Nearly three days after it disappeared while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, mystery still shrouds the fate of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 and the 239 people on board.

No debris from the Boeing 777-200ER has been recovered despite an international search involving the navies and air forces of several Asian nations as well as the United States.

An official of Russia's state atomic energy agency is to visit Iran on Tuesday for talks on building a second nuclear power plant, Iranian media reported.

Russia built Iran's sole existing nuclear power plant in the Gulf port of Bushehr and handed it over to Iranian engineers last September.

Flooding has struck parts of southern Mozambique prompting authorities on Monday to call on people to evacuate.

The 3 Fevereiro village near the Incomati river basin, in the district of Manhica is one of the affected areas.

A Turkish court on Monday ordered the release of four more defendants convicted over an alleged coup to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government, media reported.

The ruling came after former army chief Ilker Basbug -- sentenced to life in jail in connection with the so-called "Ergenekon" conspiracy -- was released from prison on Friday.

Thailand's role as a hub for criminal networks using false documents is in the spotlight after two unknown passengers on vanished flight MH370 used passports stolen in the kingdom, sparking fears of a terror attack.

Two European names were on the passenger list for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight, which disappeared in the early hours of Saturday en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Five climbers plunged to their deaths from the rocky, snow-covered peaks of a central Spanish mountain range in two accidents at the weekend, rescuers said.

On Sunday, two men and a woman tumbled from the Cuerno del Almanzor, a rocky, tower-shaped formation near Pico Almanzor, the highest mountain in central Spain's Sierra de Gredos range, the emergency services said.

The trial of 19 Belgians on terrorism charges began Monday under tight security amid concerns the 15 men and 4 women were part of a local jihadist recruitment network.

They face charges of either fighting alongside jihadist groups in Somalia, having attempted to go to Somalia or Syria, or of having provided support to a Belgian-based recruitment operation.

Pope Francis will make a five-day visit to South Korea in August, officials confirmed Monday.

The Pope will arrive on August 14 and is scheduled to meet South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, and will participate in a gathering of young Asian Roman Catholics to be held in the central city of Daejeon, Park's office said.

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke late Sunday with Chinese President Xi Jinping about ways to peacefully resolve a tense crisis over control of Ukraine's Crimea region, the White House said.

"They affirmed their shared interest in reducing tensions and identifying a peaceful resolution to the dispute between Russia and Ukraine," the White House said in a statement released on Monday.

Ukraine sought urgent Western backing on Monday after Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted that Crimea had the right to join his country even while hinting at a readiness for dialogue.

The pro-European team in Kiev that rode the wave of three months of deadly protests to topple a Kremlin-backed regime is running against the clock to preserve the territorial integrity of the culturally splintered nation of 46 million.