MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/: Andrey Rublev’s Holy Trinity icon has been returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.

"In response to numerous requests from Orthodox believers, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a decision to return the miraculous Holy Trinity icon painted by Reverend Andrey Rublev to the Russian Orthodox Church," the church said in a press statement posted on its website on Monday.

The icon will be displayed for worship in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow for a year and after that it will be taken to the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.

ASWAN, Egypt (AP) — The café outside Aswan station was full of Sudanese families, surrounded by luggage and waiting for the train to Cairo, the next leg in their arduous journey escaping violence that has torn apart their country and overturned their lives.

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese envoy was preparing Monday to visit Ukraine and Russia, but there appeared to be little chance of a breakthrough to end the 15-month-long invasion.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government says it is neutral and wants to play a role as mediator, but has given Moscow political support. Beijing released a proposed peace plan in February, but that was largely dismissed by Ukraine’s allies, who insist Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces must withdraw.

KATHMANDU, May 15 (NNN-XINHUA) – A Nepal Army team summited Mount (Mt.) Qomolangma this morning, in order to collect waste, discarded by climbers on the world’s tallest peak.

Ten members of the team, led by Lieutenant Col Kishor Adhikari, including five Sherpa climbing guides, reached the top of the mountain at 10:05 a.m. local time.

“Ten of the 13-member team have conquered the peak. They will descend collecting the waste dumped en route to the mountain peak,” Nepal Army spokesman, Brig Gen Krishna Prasad Bhandari, told Xinhua.

BANGKOK (AP) — Ballots tallied Monday showed voters in Thailand wanted change after nine years under a former general who took power in a coup, with the main opposition parties easily besting other contenders in the general election.

The opposition Move Forward Party outperformed even optimistic projections and appeared poised to capture almost all 33 House seats in the capital Bangkok. Along with the Pheu Thai Party, the favored opposition group, Move Forward campaigned for reform of the military and the monarchy.

May 15 (Reuters) - Ukraine's military on Monday hailed recent advances around Bakhmut as its first successful counterattack in the battle against Russian forces fighting for control of the eastern city.

But Kyiv also said the situation in Bakhmut was difficult. It cautioned that Moscow had not changed its goal of capturing the city and was sending assault troops to Bakhmut's outskirts.

ANKARA, May 15. /TASS/: Turkish opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu may get some of the votes of the eliminated presidential candidate Sinan Ogan (5.2%), but it may not be enough to win in the second round, a source in the main opposition Republican People’s Party told TASS.

15 May 2023; MEMO: For the first time in its history, the UN General Assembly is commemorating the Palestine Nakba today, UN and Palestinian sources said.

"This year marks the 75th anniversary of the mass displacement of Palestinians known as 'the Nakba' or 'the Catastrophe,'" the UN said in a statement posted on its official website.

ISTANBUL, May 14 (Xinhua) -- An army of volunteers has been monitoring the voting process to prevent any misconduct in Türkiye's presidential and parliamentary elections on Sunday.

According to a representative of Vote and Beyond, the most prominent NGO in the country for securing elections, nearly 100,000 volunteers are at the polls across Türkiye's 81 provinces.

GARDEZ, Afghanistan, May 15 (NNN-ANA) – The Afghan security forces have thwarted attempts to smuggle handguns and seized 77 pieces of pistols, in the eastern Paktia province, said a statement by the provincial Police office, yesterday.

The alleged smugglers were attempting to illegally move the weapons out of the province, but were intercepted by the police, during a routine check in Dand-e-Patan district, on Saturday night.

However, the smugglers managed to escape, the statement admitted, saying, efforts are underway to arrest and bring to justice the culprits.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — For the first time, the United Nations will officially commemorate the flight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from what is now Israel on the 75th anniversary of their exodus — an action stemming from the U.N.’s partition of British-ruled Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is headlining Monday’s U.N. commemoration of what Palestinians call the “Nakba” or “catastrophe.”

Tehran (ISNA) - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani has reacted to the reports regarding Iran’s move to free two French nationals.

Kanaani said, “In response to the requests of the French side at different levels and following the talks held including the negotiations between Catherine Colonna and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Foreign Ministers of France and Iran on Friday, the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic of Iran freed two French nationals, with one of the them having dual Irish-French nationality”.