From Kashmir shooting to Iran prisoner swap: the non-coronavirus news you may have missed

Tehran says it is ready for full prisoner exchange with US without conditions

The barrel of an Indian paramilitary soldier's weapon is seen between partially closed doors of an armored vehicle as they drive towards the site of an operation in Awantipora area, south of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir, on Wednesday, May 6, 2020. APShow less

Iran says US yet to respond about prisoner swap

Washington has yet to respond to Iran about a prisoner swap, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said on Sunday.

Mr Rabiei repeated that Tehran was ready for a full prisoner exchange with the US without conditions.

It would be one of very few instances of co-operation in a frayed US-Iran relationship that has grown more hostile since US President Donald Trump took office.

"We have stated our readiness to discuss the release of all prisoners without preconditions but Americans have not responded yet," Mr Rabiei told Dolat.ir.

"It seems to us that Americans are more prepared than before to end this situation."

Both countries have called for the release of prisoners because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Iran is the worst hit country in the Middle East, while the US has reported the highest number of deaths worldwide from the virus.

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Three more arrests in Venezuela 'invasion' investigation, Maduro says

Three alleged mercenaries were arrested on Saturday in connection with the attempted invasion of Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro said, bringing the total captured to 34.

"We have captured three more mercenaries today. We have been meticulously looking for all those involved and we are going to capture them all," Mr Maduro announced in a televised address.

In the failed invasion, which Venezuela's leader has compared to the Bay of Pigs incursion in 1961, men landed in early May at Macuto, less than an hour from Caracas.

Two former US soldiers, Luke Denman, 34, and Airan Berry, 41, have been imprisoned and charged with "terrorism, conspiracy, illicit trafficking of weapons of war and [criminal] association".

They could face between 25 to 30 years in prison.

The others implicated in the case are Venezuelans.

Visitors wearing face masks are seen at Shanghai Disney Resort a day before the theme park reopens in China. Reuters

Men wearing face masks are seen under balloons for sale at Shanghai Disney Resort a day before the theme park reopens. Reuters

Police officers detain a man as protesters gather outside Parliament House in Melbourne, Australia. Anti-vaxxers and people who are fed up with the coronavirus lockdown have broken social distancing rules to protest in Melbourne's CBD on Mother's Day. EPA

Indian Navy personnel watch and take photos as the INS Jalashwa ship enters the Cochin port carrying Indian citizens who were stranded in Maldives due to Covid-19, in Kochi in the south Indian state of Kerala. AFP

Educators make a video call with autistic young men who can not be hosted at the association "Elan Retrouve", dedicated to psychiatric disorders in adulthood, in Paris. AFP

A mobile phone records a Mariachi group, traditional Mexican musicians, while they serenade and play music which will be shown online for Mother's Day , in Mexico City, Mexico. Reuters

A man walks past a bar in Sinchon in western Seoul, South Korea. The Seoul city government issued an administrative order suspending business at clubs and bars after dozens of infections were reported. EPA

A man wearing a face mask walks in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon in Seoul. AFP

Protesters gather outside Parliament House in Melbourne, Australia. Anti-vaxxers and people fed up with the coronavirus lockdown have broken social distancing rules to protest in Melbourne on Mother's Day. EPA

The Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago is lit up to read "Stay Home Save Lives", during the coronavirus pandemic. AP Photo

A view of the SSV Oliver Hazard Perry in Newport, Rhode Island. Non-critical retail establishments began opening their doors with limited capacity as part of Phase 1 to reopen the state. AFP

People riding a motorbike carry food packets distributed by a citizen at a roadside after the government eased the nationwide lockdown imposed as a preventive measure against the Covid-19 coronavirus, in Karachi. AFP

Thai Buddhist abbot monk Phra Athikan Thaweesup walks around the base of a Buddha statue decorated with a face mask, inside Wat Nithet Rat Pradit in Pathum Thani province, on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand. EPA

A Sri Lankan woman wears a protective face mask as she walks in front of a mural during an island-wide curfew, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. EPA

Cross-border firing from India kills woman in Kashmir

Police in Pakistan-ruled Kashmir say Indian troops across the disputed border opened fire with automatic rifles on Sunday, killing a women.

Shauzia Akhtar was shot in the head and chest as she prepared breakfast in her home along the border, said Chaudhry Zulqarnain, a senior police officer for the border district of Rawalakot.

There was no immediate response from India.

Thousands of Pakistani and Indian troops are stationed along the volatile border that separates a divided Kashmir region between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Cross-border attacks are frequent but in recent days attacks have increased with both Pakistan and India reporting soldiers killed in the fighting.

Three times in the past month, Pakistan has summoned Indian diplomats to the Foreign Ministry to complain.

Taliban say they don't have missing US contractor

Taliban leaders on Sunday said they were not holding Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran turned contractor who disappeared in Afghanistan in late January.

"We don't have any information about the missing American," said Sohail Shaheen, the Taliban's political spokesman.

Another Taliban official said "formally and informally" the Taliban notified US officials that they were not holding Frerichs.

Washington's peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who negotiated a peace deal with the Taliban in February to allow the US and Nato to withdraw their troops and end decades of war, asked for Frerichs's release during his meetings this week in Qatar.

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Two Chinese vessels chase Japanese fishing boat near disputed islets

Two Chinese ships chased a Japanese fishing boat close to disputed islands in the East China Sea, the Japanese coastguard said on Sunday.

Japan lodged an official protest with China over Friday's incident through a call to the Chinese embassy in Tokyo by Shigeki Takizaki, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian Affairs Bureau, local media reported.

There was also a call from the Japanese embassy in Beijing to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, media said.

The Japanese Foreign ministry could not immediately confirm the reports.

The flashpoint islands, called Senkaku in Japan and known in China as the Diaoyus, are at the centre of a dispute between Tokyo and Beijing.