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Russian Duma Speaker Volodin Meets North Korea’s Kim in Pyongyang

This picture taken on August 14, 2025 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on August 15, 2025 shows North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (center R) waving as chairman of the Russia's State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin (center L), looks on as they attend a convention celebrating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Korea from Japan colonial rule in Pyongyang. (KCNA via KNS / AFP)
This picture taken on August 14, 2025 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on August 15, 2025 shows North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (center R) waving as chairman of the Russia's State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin (center L), looks on as they attend a convention celebrating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Korea from Japan colonial rule in Pyongyang. (KCNA via KNS / AFP)
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Russian Duma Speaker Volodin Meets North Korea’s Kim in Pyongyang

This picture taken on August 14, 2025 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on August 15, 2025 shows North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (center R) waving as chairman of the Russia's State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin (center L), looks on as they attend a convention celebrating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Korea from Japan colonial rule in Pyongyang. (KCNA via KNS / AFP)
This picture taken on August 14, 2025 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) via KNS on August 15, 2025 shows North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (center R) waving as chairman of the Russia's State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin (center L), looks on as they attend a convention celebrating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Korea from Japan colonial rule in Pyongyang. (KCNA via KNS / AFP)

Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during an official visit to Pyongyang, the Russian parliament said on Thursday.

Volodin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, conveyed greetings from the Russian leader and thanked Kim for North Korea's support of Russia's military campaign in Ukraine.

Putin held a phone call with Kim on Tuesday and updated him on planned talks with US President Donald Trump in Alaska on Friday.

Kim sent a reply to a letter from Putin that was delivered by Volodin to celebrate the 80th anniversary of liberation from Japan's colonial rule, North Korea's state news agency KCNA reported on Friday.

In the letter to Putin, Kim said the soldiers of North Korea and Russia formed "friendship and unity" in the battlefield to fight against "a mutual enemy" which he didn't identify, according to KCNA.

Pyongyang and Moscow have both confirmed the deployment of North Korean troops to support Russia's offensive against Ukraine to reclaim the Kursk region.

South Korea's intelligence agency said in June that North Korea was potentially ready to send more troops to Russia.

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World

Israel Appoints First Ambassador to Somaliland

FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
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Israel Appoints First Ambassador to Somaliland

FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa
FILED - 03 March 2020, Israel, Tel Aviv: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers an address. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/dpa

Israel has appointed its first ambassador to Somaliland, months after formally recognizing the breakaway region in the Horn of Africa, the foreign ministry said Sunday.

In December, Israel became the first country to recognize the independence of Somaliland since it declared its autonomy from Somalia in 1991 following a civil war.

Michael Lotem, currently serving as a roving economic ambassador to Africa, will be Israel's envoy to Somaliland, AFP quoted the ministry as saying.

Lotem previously served as ambassador to Kenya, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

His appointment follows the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two sides in December 2025, and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar's visit to Somaliland in January this year.

In February, Somaliland announced the appointment of Mohamed Hagi as its ambassador to Israel.

Saar's visit to Somaliland drew condemnation from Somalia, which described it as an "unauthorized incursion.”

World

UN Chief Calls for 'Coordinated International' Response after Mali Attacks

A general view of Bamako after insurgents launched attacks on military bases across the country, in Bamako, Mali April 25, 2026. REUTERS/Aboubacar Traore
A general view of Bamako after insurgents launched attacks on military bases across the country, in Bamako, Mali April 25, 2026. REUTERS/Aboubacar Traore
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UN Chief Calls for 'Coordinated International' Response after Mali Attacks

A general view of Bamako after insurgents launched attacks on military bases across the country, in Bamako, Mali April 25, 2026. REUTERS/Aboubacar Traore
A general view of Bamako after insurgents launched attacks on military bases across the country, in Bamako, Mali April 25, 2026. REUTERS/Aboubacar Traore

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday condemned "acts of violence" in Mali after militants and Tuareg rebels claimed attacks against the army across the junta-ruled Sahel state.

"The Secretary-General is deeply concerned by reports of attacks in several locations across Mali," his spokesman said in a statement.

"The Secretary-General calls for coordinated international support to address the evolving threat of violent extremism and terrorism in the Sahel and to meet urgent humanitarian needs," spokesman Stephane Dujarric added.

An Al-Qaeda-linked militant group said Saturday it had joined forces with rebels to launch what was one of the most complex attacks in years in the impoverished west African country.

The groups launched surprise dawn attacks around the capital Bamako and other regions, and Tuareg rebels said they had seized the northern city of Kidal.

Guterres "strongly condemns these acts of violence, expresses solidarity with the Malian people and stresses the need to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure," the statement added.

He called for "robust security coordination and collaboration across the region."

Since 2012 Mali has grappled with a security crisis, with attacks by militants, criminal groups and separatists killing thousands and displacing tens of thousands more.

The junta that seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021 said it was doing so to battle the militants more effectively, but attacks have continued.

World

Russian Strikes Kill Three, Wound Four in Ukraine

In this handout photograph taken on April 24, 2026 and released on April 25, 2026 by the press service of the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Ukrainian servicemen walk on a road past a destroyed military vehicle, near Druzhkivka, in Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by IRYNA RYBAKOVA / The 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate / AFP)
In this handout photograph taken on April 24, 2026 and released on April 25, 2026 by the press service of the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Ukrainian servicemen walk on a road past a destroyed military vehicle, near Druzhkivka, in Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by IRYNA RYBAKOVA / The 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate / AFP)
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Russian Strikes Kill Three, Wound Four in Ukraine

In this handout photograph taken on April 24, 2026 and released on April 25, 2026 by the press service of the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Ukrainian servicemen walk on a road past a destroyed military vehicle, near Druzhkivka, in Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by IRYNA RYBAKOVA / The 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate / AFP)
In this handout photograph taken on April 24, 2026 and released on April 25, 2026 by the press service of the 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Ukrainian servicemen walk on a road past a destroyed military vehicle, near Druzhkivka, in Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by IRYNA RYBAKOVA / The 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate / AFP)

Russian strikes across Ukraine killed three people and wounded at least four others, Ukrainian officials said Sunday.

Moscow has fired hundreds of drones on its neighbor almost nightly since its 2022 invasion, while Ukraine has carried out regular attacks on Russian energy and military targets.

In the northeastern Ukraine border region of Sumy, one Russian drone attack killed two civilians, according to the head of Sumy's regional military administration.

"The enemy struck civilians in the territory of Bilopillia community -- near one of the settlements, less than five km from the state border with the Russian Federation," Oleg Grygorov said in a post on Telegram.

He said two men aged 48 and 72 were killed, AFP reported.

Drone and artillery attacks in the central-eastern city of Dnipro, meanwhile, killed one person and wounded four more, the region's military administration head Oleksandr Ganzha said.

Ganzha in a Telegram post said private homes and vehicles were damaged.

Earlier Sunday, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol in Russian-annexed Crimea said a man was killed in a vehicle during a Ukrainian drone attack that damaged several homes and a dance school in different neighborhoods of the port city.

The governor said Russia shot down 43 drones in the attack.

On Saturday, Ukrainian authorities said at least eight people were killed in Dnipro, which was hit by waves of Russian strikes for 20 hours straight.