won a majority of Catholic voters in the 2024 election.

Cuba is another likely topic of discussion in the talks at the Vatican.

The Holy See has long played an active role in diplomacy on Cuba, where Rubio -- a Cuban-American -- has been leading the Trump administration's efforts to pile pressure on the communist government.

Rubio requested the meeting with Meloni, an Italian government source told AFP on Sunday. That is scheduled for Friday morning.

The far-right Italian leader has been one of Trump's closest European allies, but the president criticized her as lacking courage after she defended the pope.

Trump has also threatened to pull US troops from Italy, saying Rome "has not been of any help to us" in the Iran war.

The pope and Rubio previously met at the Vatican with US Vice President JD Vance just days after Leo's election.

World

Russian Strikes on Ukraine Kill Nine

The site of a Russian strike in downtown Merefa, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, 04 May 2026, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. (EPA)
The site of a Russian strike in downtown Merefa, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, 04 May 2026, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. (EPA)
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Russian Strikes on Ukraine Kill Nine

The site of a Russian strike in downtown Merefa, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, 04 May 2026, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. (EPA)
The site of a Russian strike in downtown Merefa, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, 04 May 2026, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. (EPA)

A Russian missile attack killed seven people in an eastern Ukrainian town and a separate attack left two others dead in a southern village, Kyiv said Monday.

A Russian ballistic missile attack on the town of Merefa, outside Ukraine's second city of Kharkiv, killed seven civilians and wounded dozens, regional authorities said.

AFP journalists in Merefa saw several bodies strewn in the street, covered by blankets and white sheets -- with shops, houses and cars damaged.

Kharkiv regional governor Oleg Synegubov first reported that five people had been killed but later said that two men had died from their wounds in hospital.

The other victims were two more men and three women, Synegubov said.

Igor Kolodyazhny, 41, told AFP he left home 10 minutes before his wife. When he heard the explosion, he said he "quickly jumped into the car" and drove back to her.

"I called her and she did not answer," he added, before finding out she was killed.

His wife, also 41, leaves behind two children aged six and 16.

Governor Synegubov said a two-year-old boy was among the wounded but that he was not taken to hospital.

The strike targeted "civilian infrastructure in a city located quite far from the front line", he added.

Russian forces have focused on taking territory in the Kharkiv region, from where they were pushed back by Ukrainian forces in 2022.

Separately, the governor of the southern Zaporizhzhia region, Ivan Fedorov, said a Russian strike killed two people in the village of Vilnyansk.

"Unfortunately, a married couple was killed: a 51-year-old man and a 62-year-old woman," Fedorov said.

He added that their 31-year-old son was wounded in the strike, along with three other people.

Vilnyansk lies close to the regional capital of Zaporizhzhia -- towards which Russian forces have been grinding.

In Russia, the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said a Ukrainian drone killed a civilian resident in a border area.

Gladkov said the attack wounded seven others, including a 10-year-old boy.

US-led talks on ending the conflict have been sidelined by the Middle East war and deadly attacks have spiked in recent weeks.

World

Sweden Jails Syrian Man for Life over 2012-2013 War Crimes

Police patrol at the scene of a shooting at an office of Israeli military technology firm Elbit Systems in Gothenburg on October 10, 2024. Photo by Adam Ihse/TT / various sources / AFP) / Sweden OUT
Police patrol at the scene of a shooting at an office of Israeli military technology firm Elbit Systems in Gothenburg on October 10, 2024. Photo by Adam Ihse/TT / various sources / AFP) / Sweden OUT
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Sweden Jails Syrian Man for Life over 2012-2013 War Crimes

Police patrol at the scene of a shooting at an office of Israeli military technology firm Elbit Systems in Gothenburg on October 10, 2024. Photo by Adam Ihse/TT / various sources / AFP) / Sweden OUT
Police patrol at the scene of a shooting at an office of Israeli military technology firm Elbit Systems in Gothenburg on October 10, 2024. Photo by Adam Ihse/TT / various sources / AFP) / Sweden OUT

A Swedish court on Monday sentenced a 55-year-old man to life in jail for his role in war crimes during the Syrian civil war in 2012 and 2013.

The court found that the man was guilty of participating in a shooting against a peaceful protest in July 2012 in the Damascus suburb of Yarmouk, where several demonstrators were killed, it said in a statement.

It also found that he had served at a roadblock set up by the Syrian government in the same area from December 2012 to July 2013, where "a very large number of civilians" had been arrested and taken away to be tortured and in some cases killed.

According to the court, both offences happened as part of the Syrian civil war, triggered by popular discontent with the rule of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad.

"The district court has found the offences to be aggravated because they were directed at a large number of civilians and several people have died and been injured," judge Hampus Lilja said, explaining this had warranted the life sentence.

The man, who denied the charges, was born in Yarmouk, left Syria in 2013 and was granted asylum in Sweden, according to court documents viewed by AFP. He then gained Swedish citizenship in 2017.

The court noted that the trial had taken 54 days and that a large number of people had been called as both plaintiffs and witnesses.

Sweden has adopted a principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows it to try cases of serious crimes against international law regardless of where the offences took place.