World News Roundup: Britain says Ukraine forces defending Bakhmut under increasingly severe pressure; Stop human traffickers, Pope Francis says after Italy's migrant shipwreck and more

Having visited Tehran in a bid to loosen deadlocked talks on renewing its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, International Atomic Energy Agency chairman Raphael Grossi on Saturday said "any military attack on nuclear facilities is outlawed". Tunisian opposition defies protest ban with rally Hundreds of opposition supporters in Tunisia defied an official ban on their protest against the president on Sunday after some of their leaders were arrested, breaking through a police barrier in central Tunis to rally in the city's main street.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Britain says Ukraine forces defending Bakhmut under increasingly severe pressure

Ukrainian forces defending Bakhmut are facing increasingly strong pressure from Russian forces, British military intelligence said on Saturday, with intense fighting taking place in and around the eastern city. Ukraine is reinforcing the area with elite units, while regular Russian army and forces of the private military Wagner group have made further advances into Bakhmut's northern suburbs, the British Defence Ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin.

Stop human traffickers, Pope Francis says after Italy's migrant shipwreck

Pope Francis on Sunday called on authorities to stop human traffickers operating in the Mediterranean, as he expressed his sorrow over last week's migrant boat disaster off Italy's Calabrian coast, in which dozens of people were killed. "I renew my appeal to prevent such tragedies from happening again. May traffickers of human beings be stopped," the pope said in his weekly address to crowds in St. Peter's Square.

Thousands protest in Athens after Greece's deadly train crash

Clashes erupted briefly between police and a group of demonstrators in central Athens on Sunday on the fringes of a protest by thousands of students and railway workers over Greece's deadliest train crash in living memory. A small group of protesters hurled petrol bombs at police, who responded with tear gas and hand grenades, before dispersing to nearby streets.

'Major' fire at Cox's Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh under control

A "major" fire that broke out at a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh on Sunday, destroying several homes, is now under control, police officials told Reuters, adding that there were no casualties. The blaze hit Camp 11 in Cox's Bazar, a border district where more than a million Rohingya refugees live, with most having fled a military-led crackdown in Myanmar in 2017, Rafiqul Islam, additional police superintendent at Cox's Bazar told Reuters.

China sets modest growth target of about 5% as parliament opens

China set a modest target for economic growth this year of around 5% on Sunday as it kicked off the annual session of its National People's Congress (NPC), which is poised to implement the biggest government shake-up in a decade. The economy gave one of its weakest performances in decades last year, when gross domestic product (GDP) grew by just 3%, squeezed by three years of COVID controls, a crisis in the vast property sector and a crackdown on private enterprise.

Netanyahu rebuffs IAEA chief's remarks against possible attack on Iran

Israel rebuffed as "unworthy" on Sunday comments by the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief that any Israeli or U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would be illegal. Having visited Tehran in a bid to loosen deadlocked talks on renewing its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, International Atomic Energy Agency chairman Raphael Grossi on Saturday said "any military attack on nuclear facilities is outlawed".

Tunisian opposition defies protest ban with rally

Hundreds of opposition supporters in Tunisia defied an official ban on their protest against the president on Sunday after some of their leaders were arrested, breaking through a police barrier in central Tunis to rally in the city's main street. Before the protesters broke through the barrier, police warned them by loudspeaker that their demonstration was illegal but added that they would not stop them by force.

Nine years on, families urge new search for missing Malaysia plane MH370

Families of those on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared mysteriously nine years ago, called on the Malaysian government on Sunday to allow U.S. seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity to mount a new search for the missing plane. The fate of flight MH370 became one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries when it disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

Estonia votes in election test for pro-Kyiv government

Estonians headed to the polls on Sunday in an election pitting one of Europe's most staunchly pro-Kyiv governments against a far-right party seeking to capitalise on anger at rising living costs and which would stop admitting new Ukrainian refugees. If, as opinion polls predict, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas' liberal Reform party wins the national election and successfully crafts a coalition it would cement the Baltic nation's pro-European direction. Estonia would also stay on course to adopt more green energy and continue to accept refugees from Ukraine.

Netanyahu tries to calm outcry over minister's remarks on Palestinians

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought on Sunday to soften international outcry over a call by a far-right member of his cabinet for a flashpoint Palestinian village to be "erased", saying those remarks had been "inappropriate". But Netanyahu also pushed back against censure of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, accusing foreign powers of playing down Palestinian violence like the Feb. 26 killing of two Israeli brothers in Huwara village that sparked a settler rampage there.

(With inputs from agencies.)