BANGKOK (AP) — Pacific Island leaders are criticizing rich countries for not doing enough to control climate change despite being responsible for much of the problem, and for profiting from loans provided to vulnerable nations to mitigate the effects.

Leaders and representatives from Pacific Island nations demanded at a U.N. climate change conference Monday in Bangkok that the world make more effort to put aside differences in combating the environmental impact, especially as their countries emerge from the economic devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic.

TOKYO (AP) — Amid the high-level efforts to deal with a raft of global emergencies, this weekend’s Group of 7 summit of rich democracies will also see an unusual diplomatic reconciliation as the leaders of Japan and South Korea look to continue mending ties that have been marked for years by animosity and bickering.

BEIJING, May 16 (APP):Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Wang Wenbin on Tuesday said that the upcoming China-Central Asia Summit to be held in Xian, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, will further build the consensus of China and Central Asian countries on the joint building of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with high quality.

KHARTOUM, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Clashes continued on Monday between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), with eastern parts of the capital Khartoum witnessing intense bombardment by the army's air force.

"A large logistical supply of weapons, ammunition and fuel belonging to the rebel militia has been dealt with in a qualitative operation that targeted some areas in Sharq Al-Neel (eastern Nile) locality and bases around the East Nile Hospital," the army said in a statement.

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/: The United States has repeatedly failed to find any signs of Russian interference in its affairs, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

When asked to comment on Monday’s report by US Special Counsel John Durham who concluded that the FBI should never have launched a probe into ties between former US President Donald Trump and Russia, Peskov said, "This is not the first time that the Americans have launched a thorough, large-scale investigation only to find a lack of any Russian interference [in US affairs]."

15 May 2023; MEMO: The Israeli army, on Monday, said a small surveillance drone crashed while operating over the Tulkarem refugee camp, northern Occupied West Bank, Anadolu News Agency reports.

In a statement, the Israeli army said the crashed drone was collected and there was no fear of information leakage after the crash.

It identified the drone type as "sky rider", a tactical surveillance drone, and that the incident is being investigated.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Rescuers on Monday evacuated about 1,000 people trapped by seawater 3.6 meters (12 feet) deep along western Myanmar’s coast after a powerful cyclone injured hundreds and cut off communications. Six deaths were reported, but the true impact was not yet clear in one of Asia’s least developed countries.

NEW DELHI, May 16 (NNN-PTI) – Students of a school in New Delhi were evacuated today, after the school administration received an email about a bomb threat, police said.

The evacuation took place at Amrita School, in New Delhi’s Pushp Vihar locality. The school received the threatening email at around 6:35 a.m. local time today, according to the officials.

The email from the unknown sender sent a tizzy among the school administration, who alerted the police.

16 May 2023; MEMO: The United Arab Emirates has invited Syrian President, Bashar Al-Assad, to the COP28 climate summit it is hosting at the end of the year, possibly placing him in the same venue as Western leaders who have opposed and sanctioned him for years, Syrian state news agency, SANA, reports.

According to the report, the invitation was extended by UAE President, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the UAE embassy in Damascus tweeted the same.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Floods caused by the annual rains have left “a trail of destruction” across Somalia, a United Nations spokesman said, citing inundated homes and farmland as well as the shutdown of health facilities.

“According to early estimates by our partners, more than 460,000 people have been impacted, including nearly 219,000 men, women and children who have been displaced due to this (flooding),” Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

CAPE TOWN, May 16 (Reuters) - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy had agreed to meet a group of African leaders to discuss a potential peace plan for the conflict.

Details of the plan have not been publicly divulged, although Ukraine's stated position for any peace deal is that all Russian troops must withdraw from its territory.

UNITED NATIONS, May 16 (APP):The United Nations Monday commemorated for the first time in its history, the mass displacement of Palestinians from land that was to become Israel, 75 years ago, that turned 700,000 Palestinians into refugees, almost overnight.

The mass displacement in 1948, known as the Nakba (meaning “catastrophe”), has an importance to Palestinians across the world, Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, said, while addressing a high-level event at UN Headquarters in New York, marking the day.