World News Roundup: Home of French mayor ram-raided and torched by rioters; South Korea's Yoon tells unification ministry to be less soft on North and more

Citing media reports, Michael McCaul, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote to Blinken on Friday, asking why the State Department's special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, was placed on unpaid leave after his security clearance was suspended earlier this year to investigate the alleged mishandling of classified documents. South Korea's Yoon tells unification ministry to be less soft on North Having appointed a new unification minister days earlier, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Sunday that the ministry had focused too much on providing aid for North Korea in the past and needed to change.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Home of French mayor ram-raided and torched by rioters

The home of a Paris suburb mayor was ram-raided and set alight while his wife and children were asleep inside during the unrest that has gripped the country following Tuesday's shooting of a teenager by a police officer, the official said on Sunday. Vincent Jeanbrun, mayor of the southern suburb of L'Hay-les-Roses, said his wife and one of their two children, aged five and seven, were injured as they fled the building in the early hours.

South Korea's Yoon tells unification ministry to be less soft on North

Having appointed a new unification minister days earlier, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Sunday that the ministry had focused too much on providing aid for North Korea in the past and needed to change. The new minister Kim Yung-ho is a conservative scholar and outspoken critic human rights abuses in North Korea, which Yoon has sought to spotlight amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Muslim grouping OIC says measures needed to prevent Koran desecration

An Islamic grouping of 57 states said on Sunday collective measures are needed to prevent acts of desecration to the Koran and international law should be used to stop religious hatred after the holy book was burned in a protest in Sweden. The statement by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, most of whose members have a Muslim-majority population, was issued after an extraordinary meeting in Saudi Arabia's Jeddah called to discuss Wednesday's incident.

Israel to buy 25 more F-35 stealth jets in $3 billion deal

Israel has approved the purchase of a third squadron of F-35 stealth fighter jets in a deal worth $3 billion, the Ministry of Defense said on Sunday. The additional 25 aircraft manufactured by Lockheed Martin will bring the number of F-35s in Israel's air force to 75, the ministry said, adding that the deal will be financed through the defense aid package Israel receives from the United States.

Prigozhin-controlled Russian media group shuts amid mutiny fallout

Yevgeny Prigozhin's media holding group is to shut down, the director of one of its outlets said, highlighting the mercenary chief's worsening fortunes a week after the collapse of a brief mutiny staged by his Wagner Group fighters. Under a deal that halted the mutiny, Prigozhin, a former ally of President Vladimir Putin, was allowed to go into exile in Belarus and his men given the choice of joining him, being integrated into Russia's armed forces or returning home.

Iran holds off sending ambassador to Sweden in protest over Koran incident

Iran will refrain from sending a new ambassador to Sweden in protest over the burning of a Koran outside a mosque in Stockholm, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Sunday. A man tore up and burned a Koran outside Stockholm's central mosque on Wednesday, the first day of the Muslim Eid al Adha holidays.

Baltimore police say two dead, 28 injured after mass shooting at housing block

Police in the Baltimore said that two people had died and 28 others were injured in a mass shooting early on Sunday morning at a housing block in the city. The city's police department said three of the injured were in a critical condition after the incident at 800 block of Gretna Avenue in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Baltimore soon after midnight.

France riots less intense overnight, fewer arrests

Rioting across France was less intense overnight, the interior ministry said on Sunday, as tens of thousands of police were deployed following the funeral of a teenager of North African descent whose shooting by police has sparked nationwide unrest. The government poured 45,000 police onto the streets to try to keep a lid on a fifth night of unrest after Saturday's funeral of Nahel, a 17-year-old with Algerian and Moroccan parents, who was shot during a traffic stop on Tuesday in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.

US lawmaker asks Blinken for details on probe of US' Iran envoy

A powerful Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives has asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken for details about an investigation into the security clearance of the U.S. envoy for Iran, amid reports he may have mishandled classified documents. Citing media reports, Michael McCaul, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote to Blinken on Friday, asking why the State Department's special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, was placed on unpaid leave after his security clearance was suspended earlier this year to investigate the alleged mishandling of classified documents.

U.S. explores refugee program for non-Mexican asylum seekers in Mexico

U.S. and Mexican officials are discussing a new U.S. refugee program for some non-Mexican asylum seekers waiting in Mexico, four sources said, part of President Joe Biden's attempts to create more legal avenues for migration. The program would likely be open to Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan refugees in Mexico, the sources said. Migrants would need to show they were in Mexico before June 6 to qualify, one of the sources said.