President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Moscow would seek Western guarantees that would preclude any further NATO expansion and deployment of its weapons near Russia's borders.

Putin's statement came amid Ukrainian and Western worries about an alleged plan by Moscow to invade Ukraine. Russian diplomats countered them Wednesday by expressing concern about Ukraine's military buildup near the area of the separatist conflict in the country's east.

Syrian authorities have said they seized over 500 kilograms (1,000 pounds) of amphetamine pills known by the brand name Captagon hidden in pasta packages in a van bound for Saudi Arabia.

An investigation was underway to determine who was behind the attempted smuggling, a statement on the official state news agency SANA said. It didn't offer details on whether anyone has been arrested.

The final results announced by Iraq's electoral commission have confirmed Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as the biggest winner in last month's vote, securing 73 out of Parliament's 329 seats.

A Sunni party headed by Parliament Speaker Mohamed al-Halbousi came in second with 37 seats, while the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) secured 31 seats, the commission said.

Gaza's Hamas rulers have reached an agreement by which Qatar will resume subsidizing the salaries of public employees by sending fuel to the impoverished territory, a Hamas official said.

Qatar was contributing to the salaries of some 50,000 employees of the Hamas-run government up until the 11-day war in May by sending suitcases of cash into the territory through Israel. Israel's new government, which was sworn in the following month, vowed to stop that arrangement.

Barbados stopped pledging allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday as it shed another vestige of its colonial past and became a republic for the first time in history.

Several leaders, dignitaries and artists, including Prince Charles and Rihanna, attended the ceremony that began late Monday in a popular square where the statue of a well-known British lord was removed last year amid a worldwide push to erase symbols of oppression.

China, which is increasingly flexing its muscles around the world, is one of the biggest threats to Britain and its allies, and a "miscalculation" by Beijing could lead to war, the head of the U.K.'s foreign intelligence agency said Tuesday.

MI6 chief Richard Moore said that China, Russia, Iran and international terrorism make up the "big four" security issues facing Britain's spies in an unstable world where both countries and illicit organizations are racing to exploit fast-changing information technology.

Syria has hosted the first international basketball tournament on its soil in at least two decades, bringing an Asia region World Cup qualifying game to a packed stadium in the capital Damascus.

The game with Kazakhstan, which Syria lost 81-71, saw the national team play at home before fans for the first time since the civil war disrupted security and upended regular life in the country.

Several prominent Kuwaiti opposition figures have returned home from a decade of self-exile after getting amnesty from the ruling emir, a long-awaited move celebrated Tuesday that's aimed at ending the political paralysis that has burned a hole in public finances.

Faisal al-Muslim was the latest to be greeted early Tuesday by screams of joy from relatives and supporters who had gathered at the open-air diwaniya, the all-male customary Kuwaiti gathering. Attendees in traditional white robes and checkered headdresses crowded around al-Muslim, jostling to shake his hand.

The emergence of the new omicron variant and the world's desperate and likely futile attempts to keep it at bay are reminders of what scientists have warned for months: The coronavirus will thrive as long as vast parts of the world lack vaccines.

The hoarding of limited COVID-19 shots by rich countries — creating virtual vaccine deserts in many poorer ones — doesn't just mean risk for the parts of the world seeing shortages; it threatens the entire globe.

Iran struck a maximalist tone Tuesday after just one day of restarted talks in Vienna over its tattered nuclear deal, suggesting everything discussed in previous rounds of diplomacy could be renegotiated.

Iranian state media reported the comments by Ali Bagheri, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, and Mohammed Eslami, the country's civilian nuclear chief. It remained unclear, however, whether this represented an opening gambit by Iran's new hard-line president or signaled serious trouble for those hoping to restore the 2015 deal that saw Tehran strictly limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.