The United States has returned a cache of smuggled ancient artifacts to Libya as the oil-rich Mediterranean country struggles to protect its heritage against the backdrop of years of war, turmoil and unrest.

The repatriated items include two sculptures dating to the 4th century B.C. from the ancient city of Cyrene.

The head of the United Nations said Thursday that nearly all Afghans don't have enough to eat and some have resorted to "selling their children and their body parts" to get money for food.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' statement was part of a dramatic appeal from the world body and several rich countries that want to help beleaguered Afghans, whose fate has worsened since the Taliban returned to power last year.

The European Union will seek China's assurances that it won't assist Russia in circumventing economic sanctions leveled over the invasion of Ukraine at an annual summit Friday.

EU officials say they will also look for signs Beijing is willing to cooperate on bringing an end to the war at the virtual meeting.

Russian troops left the heavily contaminated Chernobyl nuclear site early Friday after returning control to the Ukrainians, authorities said, as eastern parts of the country braced for renewed attacks and Russians blocked another aid mission to the besieged port city of Mariupol.

Ukraine's state power company, Energoatom, said the pullout at Chernobyl came after soldiers received "significant doses" of radiation from digging trenches in the forest in the exclusion zone around the closed plant. But there was no independent confirmation of that.

A powerful Iraqi Shiite cleric has said that he was stepping back for the next 40 days and giving his Iran-backed rivals the chance to form the country's next government.

The surprising move by Muqtada al-Sadr comes against the backdrop of a persisting political deadlock in Iraq, five months after general elections.

There couldn't be a better moment for Jonathan Clauss to return to the club which once thought he was not ready for the roughness of the game.

It has been a long road, but the 29-year-old Lens right back ultimately made it to the top level, getting a first taste of international soccer with France's national team over the past few days.

When Xavi Hernández returned as Barcelona coach four months ago, the team he had helped lead to greatness as a player was struggling to get wins over the most modest of rivals.

After a bumpy start, Xavi now has Barcelona back to playing like a title challenger after a string of big wins that culminated in a 4-0 rout at Real Madrid before a two-week international break.

A convoy of buses headed to Mariupol on Thursday in another attempt to evacuate people from the besieged port city, while Russia pressed its attacks in several parts of Ukraine ahead of a planned new round of talks aimed at ending the fighting.

After the Russian military agreed to a limited cease-fire in the area, the Red Cross said its teams were traveling to Mariupol with relief and medical supplies and hoped to help pull civilians out of the beleaguered city on Friday. Previous attempts at establishing a similar humanitarian corridor have fallen apart.

A Norwegian soccer official delivered a scathing criticism of World Cup host Qatar and FIFA to an audience of executives on Thursday on the eve of the tournament's draw.

Qatar's record of protecting the rights of migrant workers — who have built tens of billion of dollars of projects needed for the World Cup — and its criminalization of homosexuality was aired by Lise Klaveness, the newly elected head of soccer in Norway and one of the few women ever to lead a FIFA member federation.

The world's fair in Dubai, a tech-saturated site teeming with talking robots and solar canopies, sought to be the future.

Now, it's history.