Here are the top 10 things happening around the world

Even as you begin your day, these are the top 10 news events you might want to follow on as well from around the world.

1) U.N. vote on Tuesday on Yemen arms embargo; Russia stance unclear

The U.N. Security Council is due to vote on Tuesday on a resolution to blacklist the son of Yemen's former president and a Houthi leader and effectively impose an arms embargo on the rebels who rule most of the country, diplomats said. It was unclear how Russia would vote on the draft by council member Jordan and Gulf Arab states. Russia had unsuccessfully suggested during negotiations that the text call for an immediate ceasefire and that an arms embargo include President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's government, diplomats said.

2) U.S. protests 'sloppy,' unsafe Russian intercept of spy plane

The United States said on Monday it has expressed its concerns to Moscow over a Russian fighter jet's "sloppy" and unsafe intercept of a U.S. spy plane in international airspace, in the latest sign of tensions between the two countries. The incident took place on April 7 over the Baltic Sea, when a Russian SU-27 Flanker intercepted a U.S. RC-135U reconnaissance plane and performed what the Pentagon described as unsafe aerial maneuvers.

3) China frees five women activists on bail after outcry

China has unexpectedly released five women activists on bail, two lawyers said on Monday, after a vocal campaign against their detention by the West and Chinese rights campaigners. The women were taken into custody on the weekend of March 8, International Women's Day, and detained on suspicion of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble". They had planned to demonstrate against sexual harassment on public transport.

4) Russia opens way to missile deliveries to Iran, starts oil-for-goods swap

Russia paved the way on Monday for missile system deliveries to Iran and started an oil-for-goods swap, signaling that Moscow may have a head-start in the race to benefit from an eventual lifting of sanctions on Tehran. The moves come after world powers, including Russia, reached an interim deal with Iran this month on curbing its nuclear program.

5) Pope's genocide comments spark indifference, frustration among Turks

When Pope Francis became the first pontiff to publicly call the 1915 Armenian massacre a genocide this weekend, the reaction from Ankara was swift and irate: it summoned the Vatican ambassador for a dressing down and recalled its own envoy. Reaction in the Turkish media on Monday ranged from indignant to indifferent, depending on how close the newspaper is to the government. The response on Turkish street corners was muted, with many Turks dismissing the spat as empty politics and voicing a desire to leave history in the past.

6) Deal or not, many U.S. states will keep sanctions grip on Iran

As the United States and Iran come closer to a historic nuclear deal, many U.S. states are likely to stick with their own sanctions on Iran that could complicate any warming of relations between the long-time foes. In a little known aspect of Iran's international isolation, around two dozen states have enacted measures punishing companies operating in certain sectors of its economy, directing public pension funds with billions of dollars in assets to divest from the firms and sometimes barring them from public contracts.

7) Nigeria's new president pledges effort to free girls kidnapped a year ago

Nigeria's President-elect Muhammadu Buhari vowed on Tuesday to make every effort to free more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram militants a year ago but admitted it was not clear whether they would ever be found. The abduction of the girls from a secondary school in Chibok in the country's Northeast last April drew international attention to the humanitarian crisis caused by Boko Haram's attempt to establish a caliphate in religiously mixed Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer.

8) Dutch populist Wilders mocks Merkel at German PEGIDA rally

Far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders attempted on Monday to boost the German anti-Islam movement PEGIDA with a speech that mocked Chancellor Angela Merkel for saying Muslims "belong to Germany", but the demonstration failed to draw huge crowds. Wilders offered to take Merkel back to the Netherlands with him, provoking chants of "Merkel must go!" from the audience of mostly middle-aged and elderly white men. Some waved flags and held banners saying "Stop the Islamization of Europe!".

9) Iran's foreign minister calls for new Yemeni government

Iran's foreign minister called on Monday for the formation of a new Yemeni government and suggested Iran could play a role in a political transition, comments likely to anger Saudi Arabia, its regional rival. Saudi Arabia has been carrying out air strikes in Yemen for nearly three weeks, hoping to halt the advance of Iranian-allied Shi'ite Muslim Houthi rebels toward the southern port city of Aden.

10) Violence escalates in east Ukraine ahead of talks

Ukraine's military accused pro-Russian rebels on Monday of using heavy weapons that were meant to have been withdrawn under a ceasefire deal, after one Ukrainian serviceman was killed and six wounded in rebel-held territories. With fighting intensifying once more, the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany were due to meet in Berlin later on Monday to discuss the next steps in implementing a ceasefire agreement signed in the Belarusian capital Minsk in February.