Top 10 world news: Ukraine denies its 'saboteurs' crossed into Russia, and more

Ukraine on Monday firmly denied Russian claims that Russian forces had killed five Ukrainian "saboteurs" who allegedly crossed the border to stage an attack, heightening fears of an all-out war.China has sanctioned US companies Lockheed Martin Corp and Raytheon Technologies Corp for supplying arms to Taiwan.

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"Not a single one of our soldiers has crossed the border with the Russian Federation, and not a single one has been killed today," Anton Gerashchenko, an official at Ukraine's interior ministry, told reporters.

Amid rising Russia and Ukraine tensions, ablast was heard early on Monday in the centre of the city ofDonetsk, which is held by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, Reuters reported citing a witness.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular news briefing, ''The sanctions are countermeasures against the two companies over a $100-million arms on February 7 sale that undermined China's security interests, seriously undermined China-US relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait."

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday, arrived in Qatar for his firt visit to a Gulf Arab state for a major gas summit. The summit is likely to be dominated by tensions over Ukraine crisis.

IsraeliPrime Minister Naftali Bennett has said that a US-Iraniandealtaking shape to reviveIran's 2015nuclearagreement with world powers is weaker than the original arrangement andwouldlead to a more violentMiddleEast.

British Prime Minister BorisJohnsonis set Monday to announce an end to all pandemiclegalcurbsin England, insisting it is time to move on despite political opposition and unease from the UN's health agency.

Billionaire Carl Icahn, who is a shareholder in McDonald's, has expressed concerns over welfare of pigs in its food chain.

The Indonesian government's move to relocate the country's capital to the dense but dwindling jungles of East Kalimantan province has increased fears for the future of orangutans.

NewZealand will lift COVID-19 vaccinemandatesand social distancing measuresaftertheOmicronpeak has passed, Prime Minister JacindaArdernsaid on Monday, as protesters occupying the parliament grounds again clashed with police.

A veteran Turkish politicalleaderwho has struggled for years to have President Tayyip Erdogan voted out of office says it is "very clear" that his dream is drawing nearer, even as doubts remain about whether he will be the mainoppositioncandidate at presidential elections set for 2023.