Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez said Sunday she had "enough" of orders from Washington, in reference to pressure from the United States since the strikes and capture of deposed autocrat Nicolas Maduro.

"Enough orders from Washington on politicians in Venezuela. Let Venezuelan politics resolve our differences and internal conflicts. Enough of foreign powers," Rodriguez said in an address to oil workers in the eastern state of Anzoategui.

The Kremlin on Monday said the US-brokered trilateral talks in the UAE between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators had been held in a "constructive spirit" but that there was still "significant work ahead".

"It would be a mistake to expect any significant results from the initial contacts... But the very fact that these contacts have begun in a constructive spirit can be viewed positively. However, there is significant work ahead," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel defended his country's military preparedness exercises as a deterrent against potential aggression from the United States.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sought more air defense suppport from allies on Sunday as hundreds of buildings in Kyiv were still without heating for a second day after Russian strikes.

The decapitated body of a woman, whose legs were also cut off, was found in a rubbish bin in Istanbul overnight, Turkish media reported Sunday, sparking fury from women's groups.

Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, a force which was key in putting down recent nationwide protests in a crackdown that left thousands dead, is "more ready than ever, finger on the trigger," its commander said Saturday, as U.S. warships headed toward the Middle East.

Ukraine on Saturday accused Russia of undermining negotiations to end their almost four-year war by launching fresh deadly strikes, as officials from both countries and the United States met for a second day of direct talks in Abu Dhabi.

The United Nations rights chief decried Friday that "thousands" of people, including children, had died in Iran's crackdown on nationwide protests, and urged the authorities to "end their brutal repression".

Speaking at the start of a U.N. Human Rights Council urgent meeting on the situation in Iran, Volker Turk urged the authorities in Tehran "to reconsider, to pull back, and to end their brutal repression".

U.S. President Donald Trump provoked outrage and distress in the U.K. on Friday with his suggestion that troops from NATO countries stayed away from the frontline during the war in Afghanistan.

In an interview with Fox News in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Trump said he was not sure NATO would be there to support the U.S. if and when requested.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday withdrew an invite for Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney to join his newly constituted "Board of Peace."

"Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada's joining," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.