More than a thousand opposition activists of various stripes marched in central Moscow on Sunday after President Vladimir Putin proposed re-drafting the constitution, unleashing political upheaval.

President Vladimir Putin has said he does not want Russia to return to the Soviet-era practice of rulers dying in office without a succession plan, as speculation swirls over his future after he unleashed a political upheaval this week.

The flag-draped coffins of the 11 Ukrainians who died in a plane mistakenly shot down by Iran amid heightened tensions with Washington arrived in Kiev on Sunday.

The Taliban are aiming to reach a withdrawal agreement with the US by the end of January and are prepared to "scale down" military operations ahead of signing the deal, according to their chief spokesman.

China and Myanmar inked dozens of mammoth infrastructure and trade deals after a meeting Saturday between President Xi Jinping and fallen rights icon Aung San Suu Kyi, as Beijing doubles down on its support for a government under fire for its treatment of Rohingya Muslims.

President Donald Trump on Friday warned Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to be "very careful with his words."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday urged Iran to hand over black boxes from last week's downed airliner to France, saying it has one of the few laboratories capable of properly examining them.

The United States on Friday slapped sanctions on another senior Iranian official over a crackdown on protests but said Tehran appeared to be following through on de-escalating military tensions.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday he wanted to give his prime minister a "second chance" and refused to accept his resignation after a recording emerged of the premier questioning the head of state's grasp of economics.

Iran's supreme leader said Friday that demonstrations at home over the accidental downing of a Ukrainian airliner were unrepresentative of the Iranian people and accused the country's enemies of exploiting it for propaganda purposes.