Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

EU to slap human rights sanctions on Iran, warns of more over Ukraine

The European Union prepared to slap sanctions on Iran on Monday over a human rights crackdown and several ministers warned of separate, new sanctions if Tehran’s involvement in Russia’s war on Ukraine was proven. The EU ministers are set to impose travel bans and freeze the assets of some 15 Iranians involved in the government crackdown that began last month against demonstrators outraged by the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

Russia faces turmoil, says former diplomat who resigned over war

President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has set Russia on a path towards turmoil that could unseat the Kremlin chief, trigger civil war or even break the country apart, said a Russian diplomat who resigned over the war. Boris Bondarev, a counsellor at Russia’s permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva, resigned in May because he felt the war had shown just how repressive and warped his homeland had become.

‘How’s Brexit going?’ British politics mocked at home and abroad

Britain’s political and economic turmoil has been greeted with thinly veiled satisfaction among pro-European and leftist politicians abroad, with some commentators drawing parallels to chaotic Italy. New British finance minister Jeremy Hunt will set out tax and spending measures on Monday, two weeks earlier than scheduled, as he races to stem a dramatic loss of investor confidence in Prime Minister Liz Truss’s government.

Analysis-What is Russia’s policy on tactical nuclear weapons?

The United States has said the world faces the gravest nuclear danger since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis because of remarks by Russian leader Vladimir Putin during the Ukraine conflict, but Moscow says its position has been misinterpreted. Kyiv and its Western allies fear tactical nuclear weapons could be used in battle after Putin and others warned Russia was prepared to use all its vast arsenal in defence.

Former Russian journalist Ovsyannikova has fled Russia – lawyer

Former Russian state TV journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, accused of spreading “fake news” about the military, has fled the country after escaping from house arrest, her lawyer said on Monday. Ovsyannikova is currently “under the protection of a European state”, lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov said, declining to elaborate as “it may turn out to be a problem for her”.

EU sets up training mission so Ukraine can continue its “courageous fight”

European Union foreign ministers agreed to set up a mission to train some 15,000 Ukrainian troops from next month and to provide an extra 500 million euros worth of funding for arms deliveries to Kyiv at a meeting in Luxembourg on Monday. “Today, we step up our support to Ukraine to defend itself from Russia’s illegal aggression,” the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.

New UK finance minister Hunt scraps tax cuts, reins in energy support

New finance minister Jeremy Hunt scrapped Prime Minister Liz Truss’s economic plan and scaled back her vast energy subsidy on Monday, launching one of the biggest U-turns in British fiscal policy to stem a dramatic loss of investor confidence. Tasked with halting a bond market rout that has raged since the government announced huge unfunded tax cuts on Sept. 23, Hunt has now reversed all of the policies that helped Truss to become elected as prime minister just under six weeks ago.

Xi’s new generals face tough military challenges post-congress

In his first two terms as commander of the world’s largest military, Chinese President Xi Jinping has unleashed sweeping changes to its structure, posture and potency. Over those 10 years, China has rapidly expanded and advanced its naval and rocket forces, purged thousands of officers over corruption, reformed its command operations and built bases deep in the maritime heart of Southeast Asia.

Russia launches deadly new attacks on central Kyiv using drones

Russia attacked Ukrainian cities with drones on Monday, killing at least three people in an apartment building in downtown Kyiv during morning rush hour, and targeting infrastructure across the country in the second big wave of air strikes in a week. Soldiers fired into the air trying to shoot down the drones after blasts rocked central Kyiv. Residents fled for shelter. An anti-aircraft rocket could be seen streaking into the morning sky, followed by an explosion and orange flames.

Putting Kurds in spotlight, Iran’s leaders try to deflect national protest

Facing their biggest challenge in years, Iran’s religious leaders are trying to portray the angry protests over the death of Mahsa Amini as a breakaway uprising by her fellow Kurds threatening the nation’s unity rather than its clerical rule. Amini, a 22-year-old from Kurdistan province in northwest Iran, died in the custody of the Islamic Republic’s morality police after she was detained for violating strict codes requiring women to dress modestly in public.

(With inputs from agencies.)