By Nafisa Eltahir

Dec 29 - International aid staff who accessed Sudan's al-Fashir for the first time since its takeover by a paramilitary force found the city largely deserted, with a few people sheltering in buildings or under plastic sheets, a senior U.N. official said on Monday.

More than 100,000 are estimated to have fled al-Fashir since late October after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces took control there following an 18-month siege that plunged the city into famine.

ATHENS, Dec 29 - Greece, Israel and Cyprus will step up joint air and naval exercises in the eastern Mediterranean in 2026, deepening their defence cooperation, Greek military officials and a senior source said on Monday.

The three eastern Mediterranean nations have drawn closer over the past decade through joint military drills, defence procurement and energy cooperation, developments closely watched by regional rival Turkey.

India's navy boasts aircraft carriers, submarines, warships and frontline vessels of steel as it spreads its maritime power worldwide.

But none of its vessels is as unusual as its newest addition that sets sail on its maiden Indian Ocean crossing on Monday -- a wooden stitched ship inspired by a fifth-century design, built not to dominate the seas but to remember how India once traversed them.

Mining company Axis International said Monday it was seeking World Bank arbitration against Guinea for withdrawing its right to operate a major bauxite mine in the west African country.

Guinea, which has been run by a junta since a coup in 2021, has cancelled dozens of licences for international and domestic companies mining bauxite, gold, iron ore or diamonds over recent months.

Axis International, which is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, had operated Guinea's second-biggest bauxite mine with estimated reserves of more than 800 million tonnes since 2010.

BAGHDAD, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Iraq's newly elected parliament convened on Monday for its first session since the November national election, opening the way for lawmakers to begin the process of forming a new government.

Parliament is due to elect a speaker and two deputies during its first meeting. Lawmakers must then choose a new president by within 30 days of the first session.

The president will subsequently ask the largest bloc in parliament to form a government, a process that in Iraq typically drags on for months.

MOSCOW, Dec 29 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Monday that Ukraine should withdraw its troops from the part of Donbas that it still controls if it wanted peace, and that if Kyiv did not strike a deal then it would lose yet more territory.

Putin and Trump spoke on Sunday ahead of Trump's meeting in Miami with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said another call was planned very soon.

Dec 29 (Reuters) - Activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, freed from prison in Egypt and now in Britain, apologised on Monday for his "shocking and hurtful" social media posts made more than a decade ago, which have led to calls for his deportation from opposition British politicians.

Abd el-Fattah, 44, became Egypt's most prominent political prisoner after spending much of his adult life in and out of detention due to his activism and was a rare symbol of opposition during a far-reaching crackdown under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper on Monday ordered an urgent review into what she said were "serious information failures" in the case of a British-Egyptian activist who was awarded citizenship despite "abhorrent" past social media posts.

Alaa Abdel Fattah earlier Monday apologised over the resurfaced posts in which he called for violence against Zionists and police, as opposition lawmakers urged the UK government to revoke his citizenship.

BEIJING, Dec 29 (Reuters) - China opposes any attempt to split territories in Somalia, the foreign ministry said on Monday, affirming Chinese support for the sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the East African country.

"No country should encourage or support other countries' internal separatist forces for its own selfish interests," ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters at a regular press conference, urging authorities in Somaliland to stop "separatist activities and collusion with external forces".

By Umit Bektas

YALOVA, Turkey, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Seven Turkish police officers were wounded in a clash with suspected Islamic State militants in northwest Turkey on Monday and a police operation against them was ongoing, a Reuters witness and state media reported.

Sporadic gunfire could be heard at the scene of the clash in Yalova province, south of Istanbul on the Sea of Marmara coast, where police teams launched an overnight operation at a house believed to contain militants, the witness said.