WASHINGTON, May 31 (Reuters) - The Qatari prime minister held secret talks with the supreme leader of the Taliban this month on resolving tension with the international community, a source briefed on the meeting said, signaling a new willingness by Afghanistan's rulers to discuss ways to end their isolation.

The May 12 meeting in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar between Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and Haibatullah Akhunzada is the first the reclusive Taliban chief is known to have held with a foreign leader.

30 May 2023; MEMO: An Israeli settler was shot and later died of his wounds from an attack in the Occupied West Bank on Tuesday, according to local Israeli media, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Israeli Army Radio said the attack took place close to the illegal Hermesh settlement near the occupied Palestinian city of Tulkarm. It did not mention his name but said he was in his thirties.

Israeli forces launched a manhunt for the attacker.

MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/: Gazprom set a new historical record for daily gas supplies to China via Power of Siberia pipeline on May 30, the company said on Wednesday.

"On May 30, the Chinese side's offer for the supply of Russian gas via the Power of Siberia gas pipeline once again exceeded the daily contractual obligations. Gazprom delivered all the requested volumes, setting a new historical record for daily gas supplies to China," the statement said.

Deliveries are made under a bilateral long-term gas purchase and sale agreement between Gazprom and China's CNPC.

SEATTLE (AP) — A group of Amazon workers upset about recent layoffs, a return-to-office mandate and the company’s environmental impact is planning a walkout at the company’s Seattle headquarters Wednesday.

The lunchtime protest comes a week after Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting and a month after a policy took effect requiring workers to return to the office three days per week.

“We respect our employees’ rights to express their opinions,” the company said in a statement.

ISLAMABAD, May 31 (NNN-APP) – Hybrid rice seed donation from China, will play a major role in rebuilding the agriculture sector of Pakistan’s south-west Balochistan province, which was badly affected by devastating floods last year, a Pakistani official said, yesterday.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The former monastery on a quiet residential street in Rome once sheltered Jews fearing deportation during World War II. Purchased by the Vatican in 2021 as a dormitory for foreign nuns studying at Rome’s pontifical universities, the building now stands empty, a collateral victim of the latest financial scandal to hit the Holy See.

DUBAI, May 31 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates said on Wednesday it was no longer taking part in operations by a U.S.-led task force protecting Gulf shipping, which has been subjected to renewed tanker seizures by Iranian naval forces in recent weeks.

The UAE was responding to a Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday which, citing U.S. and Gulf sources, said the Gulf state was frustrated by the lack of U.S. response to recent tanker seizures by Iran.

This was a "mischaracterisation" of conversations between the two countries, a UAE statement said.

MAPUTO /Mozambique/, May 31. /TASS/: US Ambassador to Pretoria Reuben Brigety, who alleged that South Africa had provided Russia with weapons, should mind his own business, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference on Wednesday.

BRASILIA, May 30 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of the South American countries reached the Brasilia Consensus on Tuesday at the regional summit here convened by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, seeking to facilitate regional integration.

Twelve leaders of the former and current member states of the regional bloc the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) attended the summit with the aim of relaunching the languished organization.

BERLIN, May 31 (NNN-AGENCIES)– German prosecutors said they arrested seven people accused of collecting money to send to the Daesh group in Syria.

The four Germans, a German-Moroccan dual national, one Kosovar and a Turkish citizen, were accused of belonging “to an international network that supported the terrorist activities of the Daesh in Syria through financial donations”, the federal prosecutor’s office said.

Starting in 2020, the group used the Telegram messaging service to appeal for contributions, prosecutors said.

30 May 2023; MEMO: Sudan's warring factions have agreed to extend a ceasefire truce for a further five days, as the initial imperfect agreement, nevertheless, enabled aid to be brought into the country.

In a joint statement yesterday by the United States and Saudi Arabia, the two main mediators in the conflict, the week-long ceasefire, which initially began on Monday last week, has now been extended by five days.

30 May 2023; MEMO: Ukrainian legislators have approved a Bill imposing 50 years of sanctions on Iran over its supply of drones to Russia, a lawmaker said, Anadolu Agency reports.

Yaroslav Zheleznyak said on Telegram, Monday, which the Parliament, also known as the Verkhovna Rada, approved the Bill with 328 votes in favour of the measures.