“I am deeply shocked by the images of civilians killed in Bucha, Ukraine,” said UN chief, Mr. Guterres in a briefly worded statement, which was also posted on his official Twitter account.

“It is essential that an independent investigation leads to effective accountability.” Guterres said.

Osnat Lubrani, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Ukraine, tweeted. "Ukrainians are enduring a living hell for more than a month, thousands of civilians have died," she said.  "This horrific war needs to stop."

Kiev has accused Russian army of committing war crimes and a “massacre” in Bucha, a town just 30km northwest of the capital Kyiv, after the corpuses of unarmed civilians and mass graves were found on Sunday. Bodies of civilians - many with tied hands, close-range gunshot wounds and signs of torture - were found on the streets after Ukrainian troops reclaimed the town.

Ukrainian attorneys said they found 410 bodies in areas near Kyiv, and 140 bodies had been examined. Satellite images from Bucha show an approximately (13 meters) 45ft-long trench dug into the grounds of a church where a mass grave has been uncovered.

A Turkish prosecutor on Thursday called for the trial of suspects in the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi to be halted.

The court was asked to suspend the trial in absentia of 26 Saudis accused of involvement in the 2018 murder of the Washington Post writer at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The prosecution lawyer also requested the case be transferred to the Saudi courts, who have previously refused to extradite the suspects. The court said it would seek advice from the Turkish Ministry of Justice and set the next hearing for April 7.

Washington is to blame for the pause in talks between Tehran and world powers in Vienna aimed at reviving their 2015 nuclear deal, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday.

"America is responsible for the halt of these talks ... a deal is very much within reach," Saeed Khatibzadeh told a weekly news conference.

"Washington should make political decision for the deal's revival," he said, adding that Tehran would "not wait forever".

The U.S. State Department said on Thursday that a small number of outstanding issues remain in the nuclear talks, adding that the onus was on Tehran to make those decisions.

Iran has said that there are still major issues, including Washington removing a Iran’s IRGC from the terror list.

Tehran has been pushing for guarantees that any future U.S. president would not withdraw from the agreement. The extent to which sanctions would be rolled back is another unresolved issue.

Khatibzadeh also added Tehran was ready to resume talks with its key regional rival, Saudi Arabia, if Riyadh showed willingness to resolve outstanding bilateral issues.

A Russian demand forced world powers to pause nuclear negotiations in early March, But Moscow later said had written guarantees that its trade with Iran would not be affected by Ukraine-related sanctions, suggesting Moscow could allow a revival of the tattered pact to go forward.

Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Al-Shami declared “state bankruptcy and the Central Bank of Lebanon”, and said that the losses would be distributed to the state, the Bank of Lebanon, banks and depositors.

“The losses will be distributed to the state, the Bank of Lebanon, banks and depositors, and there is no specific percentage, unfortunately the state is bankrupt as well as the Bank of Lebanon, and we want to come up with a result, and the loss has occurred because of policies for decades, and if we do not do something, the loss will be much greater,” he said.

“There is a truth that cannot be ignored, we cannot live in denial, we cannot open withdrawals (banking) to all people, and I wish we were in a normal state,” al-Shami said.

“We are in the midst of negotiations with the IMF and in daily contact with the IMF, and for the first time this large mission has come and we have made significant progress in the IMF negotiations,” he said.

“We hope to reach an agreement on this or another tour,” al-Shami said. The negotiations are currently focused on several topics: reform and restructuring of the banking sector, balanced fiscal policy to service public debt, public sector and electricity reform, exchange rate consolidation, monetary policy and inflation management.”

He pointed out that KPMG is auditing the Bank of Lebanon, and that the bank is conducting an inventory of the amounts of gold in its possession, and has already begun the inventory process.

Local sources said on Tuesday, that the people of Qurmaneh village, west of the city of Ad-Darbasiyah on the Turkish border found the body of two Syrian youths on the outskirts of the village, who had been thrown by the Turkish army there.

The sources added that the bodies of the two young men bore signs of torture, which led to their death, at the hands of the Turkish army while they were trying to cross the border, and this was confirmed by the medical report in the city of Ad-Darbasiyah, where the bodies were transferred by Rojava Internal Security Forces, commonly known as “Asayish.”

The sources confirmed that one of the bodies belonged to a young man from the village of “Sabaa Sukour” in Jiay Kazuana “Jabal Abdel Aziz, named Adel Muhammad Al-Badr, born in 2001.

The sources indicated that the identity of the second body is not known yet.

Le Pen, who ran in the presidential elections in 2012 and reached the run-off in 2017 but was defeated by French President Emmanuel Macron, said that in the event of her defeat, she would look for a role where she would be more useful.

She added: “In this case (loss) I don’t think I will run (again), but I will continue to do what I’ve been doing for years, which is defending the French people. I don’t know from what position, but the one in which I am most effective will be.”

Le Pen has defended her past dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin that have left her open to criticism since Russia invaded Ukraine, citing the ties that French presidents have forged with him.

“Vladimir Putin has re-established Russian power after 70 years of Soviet terror and it would be suicidal to allow Russia to ally with China in the long run,” she added.

Opinion polls once again suggest Macron and Le Pen could qualify for the final round of elections due this year, with Macron more likely to win.

Amid the political deadlock in Baghdad, the two Shiite axes are competing over forming the new government. While the Sadrist movement with 75 members is looking for a majority government in collaboration with the majority of Sunnis and Kurds, the Coordination Framework with 64 members, which includes the Iran-backed parties, are calling for a consensual government.

In an unprecedented development, Sadrists and their Sunni and Kurdish partners announced March 25 the formation of a cross-sectarian coalition as the largest bloc, which is in charge of nominating the prime minister. It includes the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) with 31 members and the Sunni Coalition of Sovereignty with 62 members. The new coalition is being formed under the name of Enqadh Watan (Save the Homeland).

Historically, the Shiites would form the largest bloc and then pushed for government formation. However, this time the division among the Shiites, specifically Sadr and the Coordination Framework, has pushed Sadr to reach out to the Kurds and Sunnis in order to form a cross-sectarian bloc.

The Enqadh Watan coalition nominated Riber Ahmad, interior minister of Iraqi Kurdistan, for the presidency and Jafar al-Sadr, Muqtada al-Sadr’s cousin and ambassador of Iraq to the United Kingdom, for the premiership.

On March 26, the coalition held a parliamentary session to vote for a new candidate for the presidency. However, it was unsuccessful as they did not secure enough votes. The coalition needed a two-third majority (220 votes), but only 202 members attended the session.

The three allies had in total 168 members.

Most of the independent members, particularly Emtedad and New Generation, joined the session after they demanded some conditions in regard to the methods of government administration.

The two groups had formed a coalition under the name of "Coalition for the Sake of the People." They presented 17 conditions for attending the session including selecting an independent prime minister and forming a strong government. The Enqadh Watan coalition agreed on the conditions.

On the other hand, Coordination Framework members and their allies gathered at Nouri al-Maliki's house to unify their resistance against the coalition. Coordination Framework allies include members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and some members of the Sunni Azm party that has split into two groups — 12 members under Muthana al-Samerai’s leadership joined the Coordination Framework while the majority of 22 members remained under the Khamis Khanjar leadership that joined the cross-sectarian coalition.

Ultimately, the Coordination Framework and its allies have secured the blocking third, although the coalition has yet to quit as they scheduled another session for March 30 to vote for their nominated candidate.

The coalition is attempting to secure more members of parliament into their bloc in order to get enough members for the session. However, it seems unlikely that they will gather enough parliamentarians as Iran opposes them strongly.

Recently, Iran has maneuvred among the political divisions and was able to penetrate the Sunnis and Kurds to side with the Coordination Framework in order to create a strong resistance against the cross-sectarian coalition.

The PUK with 29 members has almost half of the Kurdish votes as opposed to the KDP’s 31 members. The PUK is supporting the Coordination Framework and a number of Sunni members of parliament have split from the Halbousi-Khanjar leadership and joined the Coordination Framework as well.

Recently, parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi was invited to Iran as well to discuss the process of the formation of the government. However, due to recent developments the visit has been postponed.

The independent members are also facing sharp divisions among themselves as the majority supports the Enqadh Watan coalition, as some teamed up with the Coordination Framework while the rest stood aside.

Under current circumstances, it seems unlikely for the coalition to form a majority government that excludes the Coordination Framework members. However, Sadr will have no choice but to eventually approach the Coordination Framework and include them in the government. This will result in a consensual government like the governments that were formed in the past.

This is due to the fact that Enqadh Watan does not have the required two-third majority to pass the presidency selection, and the Coordination Framework has secured the blocking third that prevents Enqadh Watan from selecting the president. 

According to the constitution, the prime minister should be designated by the president, and then he should present his Cabinet to the parliament. This means the entire process has been blocked and there is no solution but breaking the blocking third, which can be only possible by negotiation and forming a consensual government with participation of all parties based on their credit points acquired from the number of their seats in the parliament.

In the meantime, the current government will continue as a caretaker administration for as long as the political deadlock remains in Baghdad or early elections are conducted.

Ukraine’s defense ministry says its forces have taken control of the Kyiv region from Russian troops as commanders warn that the departing soldiers were creating a “catastrophic” situation for civilians by leaving behind mines.

The announcement marks a shit in the war since last February when Russian forces poured into Ukraine from three sides.

Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement that the South Korean defense minister’s remarks “further worsened the inter-Korean relations and military tension on the Korean peninsula,” according to state news agency KCNA.

The speakers at the forum explained that the forum aims to revive the PUK and reform its organization. Challenges, opportunities, and solutions were presented for discussion.

Papers have been prepared to guide PUK's future decision making and policies. The forum aims to modernize policy making within the PUK, and expand the circle of participation.

Arez Abdullah, a member of the PUK forum high council, stated, “By mid-May 2022, we will hold PUK general forum. All recommendations and briefs from our comrades and colleagues will be presented to the PUK leadership.”

Abdullah also added "the forum aims to renew PUK’s policies towards governance, domestic, and foreign relations, and how to better serve our people."

On Wednesday, officials in Washington, London, and Europe assessed that Putin is misled by advisors. The assessment came as Russian military has faced stiff resistance and has lost territory rather than gaining it in the last two weeks. 

Western officials have claimed that disobedience among Russian troops is high, with some resorting to sabotage equipment.

After the Iraqi supreme court's decree to nationalize KRG's oil, the Iraqi oil ministry officially requested the KRG to provide a copy of all oil and natural gas contracts it has made with oil corporations since 2004. 

The ministry also demanded oil and natural gas revenue records. A proposal is sent to the council of ministers to form a company to manage the KRG oil sector with authority to manage all activities in the fields. According to the proposal, the company will report to Baghdad, but its main office will be in Erbil.

The Dutch police tweeted, “two people were killed in a shooting accident,” with local papers placing the incident around 6 pm. 

“the man first ordered a meal and sat at a table across from the two victims before shooting,” a Dutch media reported. Witnesses said that the attack was apparently “targeted.”

The victims were introduced as brothers Ali and Hussain Torunlar. Ali was 57, and Hussain 62. Torunlars come from Northern Kurdistan. Dutch police stated they had begun investigating the incident with the gunman still on the run.

Hussein added, "It is true that the Iranian minister [Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian] called me and he mentioned that they had reached the last stage of the negotiations" in Vienna on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Al monitor reported on Friday.