World News Roundup: Biden, on inaugural Asia visit, says would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan; Legendary lithium riches from Bolivia's salt flats may still just be a mirage and more

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands and displaced 14 million people, while the West's attempt to isolate Russia as punishment and Moscow's blockade of grain shipments from Ukraine's Black Sea ports, have sent the price of oil, natural gas, grains, cooking oil and fertilisers soaring. Biden's Asian economic talks include 13 countries, and no China President Joe Biden launched his plan for U.S. economic engagement in Asia on Monday, leaving it to the 13 founding countries to work out how to enforce their agreements and if China could ever join.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Biden, on inaugural Asia visit, says would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan, capping a series of critical comments about China while in Asia that an aide said represented no change in U.S. policy toward the self-ruled island. Biden's remarks made during his first visit to Japan since taking office, and as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida looked on, appeared to be a departure from existing U.S. policy of so-called strategic ambiguity on Taiwan.

Legendary lithium riches from Bolivia's salt flats may still just be a mirage

On Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni, a vast white salt flat that feels almost otherworldly, Karina Quispe is watching from the sidelines a global resource race for the world's largest - and almost untapped - trove of battery metal lithium. Her village on the edge of the salar - from where most of the men have migrated to Chile to find work - has so far seen few jobs or benefits from the mineral wealth beneath the plains.

More than 6.5 million people have fled Ukraine - U.N. agency

More than 6.5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia's invasion in late February, the U.N. refugee agency said. Since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, 6,538,998 refugees have left Ukraine, with the majority of them entering Poland.

Gaza flour mills ground down by Russian-Ukraine conflict

Three months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has closed off access to lower-priced Black Sea wheat, owners of five mills in the Palestinian Gaza Strip are feeling the heat as they try to replenish stocks. Prices have jumped by around 20%, meaning the territory's five mills are struggling to compete with imported stock sold at slightly cheaper rates from Egypt and the West Bank, which have lower production costs than Gaza.

Long fuel queues persist in Sri Lanka despite the scramble to deliver supplies

Long queues snaked around gas stations in Sri Lanka's commercial capital and its outskirts on Monday even though the island nation's government was scrambling to deliver fuel supplies and douse any unrest as it battles a devastating economic crisis. Kanchana Wijesekera, Sri Lanka's minister for power and energy, said supplies of 95-octane gasoline, mostly used in cars, had been received and were being distributed across the country of 22 million people that have been struggling with fuel shortages for months.

Analysis-S.Korea's Yoon uses Biden summit as a springboard for global agenda as China looms

South Korea’s new president, Yoon Suk-yeol, used a largely successful summit with U.S. President Joe Biden over the weekend to lay the foundation for his goal of enabling South Korea to play a more active role around the world. Inaugurated on May 10, Yoon has said his main foreign policy goal will be to make South Korea a “global pivotal state” with a focus on promoting freedom, peace, and prosperity based on its liberal democratic values and cooperation.

Ukraine reveals 87 killed in a strike on barracks, worst military loss of war

Kyiv revealed its worst military losses from a single attack of the Ukraine war on Monday, saying 87 people had been killed last week when Russian forces struck a barracks housing troops at a training base in the north. The disclosure that scores had been killed in the attack demonstrated Russia's ability to inflict huge losses, even far from the front. Previously, Kyiv had said eight people died in the May 17 strike on the barracks in the town of Desna.

Russia's Putin jokes about being blamed for all the world's woes

Russian President Vladimir Putin quipped on Monday that he would have a serious talk to the West about its assertions that he was to blame for all the economic chaos sown by the conflict in Ukraine and the West's crippling sanctions. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands and displaced 14 million people, while the West's attempt to isolate Russia as punishment and Moscow's blockade of grain shipments from Ukraine's Black Sea ports, have sent the price of oil, natural gas, grains, cooking oil and fertilizers soaring.

Biden's Asian economic talks include 13 countries and no China

President Joe Biden launched his plan for U.S. economic engagement in Asia on Monday, leaving it to the 13 founding countries to work out how to enforce their agreements and if China could ever join. Biden is unveiling the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) in Tokyo on his first trip in office to Asia.

Russian soldier jailed for life in first war crimes trial of Ukraine war

A Ukrainian court sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison on Monday for killing an unarmed civilian in the first war crimes trial arising from Russia's invasion. Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old tank commander, had pleaded guilty to killing 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov in the northeastern Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka on Feb. 28, four days after the invasion.

(With inputs from agencies.)