ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT, July 13 (Reuters) - Russia's leadership is suffering a significant amount of "friction and confusion" since the Wagner mercenary group's mutiny last month, but the impact it is having on front lines in Ukraine is still uncertain, the United States' top general said on Thursday.

12 July 2023; MEMO: Iraq is reportedly planning to buy JF-17 fighter aircraft from Pakistan, becoming the fifth country to do so, according to a report on Sunday by Pakistan's The News International, citing unnamed sources.

UNITED NATIONS, July 13 (Reuters) - North Korea is set to make a rare statement during a United Nations Security Council meeting on Thursday, which was called over Pyongyang's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

North Korea requested to speak at the meeting of the 15-member body and Great Britain - as council president for July - intends to grant it, said Mungo Woodifield, spokesperson for Britain's U.N. mission in New York.

The council meeting was requested by the United States, Albania, France, Japan, Malta and Britain.

BEIJING, July 13 (APP): China supported the urgent debate held at the United Nations Human Rights Council over public and premeditated acts of desecration of the Quran and strongly condemned such acts that happened once again in the relevant country.

China supports holding this urgent debate and expresses its strong condemnation over the burning of the Holy Quran that happened once again in the relevant country, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Wang Wenbin said during his regular briefing on Thursday.

ANKARA, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Turkish lawmakers would make the right decision on Sweden's NATO bid in line with Türkiye's interests, semi-official Anadolu Agency reported Thursday.

"Our parliament will ... make the right decision in line with the interests of our country," Erdogan said when returning from the NATO summit held in Lithuania's capital Vilnius on July 11-12.

Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership in February 2022. Türkiye finally approved Finland's bid in March this year but has not yet ratified Sweden's.

12 July 2023; MEMO: Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has informed the UN that his country "demands a full demarcation of its southern border with Israel." Mikati told Asharq Al-Awsat that the Lebanese government is working "diligently" to solve the "tents crisis" through diplomatic channels, adding that, "We told the UN that we are ready for a full drawing of the entire southern border."

MOSCOW, July 13 (Reuters) - A Russian general said he had been dismissed as a commander after telling the military leadership about the dire situation at the front in Ukraine, where he said Russian soldiers had been stabbed in the back by the failings of the top military brass.

After the June 24 mutiny by Wagner mercenaries, the biggest domestic challenge to the Russian state in decades, President Vladimir Putin has so far kept Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov in their jobs.

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian civilians woke long before dawn in the bitter cold, lined up for the single toilet and were loaded at gunpoint into the livestock trailer. They spent the next 12 hours or more digging trenches on the front lines for Russian soldiers.

Many were forced to wear overlarge Russian military uniforms that could make them a target, and a former city administrator trudged around in boots five sizes too big. By the end of the day, their hands curled into icy claws.

BANGKOK, July 13 (NNN-Bernama) — As Thailand’s Parliament convenes Thursday for the much-anticipated prime ministerial vote, all eyes are on the outcome – will Pita Limjaroenrat become the next prime minister. 

The 42-year-old leader of the Move Forward Party (MFP) is the only candidate nominated on Thursday for prime minister.

However,  he faces challenges in securing at least 375 votes of the 749-member bicameral parliament – 249-member Senate  (one senator resigned on Wednesday) and a 500-member House of Representatives.

CHICAGO (AP) — A tornado touched down near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, prompting passengers to take shelter and disrupting hundreds of flights. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

A confirmed tornado was on the ground around 7 p.m. Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service in Chicago.

“This tornado has been touching the ground intermittently so far and is moving east. There are additional circulations along the line south of O’Hare. Seek shelter if in the warned area,” it said.

UNITED NATIONS, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Speakers attending the ongoing High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development on Wednesday stressed the need for renewable sources to make up 60 percent of power generation by 2030 to support sustainable development in developing countries.

The ongoing HLPF Wednesday was focusing on deliberating strategies for a smoother transition in the energy sector.

GENEVA, July 13 (NNN-XINHUA) — Ongoing outbreaks of bird flu have caused devastation to animal populations, and may now infect humans more easily, according to a joint release by three United Nations (UN) organizations.

Poultry, wild birds and some mammals have been affected by the outbreaks, and farmers’ livelihoods and the food trade damaged, the organizations said.