International News

Saudia Arabia announced in the early hours of Wednesday morning it had launched targeted strikes on Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq, in coordination with US Central Command (CENTCOM).

Rescuers were frantically searching on Wednesday for survivors of a 7.1-magnitude earthquake that shook southern Japan, killing at least 13 people, knocking out power to thousands of homes and rupturing roads across the region.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said there have been good talks with Iran even as he reiterated his threats to target Pickaxe Mountain as well as bridges and power plants if a deal is not made with Tehran.

US President Donald Trump held talks with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday, with spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt describing it as "positive and productive".

US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday discussed efforts to revive peace talks with Russia and a deal to allow Ukraine to make Patriot missile interceptors, ahead of the funeral of a US senator who was one of Kyiv's strongest backers.

France was bracing for its fourth major heatwave of the year on Tuesday, as soaring temperatures and tinder-dry conditions across the southwest piled pressure on crews battling a giant wildfire in the Bordeaux region.

India's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the release of under-18s arrested during the youth protests over exam leaks and said authorities must ensure surveillance footage is preserved after petitioners alleged police brutality against demonstrators.

President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US was having "good talks" with Iran and there was a chance of a deal over their conflict, but warned US strikes would resume if the negotiations failed to deliver.

Israel will allow a multinational security force to enter Gaza as proposed under US President Donald Trump's ceasefire plan for the enclave, an Israeli official said on Sunday, a day before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to Washington.

Russian strikes on front-line localities in eastern Ukraine killed seven people and injured more than 20 on Monday, officials said.

Saudi Arabia's air defences intercepted and destroyed drones launched from Iraq on Monday and reaffirmed its right to respond to the sources of "the aggression".

Britain's new prime minister, Andy Burnham, welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as his first international visitor on Monday, in a move that underscores London's steadfast support for Ukraine.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday vowed to press ahead with an anti-corruption drive that could see multiple charges filed against his cousin, former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

French police detained a man on Monday after he attacked three women with knives near Porte de Clichy in Paris, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told reporters.

Firefighters sought on Monday to take advantage of more favourable weather conditions to subdue massive wildfires threatening the French city and region of Bordeaux and a number of sites in neighbouring Spain.

Indian authorities have suspended a policeman for firing rounds in the air from an assault rifle to disperse student protesters in an eastern state over the weekend, the latest flashpoint in a wave of youth protests that forced the federal education minister to resign.

The Kuwait Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday strongly condemned the repeated attacks by the Houthi group on ships in the Red Sea, the last of which was on Saudi ship NCA MASA while sailing in the Red Sea.

US President Donald Trump has paused attacks on Iran to allow more room for diplomacy, the US ambassador to the United Nations told Fox News.

Typhoon Noul will dump heavy to torrential rains across much of southern China for two days, authorities said, after sweeping the province of Guangdong and neighbouring Hong Kong with gale-force winds, following landfall on Sunday.

India's education minister resigned on Saturday, handing a major victory to youth protesters whose street protests over examination paper leaks had become a serious challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

German police said a 21-year-old man was shot dead on Sunday, a day after he allegedly drove a minivan into people near a Berlin parade, killing one person.

Rescuers were searching on Sunday for 17 people still missing after a Vietnamese ship sank in the busy waterway of the South China Sea, while 45 have been pulled from the waters since Saturday night, China's state broadcaster CCTV said.

The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to 3,075, with 1,354 deaths, according to recent government data.

Twelve people were killed, including five children, in an overnight drone attack on a holiday camp in a Russian-held part of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, Russian-installed local authorities said on Saturday, accusing Ukraine of deliberately attacking civilians.

At least 35 were killed and 30 injured in a collision between two passenger buses on the Deir al-Zor-Damascus road, a health ministry official told state news agency SANA on Saturday.

Wildfires on the coast of southwestern France moved inland towards Bordeaux on Saturday, forcing the evacuation of thousands in the city's suburbs, while in neighbouring Spain high winds complicated efforts to fight a massive blaze near Madrid.

Recovering from the earthquakes in Venezuela will take years, the Red Cross said on Friday, one month on from the June 24 disaster that killed more than 5,000 people.

US missiles struck targets across Iran on Friday and President Donald Trump vowed "major military punishment" for Tehran and its Houthi allies in Yemen, though he once again left open the door to a diplomatic deal with Iran.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived in Damascus on Saturday for the first trip to Syria by a serving United Nations' chief since 2009, before the start of a civil war that killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions.

The US military said on Thursday night it had carried out a fresh wave of strikes on Iranian military targets, marking the 13th consecutive night of American attacks.

Palestinian officials welcomed UNESCO's designation of Sebastia in the occupied West Bank as a World Heritage site, hoping it will prevent Israel extending its control at the ancient village, while Israel condemned it as a political decision.

Leaders of India's youth-led "cockroach" movement said on Friday that the government has asked for time until Saturday afternoon to respond on their demand for the education minister's resignation, following talks between the two sides.

Four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed near a Palestinian village on Friday in a confrontation that added to a growing toll over recent weeks as Israeli settler violence has intensified against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Irish police intercepted "a significant explosive device" in a car travelling towards the border with Northern Ireland this week that they said on Friday was likely the work of nationalist militants opposed to British rule in Northern Ireland.

The Spanish government on Thursday night declared a national emergency after a series of wildfires threatened communities near Madrid and in the neighbouring province of Avila, forcing more than 10,000 people to evacuate as firefighters struggled to contain the blazes.

Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin, a former ally of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has resigned citing serious health issues, his office said on Friday.

US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are scheduled to meet in Washington on Tuesday, a White House official said on Friday.

Saudi Arabian state news agency on Thursday confirmed that tanker Encelia was ablaze after an assault while sailing in the Red Sea.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that the United States remains prepared to play a "constructive role" in helping bring an end to the war in Ukraine, following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of an ASEAN gathering in Manila.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that "fast-track" courts would be set up to prosecute those behind exam paper leaks, his first public response after days of youth protests demanding the resignation of the education minister.

Two earthquakes that rocked Venezuela on June 24 caused $19.6 billion in direct physical damage, but the cost of rebuilding could be twice that much or more, the World Bank said in an early assessment released on Thursday.

Ousted Ukrainian defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov said on Thursday he would accept no other government position besides his former job, escalating a political crisis that has gripped Ukraine at a pivotal point in the war with Russia.

A Czech military helicopter crashed in the east of the country on Thursday, killing one of the five soldiers on board, the army said.

The US House of Representatives narrowly passed its version of a massive defence policy bill, despite Democrats' concerns about its huge price tag, the Iran war and a provision that would boost Pentagon ties to Israel.

A fast-moving wildfire has forced more than 10,000 people from homes and campsites near France's Atlantic coast, as extreme heat and deepening drought fuelled fires across Europe and scientists warned that climate change was worsening the continent's water shortages.

Ebola has now killed more than 1,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, official figures show, as medics struggle to contain an outbreak amid militant violence, attacks on clinics and widespread shortages.

At least seven more bodies were recovered from the tunnel of an under-construction hydroelectric project in India's northeastern state of Sikkim, the state government said on Thursday, bringing the death toll from a blast to 22.

US Central Command said it completed its 11th consecutive day of strikes on Iran, targeting Iranian military operations centres, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities, and military logistics infrastructure.

The US and Saudi Arabia have reached a landmark agreement on civil nuclear power, the US Energy Department said on Wednesday, a deal that allows the kingdom to build nuclear reactors using American technology and to enrich uranium.

Indian opposition lawmakers disrupted parliament on Wednesday in support of student protesters, echoing their calls for the education minister to resign over exam leaks and ratcheting up pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi after days of unrest.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday the United States is still willing to negotiate an end to the Iran crisis but Tehran is not serious about talks, as the widening conflict disrupted two of the world's most critical energy chokepoints.

A fire that broke out at a family home in Lima, Peru's capital, left 10 people dead, including five minors, police said on Wednesday.

The new commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces, Mykhailo Drapatyi, said on Wednesday he had been tasked with stepping up counteroffensive actions and launching new operations inside Russia.

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, after meeting with Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun, that he was directing the US government to allow all domestic airline carriers to fly directly to that country.

US forces bombed targets in southern Iran overnight after President Donald Trump said Tehran would pay dearly for the deaths of American soldiers, while Iran targeted US sites in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan and a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz.

The chief of the Indonesian agency overseeing President Prabowo Subianto's flagship free meals programme said on Wednesday she had resigned, citing health reasons, the second leadership change at the beleaguered government body in just over a month.

Lebanese army troops began deploying in the southern Lebanese town of Zawtar al-Gharbiyeh on Tuesday after Israeli forces withdrew from the area, a senior Lebanese security official said, in line with a US-brokered plan.

Kuwait's Ministry of Foreign Affairs today summoned Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Totonchi to deliver a formal protest note over Iran's targeting of the Kuwaiti tanker Kaifan in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday evening, which resulted in injuries to several crew members.

A Russian guided-bomb attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed at least three people on Tuesday and injured more than a dozen, regional officials said.

French lawmakers approved on Tuesday a ban on social media access for children under the age of 15, as concerns grow around ​the world over the impact social media have on the health and safety of minors.

Firefighters struggled to control Spain's biggest wildfire of the year on Tuesday and two firefighters were killed in a blaze in southwestern France as extreme heat persisted in Europe, with increasingly volatile conditions bringing drought and forecasts of severe hailstorms.

An Israeli airstrike on Tuesday killed a father, his wife and their four children in Gaza City, while setting their home ablaze, health officials said.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun will meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday to present a plan on how to disarm Hezbollah and secure Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon.

An earthquake of magnitude 5.0 struck the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan at a depth of 6 km (3.7 miles) at 7:43 p.m. (11:43 GMT) on Tuesday, the ⁠China Earthquake Networks Centre said.

Thousands of supporters of India's youth-led "cockroach" movement protested in Delhi on Tuesday, a day after violent clashes with police, and in spite of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vow to punish those behind damaging exam leaks.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Tuesday he would cut taxes on electricity bills, the first of several early moves to signal his intent to ease a cost-of-living crisis and quell anger over successive governments' failure to bring change.

Saudi Arabia has condemned the Houthi movement's announcement that it intends to impose a maritime blockade on the Kingdom, calling the move a threat to regional security and freedom of navigation.

Britain's new Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Monday promised to set out new measures to help with the cost of living this week before setting out a new 10-year plan for the country later this year.

British prosecutors said on Monday a 28-year-old man had been charged with murdering former government minister Ann Widdecombe, and police said they were still investigating why she was attacked.

US forces struck Iran for a ninth consecutive day on Monday as the number of confirmed American military deaths in the renewed fighting rose to three and concerns grew over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Bahrain Civil Aviation Affairs (CAA) said on Monday drones targeted civil air navigation equipment serving the Bahrain Flight Information Region (FIR) during an Iranian attack, with no impact on air traffic operations.

Guyana's government said on Monday that 10 bodies had been recovered from a ferry that capsized off the coast over the weekend with 133 people on board.

Authorities said a man protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement was taken into custody on Monday after he ignited fireworks and a fire on the steps of the building that houses the agency's office in lower Manhattan.

Wildfires burning across Ontario have grown to 735,000 hectares (1.8 million acres), from 650,000 hectares over the weekend, Premier Doug Ford said on Monday, as air quality from smoke improved in much of the province but remained unhealthy in parts of the US Midwest.

A Russian missile strike on a ship carrying corn near Ukraine's southern port of Odesa killed 10 people, Ukrainian officials said on Monday, in the deadliest attack in a weeks-long flare-up of violence in the Black Sea.

A wildfire raged out of control across Spain's central Guadalajara province on Monday, burning for a fifth day and becoming the largest blaze of the year, as forecasters warned an approaching heatwave would raise fire risks across much of the country.

India's youth-led 'cockroach movement' said on Monday that its founder Abhijeet Dipke was "picked up" by police as two other leaders held talks with Health Minister JP Nadda amid protests demanding the resignation of the education minister.

Iranian attacks have hit Kuwait's power generation and water desalination plant for the second time in two days, causing damage to facilities, a fire, and the disruption of a large number of electricity generation units, Kuwaiti authorities reported on Sunday.

At least six people were killed and 21 injured after two earthquakes struck a mountainous region of Peru, the country's civil defense chief said on Sunday.

A US service member was killed on Saturday "during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance" in northern Iraq, US Central Command said.

Jordanian authorities have not issued any decision on Sunday to evacuate the airport or seaport in Aqaba, the government's spokesperson told Reuters, after the US embassy in Amman said they had been evacuated due to a credible threat.

A ferry carrying 116 passengers sank off the coast of Guyana in South America late Saturday with 67 people, including 15 children, rescued so far, according to Guyana authorities.

The US military has completed its eighth consecutive night of strikes against Iran, the Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Saturday, hitting Iranian military coastal surveillance and air defence facilities.

Indian authorities were within their rights to move hunger-striking activist Sonam Wangchuk to a government hospital because he had not admitted himself despite his deteriorating health, a court said on Sunday, declining to order his immediate discharge.

The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo has increased to 2,267, including 893 deaths, government data showed late on Saturday.

Russia battered Ukraine's capital Kyiv overnight with one of its biggest ballistic missile barrages of the war, killing at least one person and wounding 16 others, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday.

A Lebanese soldier was killed, and an officer and another soldier were wounded when a suspicious object exploded in an army vehicle in the southern Lebanese town of Mansouri, the Lebanese army said on Saturday.

The Kuwaiti Fire Force has announced that fire crews succeeded in controlling two fires that broke out in separate locations across the country due to Iranian attacks, with one site injuring several firefighters and an oil sector worker.

Two US military personnel in Jordan have been killed on Friday as they defended against Iranian missiles and drones, with another member missing, the Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement on Saturday.

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said one of its oil facilities was hit on Saturday by "repeated Iranian attacks", resulting in significant material damage and some injuries, according to Kuwait’s state news agency.

Mexico’s health and agricultural ministries have announced they are investigating a large outbreak of a foodborne illness in the US linked to iceberg lettuce grown in Mexico and sold at Taco Bell.

Indian space startup Skyroot Aerospace on Saturday launched the country's first privately developed orbital rocket, a key test of national efforts to compete for a bigger share of the global commercial launch market.

Gulf states came under fresh attacks from Iran on Saturday after a seventh straight night of US strikes targeting Iranian military sites including logistics facilities, escalating the war one week after a ceasefire fell apart.

A powerful magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck near the coast of Mexico's southernmost state of Chiapas on Friday, triggering a tsunami warning and shaking buildings in neighboring Guatemala and El Salvador.

At least four people were killed and four others were missing after a flash flood swept through a mountainous village in Vietnam’s northern province of Lai Chau, state media reported on Saturday.

India's team management has thrown its weight behind struggling opener Rohit Sharma amid speculation back home that Sunday's third one-day international against England at Lord's could be his last.

Authorities in India's capital Delhi have moved fasting social activist Sonam Wangchuk to hospital after his condition worsened on the 21st day of a hunger strike he launched to demand the resignation of the federal education minister.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) has announced that it completed its latest major wave of strikes against Iran, while Kuwaiti and Qatari defence forces reported intercepting missile attacks early on Friday.

Andy Burnham, nicknamed the 'King of the North', was elected leader of Britain's governing Labour Party on Friday, the final step before becoming its seventh prime minister in a decade on a pledge to thwart the rise of the populist Reform UK.

One of Kuwait's power generation and water desalination stations was hit in an Iranian attack, causing damage to facilities, a fire and the disruption of a large number of electricity generation units, Kuwaiti authorities said on Friday.

Qatar's Ministry of Interior has announced that a child has sustained an injury as a result of falling debris from interception operations against Iranian attacks early on Friday.

US President Donald Trump escalated his effort to make election security a central issue in November's midterm elections, asserting that China interfered in the 2020 presidential campaign despite a US intelligence assessment that found no evidence to support that claim.

Torrential rains have killed two people in Texas as floodwaters swept them away in their vehicles while the state braced for "record-shattering" rainfall over the next 24 hours, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Thursday afternoon.

SpaceX's Starship rocket triggered a last-second abort before liftoff for its 13th flight test from Texas on Thursday as some of its 33 engines failed to start, with CEO Elon Musk saying it will likely try to launch again early next week.

Eleven people, including children, were killed and 19 injured in a fire at an orphanage close to the Algerian capital Algiers early on Thursday.

An Italian court on Thursday sentenced the former head of Italian motorway operator Autostrade per l'Italia to 12 years in prison for his role in a disaster that killed 43 people when a bridge collapsed near the city of Genoa in 2018.

Iran and the US exchanged intensified fire on Thursday in a week-long escalation that has all but torn up last month's truce, but Iran's release of a US citizen was seen as signalling a path to avert the resumption of all-out war.

The Trump administration moved on Thursday to tighten the duration of visas for foreign students, cultural exchange visitors and journalists, according to a government notice.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy moved to extinguish a political crisis on Thursday sparked by his dismissal of a reformist defence minister, tapping a security official who has overseen Ukraine's long-range strikes against Russia for the post.

Israeli strikes killed at least five Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said, as a US-based research group reported a surge in Israeli attacks to levels not seen since the latest truce took effect in October.

An Indian court directed authorities on Thursday to monitor the health of an activist who is on the 19th day of a hunger strike on a stage in central Delhi to demand the education minister quits, and to intervene if his condition deteriorates.

Uganda discharged its last remaining Ebola patient on Thursday, triggering a 42-day countdown after which it can be declared free of the virus, the East African nation's health ministry said.

Two attacks targeting a security convoy and a police station have left at least three officers dead and 20 injured in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday.

A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck near the town of Te Anau in New Zealand's South Island, shaking buildings and prompting authorities to briefly issue a tsunami warning.

Toronto's air quality has ranked the worst among major cities globally on Wednesday as wildfire smoke from northwestern Ontario blackened skies and spread into the northeastern United States, prompting health warnings and calls for residents to limit outdoor activities.

A bus has plunged into a river after colliding with a road guardrail on Wednesday, killing six people and injuring 11 in China's southwestern Sichuan province, local authorities said in a notice on Thursday.

The US Coast Guard has called off its search on Wednesday for people missing from a triple-deck pontoon boat that capsized in San Francisco Bay a day earlier, leaving the casualty toll at one confirmed death and three others lost at sea.

Lebanon and Israel concluded US-brokered talks in Rome on Wednesday, with a US official saying they had made progress on implementing a plan that could see Israeli forces begin to withdraw from some parts of southern Lebanon within days.

The US conducted a new wave of strikes against Iran's coastal defence systems and missile sites on Wednesday after reimposing a naval blockade of Iranian ports.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy endorsed the head of the state energy company on Wednesday to be Ukraine's new prime minister, while giving no clear answer on the future of the defence minister at a pivotal juncture in the war.

President Donald Trump has reimposed a naval blockade of all Iranian ports on Tuesday and threatened to hit power plants and bridges next week unless Tehran resumes negotiations as the US military completed another round of strikes on Iran.

Kuwait's Ministry of Defence has reported the injury of four service members after Iranian attacks targeted the country's Navy vessel on Tuesday evening as its air defence forces intercepted six missiles and 33 drones.

Russia and Ukraine stepped up their battle over the Black Sea and key trade routes on Wednesday, with Moscow killing three people in an attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa and Kyiv's drone forces striking Russian shipping.

India's aircraft accident investigating body has prepared a cockpit voice recorder transcript, conducted a psychological autopsy and moved into the final stages of its probe into last year’s deadly Air India crash, a court filing showed.

The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo has increased to 2,011, including 754 deaths, government data showed on Tuesday.

Britain will introduce a default overnight curfew on  social media  apps for 16- and 17-year-olds, the government said, adding new restrictions for older teenagers to its plan to introduce a sweeping ban on social media for under-16s.

Russia launched two cosmonauts and an American astronaut to the International Space Station on Tuesday from Kazakhstan, resuming crewed flights from a recently repaired launchpad with a rare joint attendance by the heads of NASA and Russia's space agency.

US President Donald Trump stepped back from a proposal to charge a 20 per cent transit fee to guard the vital Strait of Hormuz waterway as part of the conflict with Iran, saying on Tuesday he would instead seek investment deals with Gulf states.

Several people have died in a fire at a construction site in Brussels, with a search for six missing persons ongoing, local authorities said.

A US air base in Jordan was targeted by Iranian ballistic missiles on Tuesday, as US forces completed their latest wave of strikes on Iran.

The death toll from a devastating fire at a live music pub in Thailand's capital climbed to 30 on Tuesday, officials said, as Bangkok's governor vowed stricter inspections and police investigated possible negligence and safety breaches.

Lebanon and Israel resumed talks on Tuesday in the Italian capital, with Beirut hoping for progress towards securing an Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon under a US-brokered deal, although expectations for swift progress were low.

An Israeli strike and gunfire killed at least two Palestinians, including a 10-year-old boy, in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, with the death toll since an October ceasefire between Israel and Hamas touching more than 1,100 Gazans.

Some 500 soldiers from the "Coalition of the Willing" backing Ukraine marched down Paris' Champs-Elysees on Tuesday in the annual Bastille Day parade, in what France said would be a symbol of Europe's strategic awakening.

The Trump administration has stated on Monday that it is blocking American citizens in the Democratic Republic of Congo from traveling to the US on commercial flights, according to a White House official.

The US military will begin enforcing a maritime blockade on Iran on Tuesday, according to the US Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC).

President Donald Trump said on Monday that the United States was reinstating a naval blockade on Iran and would be reimbursed 20 per cent on all cargo shipped through the Strait of Hormuz.

Ukrainian lawmakers were getting ready to vote on another government this week after the president dismissed his prime minister in a move he said would bring fresh thinking, but critics warned could stoke disorder at a key point in the war.

An explosive fire at a pub in Thailand's capital Bangkok killed 27 people and injured dozens, officials said on Monday, with police investigating possible negligence including obstructed emergency exits as people scrambled to flee the burning venue.

A person was fatally shot on Monday during an encounter with US immigration agents in Maine, a top state lawmaker said, days after a man was killed by a US agent during a traffic stop in Texas.

The US has completed another round of strikes on Iran, its Central Command announced on Sunday, with Iran retaliating as Kuwait responds to attacks within its airspace while Bahrain activates its sirens.

Severe flooding in China's northern Hebei province and northeastern Liaoning province submerged roads and swept away cars, while people swam and paddle-boarded along neighbourhood streets, videos on social media showed.

More than 400 French firefighters worked through the night to contain a wildfire in the historic Fontainebleau forest south of Paris, and authorities sent two waterbombing planes on Monday to tackle the blaze as a heatwave gripped western Europe.

A multi-vehicle accident in Mexico caused by a tractor-trailer has left nine people dead and around 10 injured on a highway in the state of Jalisco, Civil Protection reported on Sunday.

Israeli attacks killed at least six people in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including a 9-year-old girl, Palestinian health officials said, as mediators held more talks to safeguard the US-brokered ceasefire.

The death toll from the two earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24 has risen to 4,490, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said on Sunday on his Telegram account.

Kuwait's Ministry of Defence said an enemy drone targeted an offshore drilling platform operated by Kuwait Oil Company on Sunday, causing damage and injuring one worker.

Qatari former Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani has died at the age of 74, the nation's Amiri Diwan, its top government body, said on Sunday.

The US military has launched strikes on Iran after it struck a container ship on Sunday, while Tehran said it had closed the Strait of Hormuz again and some Gulf states announced they are under attack.

Qatar's Ministry of Interior has announced that three people have sustained injuries as a result of falling debris from interception operations against Iranian missiles and drones on Sunday.

At least two children have been killed after a ferry carrying more than 35 people collided with a bridge while crossing the Euphrates River in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on Sunday, the Syrian Civil Defence said.

US Senator Lindsey Graham, a key Republican who went from a vocal critic of Donald Trump to one of his most loyal allies on Capitol Hill after Trump became president, has died at age 71.

President Donald Trump said the US and Iran had agreed to continue talks despite an escalation of hostilities this week but he declared that the ceasefire reached between the two sides last month was over.

Russia launched missile and drone attacks on Ukraine on Saturday, killing eight people and wounding dozens more, officials said, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for diplomatic efforts to ensure Kyiv secured weapons more quickly.

Floods and landslides triggered by days of torrential monsoon rain have killed at least 44 people in southeastern Bangladesh and left over a million stranded as authorities raced on Saturday to deliver aid to devastated communities.

Typhoon Bavi, the most powerful storm to strike mainland China this year, has brought heavy rain to the eastern coast on Sunday and lashed densely populated cities with violent winds, with over 2.8 million people evacuated.

At least 12 people have died attempting to flee a wildfire in southern Spain, and 23 were missing, officials said on Friday, as firefighters battled to bring one of the country's deadliest blazes on record under control.

A passenger was partially sucked through a dislodged window on a Ryanair flight shortly after takeoff from Thessaloniki in Greece on Friday, two airport sources said, forcing the aircraft to make an emergency landing.

British police arrested a man on Friday on suspicion of murdering Ann Widdecombe, after the 78-year-old former government minister and Reform UK politician was found dead having "sustained serious injuries".

Firefighters worked to reach people trapped in a burning shoe factory in southeastern China on Thursday as state media reported at least 28 people were killed.

Four out of every five new Ebola cases in parts of Democratic Republic of Congo have no known link to existing patients, a senior World Health Organisation official said, warning that the true scale of the outbreak could be two to four times larger than official data suggest.

Andy Burnham is on the brink of becoming Britain's next prime minister after an overwhelming show of support from Labour lawmakers left him all but certain to replace Keir Starmer.

A large and powerful typhoon has approached a remote chain of islands in Japan's southwest on Friday, prompting authorities to warn of violent winds, torrential rain, landslides and flooding in what could be the region's most destructive storm in years.

Sri Lanka's efforts to reduce prison overcrowding by reopening a colonial jail and recruiting more staff after a deadly riot left 28 people dead need to be underpinned by a commitment to international best practice, human rights advocates said on Friday.

The US military said on Wednesday it launched fresh strikes on Iran to keep the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping, triggering Iranian attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain in the latest escalation to derail efforts to end the war.

Jordanian air defences intercepted and downed eight missiles launched from Iran on Thursday, the state news agency reported, adding there are no casualties or damages.

At least four people have died in the Indian capital city of Delhi after an under-construction three-storey building collapsed following heavy rain.

The death toll from Venezuela's twin earthquakes has risen to 3,811, according to figures released by National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump has informed his Syrian counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday that he had decided to remove the country from the US list of designated state sponsors of terrorism.

The Arab League has announced that Israel has barred a scheduled visit by its Secretary-General, Nabil Fahmy, to the occupied Palestinian territories.

US President Donald Trump threw a summit of NATO leaders into disarray on Wednesday as he demanded the United States cut trade ties with Spain and made renewed claims on Greenland, but later changed tack and said there had been love and "a lot of unity".

Pakistani rescuers found the wreckage of a Boeing cargo plane in a deep sea search operation on Wednesday, 12 hours after it went missing off the coast of Karachi, with efforts underway to find the five crew members who were on board.

Sir Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, will be boarding Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity and blasting off to space on Sunday.

Singapore is reviewing penalties for violent offences following an outcry over a 12-day prison sentence for a student who strangled his girlfriend until she blacked out.