DREW ANGERER, GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/ GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / POOL/ AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to a proposal by US President Donald Trump that Russia and Ukraine cease attacking each other's energy infrastructure for 30 days, the Kremlin said following a lengthy phone discussion between the leaders.
The two countries plan to begin negotiations "immediately" in the Middle East on a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, according to a readout from the White House.
"The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace," the White House readout said.
Trump had been pressuring Putin to agree to a US-backed 30-day ceasefire that Ukraine has already accepted as part of a move toward a permanent peace deal to end Europe's biggest conflict since World War Two.
The war has killed or wounded hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions and reduced entire towns to rubble.
Putin, whose forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022, said last week he supported in principle Washington's proposal for a truce but that his forces would fight on until several crucial conditions were worked out.
A fire that broke out at a textile factory in the Chinese city of Foshan in southern Guangdong province on Sunday has killed eight people and injured one, state news agency Xinhua said on Monday.
At least three people have been killed and several more injured in a Pakistani airstrike on Afghanistan's northeastern province of Kunar, Tolo News reported on Monday, citing a provincial official.
A powerful typhoon was approaching Japan's Pacific coast on Monday, bringing torrential rain, violent winds, and a heightened risk of landslides across the Kanto region and other parts of eastern Japan, the weather agency said.
Australia will bid to join the United Nations Security Council from 2029, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday, as he launched a campaign to secure one of the two non-permanent seats available to its bloc.
Indonesian authorities will continue searching on Monday for more than a hundred people still missing after a passenger ship sank in the Java Sea last week, with the confirmed death toll now at 10, its rescue agency said on Sunday.