World News Roundup: Bulgaria's growth prospects dented by war in Ukraine -IMF; Russia says it strikes Kyiv missile factory after its flagship sinks in Black Sea and more

U.S. Special Representative Sung Kim has said he is open to talks with North Korea at any time and without preconditions, but Pyongyang has so far rebuffed those overtures, accusing Washington of maintaining hostile policies such as sanctions and military drills. 'Fortress in a city': Ukrainians cling on at steel plant in Mariupol Explosions rumbled and smoke rose this week from a steel making district in besieged Mariupol where dwindling Ukrainian forces are holed up as Russia tries to take full control of its biggest city yet.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Bulgaria's growth prospects dented by war in Ukraine -IMF

The war in Ukraine is likely to hit Bulgaria's economic growth, speed up inflation, and could pose credit risks, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday. The IMF, which concluded a staff visit to Sofia, sees Bulgaria's growth tentatively near 3% this year, down from an earlier estimate of 4.4%, while inflation was likely to reach double digits in 2022, it said in a statement.

Russia says it strikes Kyiv missile factory after its flagship sinks in Black Sea

The flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet has sunk after what Kyiv said was a Ukrainian missile strike, dealing one of the heaviest blows yet to Moscow's war effort and providing a stunning symbol of Kyiv's resistance against a better-armed foe.

Kyiv says it hit the cruiser Moskva with missiles fired from the coast. Russia did not confirm the attack but said the ship sank while being towed in stormy seas after a fire caused by an explosion of ammunition. Moscow said more than 500 sailors had been evacuated. There was no independent confirmation of the fate of the crew.

North Macedonia orders another six Russian diplomats to leave the country

North Macedonia's Foreign Ministry on Friday ordered six Russian diplomats to leave the country over violations of diplomatic norms, the second such expulsion in less than a month, a statement said. A diplomatic note has been handed over to Sergey Bazdnikin, Russia's ambassador to Skopje and the diplomats have five days to leave the country, it said.

Paris suburb feels little love for either presidential candidate

Boxing coach Kab Thiam has voted in a French election twice: in 2002 to block the far right's Jean-Marie Le Pen from power and again last Sunday for the hard left's presidential candidate. Now, though, with his favorite Jean-Luc Melenchon out, the 39-year-old does not plan to vote in the April 24 runoff. He finds both aspirants, incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, daughter of Jean-Marie, distasteful.

For Japanese fishing town of Nemuro, Moscow holds key to survival

Japanese fisherman Tsuruyuki Hansaku was barely out of high school when he served 10 months in a Soviet prison, arrested at sea on his father's boat for catching cod in what the Russians considered their territory. The silver-maned resident of the northern Japanese fishing town of Nemuro, now 79, is still on edge because of the way Moscow has over the fortunes of his family fisheries business, and of his hometown.

China holds drills around Taiwan as U.S. lawmakers visit

China said it conducted military drills around Taiwan on Friday as a U.S. Congressional delegation visited the island in a show of support to a fellow democracy, with Beijing blaming the lawmakers for raising tensions with their "provocative" trip. China's military sent frigates, bombers, and fighter planes to the East China Sea and the area around Taiwan, the People's Liberation Army Eastern Theatre Command said, in a statement released as the lawmakers were holding a news conference in Taipei.

Recaptured Ukrainian village left with wrecked tanks, bodies and questions

Smashed tanks in the mud, destroyed buildings and mourning families mark a recaptured east Ukrainian village whose residents are contemplating the price both they and their former Russian occupiers have had to pay. Ukrainian soldiers last month retook Husarivka, an agricultural village with a peacetime population of 500-600 around 150 km southeast of Kharkiv city, after heavy fighting following the Russian invasion on Feb. 24.

Growing defiance of COVID curbs in China brings wave of arrests

Sun Jian, a 37-year-old master's degree student in the Chinese city of Yantai, for months staged a solo campaign against his university's COVID-19 prevention measures, including blistering criticism on social media. The last straw for authorities came on March 27, when Sun walked around his campus carrying a placard that read "lift the lockdown on Ludong".

U.S. special representative for N.Korea to visit Seoul to discuss missile launches

The U.S. envoy for North Korea will visit Seoul next week for meetings with South Korean counterparts to discuss the international response to the North's recent intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) launches, the State Department said. U.S. Special Representative Sung Kim has said he is open to talks with North Korea at any time and without preconditions, but Pyongyang has so far rebuffed those overtures, accusing Washington of maintaining hostile policies such as sanctions and military drills.

'Fortress in a city': Ukrainians cling on at steel plant in Mariupol

Explosions rumbled and smoke rose this week from a steel-making district in besieged Mariupol where dwindling Ukrainian forces are holed up as Russia tries to take full control of its biggest city yet. The Azovstal iron and steelworks, one of Europe's biggest metallurgical plants, has become an aptly apocalyptic redoubt for Ukrainian forces who are outgunned, outnumbered, and surrounded seven weeks into Russia's invasion of Ukraine.