(Corrects day to Sunday in first paragraph)

SYDNEY, April 19 (Reuters) - Australia's most decorated soldier, charged with ​war crimes related to Afghanistan deployments more than a decade ago, on Sunday publicly denied the allegations against him and said he was proud of his service.

Ben Roberts-Smith, 47, freed this week on bail, is charged with five counts of war crimes over the alleged murder of five unarmed Afghan civilians between 2009 and 2012. Each charge carries a ​maximum jail term of life.

On the banks of Iraq's Tigris River, Haidar Kazem mourned 300 tonnes of the fish he had carefully raised in ponds wiped out by a flood of polluted water.

Water supplies in Iraq, the eastern half of what is known as the region's fertile crescent and which the United Nations ranks among the countries most affected by climate change, are in a dire state.

"In just two hours, my entire project was gone -- fish I had spent a year-and-a-half raising. I am back to zero," the 43-year-old fish farmer told AFP.

By Trevor Hunnicutt, Ariba Shahid and Muhammad Al Gebaly

WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD, April 19 - Iran's top negotiator said recent talks with the U.S. had made progress but gaps remained over nuclear issues and theStrait of Hormuz, while President Donald Trump cited "very good conversations" with Tehran despite warning against "blackmail" over the key shipping channel.

Neither side offered any specifics about the state of negotiations on Saturday, days before a fragile ceasefire in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran is set to expire.

SEOUL, April 19 (Reuters) - North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles towards the sea off its east coast, South Korea and Japan said on Sunday, marking the latest in a flurry of launches by Pyongyang to accelerate efforts to boost its military capabilities.

The incident marks the North's seventh ballistic missile launch this year and its fourth in April.

"As the U.S. is focused on Iran, the North sees this as a golden time to upgrade their nuclear power and missile capability,” Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University, said.

After the ceasefire in Lebanon took hold, Samah Hajoul headed back to her apartment in south Beirut -- but only long enough to grab fresh clothes, feeling safer in her tent as she wonders whether the truce will last.

"I am afraid to return to my home because the situation is not stable yet," the displaced mother of four told AFP from her campsite on the capital's seafront.

April 18 (Reuters) - Two Indian-flagged vessels carrying crude oil were on Saturday attacked while attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz, India's Ministry of External Affairs confirmed in a statement.

Tehran's ambassador to New Delhi, Mohammad Fathali, was called in for a meeting with India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri during which Misri conveyed India's deep concern at the shooting incident involving two Indian-flagged ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT, April 18 (Reuters) - Pope Leo sought to downplay his feud with U.S. President Donald Trumpon Saturday, saying reporting about comments he has made so far during his Africa tour "has not been accurate in all its aspects".

Speaking to reporters in English aboard his flight to Angola for the third leg of his ambitious 10-day Africa tour, the first U.S. pope said comments he made two days earlier in Cameroon decrying that the world was being "ravaged by a handful of tyrants" were not aimed at Trump.

By Tuvan Gumrukcu

ANTALYA, Turkey, April 18 (Reuters) - Discussions are under way on how to manage or mitigate a possible U.S. withdrawal from the "European security architecture", Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday.

He gave no details of the discussions, but said such a withdrawal by the United States could be "destructive" for Europe if carried out in an uncoordinated way.

PARIS, April 18 (Reuters) - A French soldier who was part of international Forces stationed in southern Lebanon was killed, President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday, adding that evidence suggests Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah was responsible for the attack.

Three other soldiers were wounded and have been evacuated, Macron said in a post on X, urging the Lebanese government to act against the alleged perpetrators.

The soldiers were part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), a peacekeeping mission in the country's south.

BARCELONA, April 18 (Reuters) - The five permanent members of the United Nations' Security Council should agree to change their behaviour after failing to stop the war in Iran, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told a progressive leaders' summit in Barcelona on Saturday.

"We cannot wake up every morning and go to bed every night with a tweet from a president threatening the world and declaring wars," Lula added in apparent reference to U.S. President Donald Trump without explicitly naming him.