Iran's parliament re-elected hard-liner Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf on Tuesday as its speaker, reaffirming its hard-right makeup in the wake of a helicopter crash that killed the country's president and foreign minister.

Of 287 lawmakers voting, 198 backed Qalibaf to retain the position he first took in 2021. He initially became speaker following a string of failed presidential bids and 12 years as the leader of Iran's capital city, in which he built onto Tehran's subway and supported the construction of modern high-rises.

A charismatic Armenian cleric spearheading anti-government protests temporarily stepped down from his religious post on Monday to mount a direct challenge to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan has roused thousands over the last month to protest against Pashinyan's decision to hand territory that Armenia had controlled since the 1990s back to neighboring Azerbaijan, Yerevan's arch foe.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Madrid on Monday where he was expected to sign a bilateral security agreement with Spain that will help his country fight its more than two-year war with Russia amid a recent offensive by the Kremlin's forces.

Spain's King Felipe VI met Zelensky at the capital's Barajas airport. The Ukrainian leader was due to hold talks with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez about what local media reported is a planned 1.1 billion-euro ($1.2 billion) agreement for Spain to supply Ukraine with more weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived Sunday in the capital of Uzbekistan where he is to hold talks with President Shavkay Mirziyoyev that are expected to focus on deepening the countries' relations.

Putin laid a wreath at a momument to Uzbekistan's independence in Tashkent and held what the Kremlin said were informal talks with Mirziyoyev. The formal meeting of the presidents is to take place Monday.

Armenia on Monday announced the detentions of more than 200 demonstrators demanding Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's resignation over territorial concessions to arch foe and neighbour Azerbaijan.

The interior ministry said "226 citizens were detained for disobeying lawful demands of police" as demonstrators attempted to block streets and roads across Armenia.

It began last month with the arrest of a Russian deputy defense minister. Then the head of the ministry's personnel directorate was hauled into court. This week, two more senior military officials were detained. All face charges of corruption, which they have denied.

The arrests began after President Vladimir Putin began his fifth term and shuffled his ally, longtime Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, into a new post.

Taiwan tracked dozens of Chinese warplanes and navy vessels off its coast on Friday, the second day of a large military exercise launched by Beijing to show its anger over the self-governing island's inauguration of new leaders who refuse to accept its insistence that Taiwan is part of China.

China has issued elaborate media statements showing Taiwan being surrounded by forces from its military, the People's Liberation Army. A new video on Friday showed animated Chinese forces approaching from all sides and Taiwan being enclosed within a circular target area while simulated missiles hit key population and military targets.

The French prosecutor for New Caledonia says a police officer has been taken into custody after shooting and killing a man when the officer was set upon by a group of about 15 people.

Yves Dupas says the officer is believed to have fired one shot, killing a 48-year-old man on Friday afternoon. It's the seventh shooting death reported since unrest erupted May 13 on the archipelago over contested voted reforms.

The helicopter carrying Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi caught fire soon after it crashed into a mountain and there was no sign it was attacked, state media reported, citing the military's crash investigators.

The statement from the general staff of the armed forces in charge of investigating the crash was read on state television late Thursday. The first statement on the crash did not lay blame but said more details would come after further investigation.

Armenia on Friday returned to Azerbaijan four border villages it had seized decades ago, officials in Yerevan and Baku said, a new step towards normalising ties between the historic rivals.

Armenian border guard troops "officially" took up new positions, its national security service said, while Azerbaijan's Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev announced Baku's border guards took control of the four settlements.