World News Roundup: Gunmen kill Israeli guard at West Bank settlement; Ukrainian forges plane wreckage into key fobs to fund war effort and more

Israel's military said soldiers there shot at suspects who had thrown firebombs at them. Russia says risks of nuclear war must be kept to minimum -TASS Russia believes the risks of nuclear war should be kept to a minimum and that any armed conflict between nuclear powers should be prevented, the TASS news agency quoted a foreign ministry official as saying on Saturday.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Australian leader, facing election, decries China's interference

Australia's prime minister accused China on Saturday of "form", or a record, on interference in foreign politics, after his home minister said Beijing's unveiling of a security deal with the nearby Solomon Islands was timed to influence an election. With most polls showing Scott Morrison's conservative coalition headed for a loss in the May 21 election, it has sought to highlight its national security credentials, such as a tough approach to China.

Gunmen kill Israeli guard at West Bank settlement

Two gunmen killed an Israeli guard at the entrance of a settlement in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said, and soldiers deployed to a nearby Palestinian town in search of the attackers. In an apparently unrelated incident soon after the attack in Ariel late on Friday, Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man in the northern West Bank village of Azzun, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Israel's military said soldiers there shot at suspects who had thrown firebombs at them.

Russia says risks of nuclear war must be kept to minimum -TASS

Russia believes the risks of nuclear war should be kept to a minimum and that any armed conflict between nuclear powers should be prevented, the TASS news agency quoted a foreign ministry official as saying on Saturday. Vladimir Yermakov, the foreign ministry's head of nuclear non-proliferation, said all nuclear powers must stick to the logic laid out in official documents aimed at preventing nuclear war.

Ukrainian forges plane wreckage into key fobs to fund war effort

Never mind forging swords into ploughshares; a Ukrainian businessman is turning scraps of wreckage from a downed Russian fighter plane into souvenir key fobs and selling them abroad to support the war effort. "Many of my friends tell me '$1,000 - nobody will give you this for this piece of metal, it's crazy," said Iurii Vysoven, founder of "Drones for Ukraine".

Shanghai marks COVID milestone, Beijing on edge

Shanghai said on Saturday it had detected no new daily COVID-19 cases outside quarantine areas, marking a milestone in its battle to contain the virus, which has paralysed the city of 25 million and put residents in the capital Beijing on edge. Streets in Beijing were eerily quiet at the start of a five-day Labour Day break, with residents anxious that authorities would impose further restrictions during a holiday when many typically travel or socialise.

UK lawmaker says he opened porn in parliament in error

A British lawmaker suspended by Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party following accusations that he watched pornography on his phone in the House of Commons debating chamber has said he opened the explicit content in error. Neil Parish was suspended as a Conservative lawmaker on Friday after reporting himself to parliament's standards commissioner. He has said he will continue as a member of parliament while an investigation is carried out.

Police arrest several in Canadian capital as bikers parade turns unruly

Police in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, arrested several people on Friday, after a march by hundreds of bikers, pedestrians and cars waving Canadian flags through downtown Ottawa turned unruly, authorities said. Friday's parade was a protest against claimed government overreach, and came less than three months after a truckers' movement paralyzed the capital for more than three weeks.

Germany takes Italy to UN court again over Nazi compensation claims

Germany has filed a case against Italy at the highest U.N. court because Rome continues to allow victims of Nazi war crimes to claim compensation from the German state even after an earlier ruling that such claims violated international law. Germany's application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), published on the court website late on Friday, says Italy continues to allow compensation claims to be brought in domestic courts despite the ICJ's 2012 ruling that this violated Berlin's right to immunity under international law.

France gears up for May Day protests, in first test for newly reelected Macron

Like quite a few on the left, 60-year-old nurse assistant Isabelle-Touria Boumhi says backing either Emmanuel Macron or Marine Le Pen in France's presidential runoff last Sunday would have been choosing "between the plague and cholera." She did not vote. Instead, she is preparing to take part in May Day protests this coming Sunday.

Ukraine says Russia pounding Donbas, failing to take targets

Russian forces pounded Ukraine's eastern Donbas region on Saturday but failed to capture three target areas, Ukraine's military said, while Moscow said Western sanctions on Russia and arms shipments to Ukraine were impeding peace negotiations. The Russians were trying to capture the areas of Lyman in Donetsk and Sievierodonetsk and Popasna in Luhansk, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in a daily update. "Not succeeding - the fighting continues," it said.