Ukraine's second city Kharkiv on Friday reeled from a deadly onslaught of Russian shelling as Moscow pressed its offensive to capture key points in the eastern Donbas region with more bombing of residential areas. The pounding of Kharkiv, which according to local officials left at least nine people dead, raised fears that Russia had not lost interest in the city even after Ukraine took back control after fierce battles.

There are things to discuss with the Russian leader. I'm not telling you that to me our people are eager to talk to him, but we have to face the realities of what we are living through, Zelenskyy said in an address to an Indonesian think tank.

The meeting will be John Lee's first with China's top officials since he won the uncontested leadership election on May 8 with 99.2% of all votes from an election committee that is largely made up of pro-Beijing members. A government statement confirmed that Lee will go to Beijing with his private secretary and press secretary, as well as his wife.

Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, DNY, tried to nudge Republicans into taking up a domestic terrorism bill that had cleared the House quickly last week after mass shootings at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and a church in Southern California targeting people of color. He said it could become the basis for negotiation.

China's capital is offering elderly residents state-backed insurance for medical accidents linked to COVID-19 shots to ease vaccination hesitancy among those most vulnerable, as Beijing ramps up inoculations during its worst outbreak.

Nine people were killed in fresh Russian shelling on Ukraine's second city Kharkiv Thursday, a regional official said, where many have returned after Russia's attempts to capture the eastern city were repelled. Russian shelling in Kharkiv today left nine civilians dead, regional governor Oleg Sinegubov said on social media. A five-month-old child as well as her father were among the dead, while her mother was gravely wounded, he added.

The strain circulating globally is thought to have a fatality rate of around 1%, although effective vaccines and treatments are available.

A day after the report was published, describing a boozy culture at his Downing Street office during lockdowns, Conservative lawmakers John Baron, David Simmonds and Stephen Hammond said they could no longer support the prime minister.

An earthquake of magnitude 7.2 struck the Tirapata region of southern Peru on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said. The quake was at a depth of 212 km (132 miles), USGS said.

At least four civilians were killed and several wounded in Russian shelling of the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine on Thursday, local authorities said.

At the trial in the Kotelevska district court in central Ukraine, state prosecutors asked for Alexander Bobikin and Alexander Ivanov to be jailed for 12 years for violating the laws of war. A defence lawyer asked for leniency, saying the two soldiers had been following orders and repented.

Human Rights Watch said that the migrants reported being beaten, robbed and stripped.

The International Organization for Migration said 30 people were rescued and 75 people were unaccounted for after the boat sank off the city of Sfax in southern Tunisia.