The human rights situation in Russia has significantly deteriorated since it invaded Ukraine in February last year, a United Nations expert said on Monday, describing a “systematic crackdown” on civil society and calling for redress.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng on Monday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly as the world’s two largest economies hold a series of meetings to stabilize their strained relationship.

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will bring the short-term stopgap government spending measure for a vote on the floor on Thursday, he said on Monday.

A top Ukrainian general hailed the recent recapture of two eastern villages as an important breakthrough, saying it had enabled Kyiv’s troops to breach Russian lines near the shattered city of Bakhmut.

South Korea’s main opposition leader was hospitalised on Monday, days into a hunger strike in protest against government policies, while prosecutors sought an arrest warrant for him over corruption allegations.

Taiwan’s defence ministry on Monday urged China to stop “destructive, unilateral action” after reporting a sharp rise in Chinese military activities near the island, warning such behaviour could lead to a sharp increase in tensions.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday his forces had recaptured an eastern village on the southern flank of Bakhmut, in what would be Ukraine’s second significant gain in three days in its gruelling counteroffensive against the Russian army.

A spring heat wave across large parts of Australia’s southeast, including Sydney, will intensify on Monday, the weather bureau said, with temperatures expected to peak up to 16 degrees Celsius (60 Fahrenheit) above the September average.

With a possible partial government shutdown looming in two weeks amid what a senior Democrat called a Republican “civil war,” House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Sunday vowed to bring a defence spending bill to a vote “win or lose” this week despite resistance from hardline fellow Republicans.

The U.S. military said on Monday it was still searching for an F-35 fighter jet after a mishap on Sunday near an air base in South Carolina and has asked for the public’s help locating it.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump said he dismissed the views of his own lawyers in continuing to challenge his 2020 defeat because he did not respect them, saying in an interview aired on Sunday that he had made up his own mind that the election had been “rigged” – a false claim that he continues to make.

People whose homes were swept away by flooding in Libya’s eastern city of Derna a week ago faced the dilemma on Sunday.