The world failed to act quickly enough in getting life-saving aid to Syrians in desperate need following last month's devastating earthquake, UN investigators said Monday.

The Damascus government, other civil war factions, the international community and the United Nations itself hindered the delivery of urgent assistance to the quake-hit northwest, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said.

Pope Francis marked 10 years as head of the Catholic Church on Monday with a podcast, a private mass and a series of interviews, one of which triggered a diplomatic spat with Nicaragua.

"It seems like yesterday," the 86-year-old recalled of his election during a podcast for the official Vatican News outlet -- after first having to be told what a podcast was.

Asked what he would like as a gift for his 10-year anniversary, for which he had no public plans beyond a mass with cardinals, Francis added: "Peace. We need peace."

The United Nations and Russia began talks Monday on renewing the Ukraine grain export deal, which has helped ease the global food crisis triggered by Moscow's invasion of its neighbour.

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffith did not comment to reporters as he arrived for the talks at the Palais des Nations UN headquarters in Geneva, nor did Rebeca Grynspan, head of the UN's trade and development agency UNCTAD.

The Russian mission in Geneva confirmed to AFP that the talks had started.

Diplomats from nearly 200 nations and top climate scientists began a week-long huddle in Switzerland on Monday to distil nearly a decade of published science into a 20-odd-page warning about the existential danger of global warming and what to do about it.

Zuhair Hassoun examines worrying cracks in a Crusader-era castle in Syria, a UNESCO World Heritage site that survived centuries of conflict only to be badly damaged by last month's deadly earthquake.

Hassoun, the custodian of the Fortress of Saladin, an architectural treasure with Byzantine roots in the 10th century rebuilt by Frankish Crusaders in the 12th century, walked carefully past fissured walls and crumbling arches.

"All of the fortress's towers are in danger," Hassoun said, warning that one had already fallen after the quake.

The presidents of Iran and Belarus hailed their close ties during talks in Tehran Monday at a time both countries are sharply at odds with Western powers, including over Russia's war in Ukraine.

Ex-Soviet state Belarus serves as a rear base for Russian troops, and Iran is accused of supplying Moscow with armed drones for use in the invasion -- a charge it denies while proclaiming its neutrality in the conflict.

Shares in the United Arab Emirates' ADNOC Gas rose 19 percent in their first day of trading on Monday in a $2.5 billion initial public offering that aims to tap into growing demand for the fuel.

ADNOC Gas, a subsidiary of state-owned energy giant Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), closed at 2.82 dirhams ($0.77) after opening at 2.37 and briefly hitting 2.96 on the Abu Dhabi stock exchange.

ADNOC Gas, which only became operational at the start of this year, is the bourse's biggest flotation yet. The overall market was down 0.6 percent at 9,767.63.

For two weeks after Palestinian mother Basma Aweidat received the devastating news her son had been shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, she was in mourning.

Then she got a phone call, telling her that while 28-year-old Thayer had indeed been shot, he was alive and being treated at a hospital in Israel.

"I couldn't believe what they were telling me," said Basma.

Amid the chaos of surging violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the West Bank, such traumatic tales of muddled identities are rare but not unique.

UAE state energy company ADNOC's recently formed gas unit will launch on the Abu Dhabi stock market on Monday in a $2.5 billion initial public offering aimed at tapping high demand for the fuel.

Shares in ADNOC Gas, which only became operational at the start of this year, were heavily oversubscribed even after the offering was expanded from 4.0 to 5.0 percent of issued share capital in response to strong interest.

The Islamic State group still has up to 500 active fighters in Iraq, a senior military official estimated Sunday in the country where jihadist cells continue to launch sporadic attacks.

But Iraqi General Qais al-Mohamadawi, part of the anti-jihadist coalition, stressed that IS -- now based in remote desert and mountain hideouts -- has "lost its ability to attract new recruits".

The United Nations estimated in a report published last month that IS still has "5,000 to 7,000 members and supporters" across Iraq and neighbouring Syria, "roughly half of whom are fighters".