International

The United States on Wednesday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in Israel's war in Gaza, accusing council members of cynically rejecting attempts at reaching a compromise.

Ukraine has reportedly launched UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles into Russia, marking the first confirmed use of the long-range weaponry against Russian targets.

John Prescott, a former British deputy prime minister in Tony Blair's Labour government, has died, his family said on Thursday.

Iraq began its first full national census in more than three decades on Wednesday, a pivotal moment as it looks to gather demographic data for future planning and development.

The US Embassy in Ukraine's capital Kyiv was temporarily closed on Wednesday, as the mission received information of a "potential significant air attack."

Russia warned on Tuesday that it would respond after Ukraine fired longer-range US missiles at its territory for the first time, as President Vladimir Putin issued a nuclear threat on the 1,000th day of the war.

The World Health Organization expressed grave concern on Tuesday for hospitals still partly operating in war-stricken northern Gaza, where one hospital director described the situation as an “extreme catastrophe.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel was offering a reward of $5 million to anybody who brings out a hostage held in Gaza. 

Donald Trump nominated Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, on Tuesday to lead the Department of Education, which he has pledged to abolish.

Pakistan Prime Minster Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday approved a military operation against armed separatists operating in the country's southwest after their latest attack killed 26 people at a train station. 

Brazilian police on Tuesday arrested five people, including a member of former President Jair Bolsonaro's cabinet, suspected of involvement in an alleged plan to kill then-President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2022, days before he took office.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Ukraine's parliament on Tuesday that the war had reached a decisive moment, as he urged citizens to stay "resilient" and touted plans for a huge ramp-up in production of strike weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a warning to the United States on Tuesday, lowering the threshold for a nuclear strike just days after the administration of Joe Biden reportedly allowed Ukraine to fire American missiles deep into Russia.

Seven people were killed, including a child, in a drone attack by Russia on Ukraine's northeastern region of Sumy, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday.

Residents in India's northern states woke up to another day of poor air quality on Tuesday, as a layer of dense fog shrouded most of the region, and pollution in the capital Delhi remained severe.

Hong Kong's High Court on Tuesday jailed 45 pro-democracy activists for up to 10 years following a landmark national security trial that has damaged the city's democracy movement and drawn criticism from the US and other countries.

Floodwaters reaching more than four metres high swamped thousands of houses in the storm-battered northern Philippines on Tuesday after rivers overflowed following heavy rain and a dam release.

Multiple students were injured Tuesday when a car crashed outside a primary school in central China's Hunan province, state media said.

Lebanon and Hezbollah have agreed to a US proposal for a ceasefire with Israel, with some reservations, marking the most serious attempt yet to end the ongoing conflict.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva opened the summit of the Group of 20 major economies on Monday with the launch of a global alliance to combat poverty and hunger that 81 countries have agreed to back.

Schools in Beirut were closed on Monday after Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital killed six people including, Hezbollah's spokesman, the latest in a string of attacks targeting group members.

The Kremlin on Monday said Biden's decision to allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory would involve the United States in the war. 

Seven people were killed and three injured when a landslide buried their house in the Philippines, a disaster official said Monday, after a typhoon pummelled the country over the weekend. 

The US official overseeing contacts to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon is due to visit Beirut on Tuesday, sources in Lebanon said on Monday, with Beirut expected give its response to a US truce proposal. 

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake retained the key finance minister portfolio and reappointed Harini Amarasuriya as prime minister on Monday as the Indian Ocean island nation targets stronger recovery from a draining financial crisis.

President Joe Biden's administration has allowed Ukraine to use US-made weapons to strike deep into Russia, two US officials and a source familiar with the decision said on Sunday, in a move that could widen the Ukraine-Russia war.

Lebanese armed group Hezbollah confirmed its media relations chief Mohammad Afif was killed by an Israeli strike on a building in central Beirut on Sunday.

President-elect Donald Trump has picked Brendan Carr, a critic of the Biden administration's telecom policies and Big Tech, as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), he said in a statement on Sunday.

US and Philippine defence chiefs signed an agreement Monday on sharing classified military information and technology, as the long-time treaty allies deepen cooperation in a bid to counter Chinese influence in the region.

Pope Francis has suggested the global community should study whether Israel's military campaign in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people, in some of his most explicit criticism yet of Israel's conduct in its year-long war.

Diplomatic tensions over global warming spilled over into the G20 summit negotiations in Brazil this week, with sources saying the 20 major economies reached a fragile consensus on climate finance that had eluded UN talks in Azerbaijan.

The National Capital Region (NCR) of India, including the capital city of New Delhi, is now under semi-lockdown following a sharp deterioration in air quality, which has reached "Severe Plus" levels.

Police arrested 23 people on Sunday in the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur for ransacking and setting fire to the homes of lawmakers and ministers, while hundreds demonstrated against recent violent killings in defiance of a curfew.

Russia unleashed its largest wave of airstrikes on Ukraine in almost three months on Sunday, firing 120 missiles and 90 drones in a sweeping attack that killed at least seven people and caused "severe damage" to the power system, officials said.

Dozens of Palestinians were killed or injured in an Israeli strike on a multi-storey residential building in northern Gaza's Beit Lahiya on Sunday.

Bangladesh is battling its worst outbreak of dengue in years, with more than 400 deaths, as rising temperatures and a longer monsoon season drive a surge in infections, leaving hospitals struggling to cope, particularly in urban areas.

Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed on Saturday to work with the incoming US administration of Donald Trump as he held his final talks with outgoing President Joe Biden on conflicts from cyber crime to trade, Taiwan, the South China Sea and Russia.

Armed men stormed a paramilitary checkpoint in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, killing seven troops, the latest in a string of attacks by separatist insurgents, police said.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof saved his governing coalition on Friday despite threats of an exodus by cabinet members over the right-wing government's response to violence against Israeli soccer fans last week.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said that an artillery shell hit its West Sector headquarters in Southern Lebanon's Shama on Thursday. 

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog visited two Iranian nuclear sites on Friday as part of a visit to Iran, ahead of an expected European diplomatic push over Tehran's atomic activities before Donald Trump's return to the White House.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday for the first time in nearly two years as the German leader gears up for a snap election and Europe waits to hear Donald Trump's plan for ending the war in Ukraine.

Ten newborn babies died from burns and suffocation after a fire swept through a neonatal intensive care unit in northern India, a government official said on Saturday.

US President-elect Donald Trump has selected Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental activist who has spread misinformation on vaccines, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the United States' top health agency.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who is an adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump, met with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations on Monday, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing two Iranian officials.

Twelve members of Lebanon's Civil Defense were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting their centre in Douris, Baalbek on Thursday evening, the governor of Baalbek-Hermel, Bachir Khodr, said. 

Fire ripped through a retirement home in the town of Villafranca del Ebro in northern Spain early on Friday, killing at least 10 people, the regional government of Aragon said.

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's coalition, the National People's Power (NPP), was set to win a majority in a snap general election, results from the Indian Ocean island's poll body showed on Friday.

The city of Lahore in Pakistan ranked the world's most polluted in winter's annual scourge across the region, while India's New Delhi reached the "severe" category, causing flight delays and cancellations. 

The US ambassador to Lebanon submitted a draft truce proposal to Lebanon's speaker of parliament Nabih Berri on Thursday to halt fighting between armed group Hezbollah and Israel, two political sources told Reuters, without revealing details.

China said on Friday the Philippines had sent supplies to a beached warship on Second Thomas Shoal, a disputed atoll in the South China Sea that has been a key point of heightened tensions between the countries.

Police have identified the man who killed himself in a blast outside Brazil's Supreme Court on Wednesday night as a former city council candidate from ex-President Jair Bolsonaro's right-wing party with a history of heated political rhetoric online.

Israeli authorities have caused a forced displacement of Palestinian people in Gaza to an extent that constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Thursday.

COP29 negotiators welcomed a pledge by major development banks to lift funding to poor and middle-income countries struggling with global warming as an early boost to the two-week summit. 

An Israeli attack targeted the area of Qusayr in the southern countryside of Homs province in central Syria, Syria's state media said on Wednesday.

Police detained pro-Palestinian protesters rallying in central Amsterdam on Wednesday in defiance of a ban imposed after violence stemming from a football match between Ajax and Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Turkey was offered partner country status by the BRICS group of nations, Trade Minister Omer Bolat said, as Ankara continues what it calls its efforts to balance its Eastern and Western ties.

Schools and many businesses shut in Hong Kong on Thursday morning after authorities issued the third highest typhoon warning overnight as tropical storm Toraji skirted about 150 km (93 miles) south of the financial hub.

Israel has questioned the impartiality of an International Criminal Court judge appointed to a panel deciding whether an arrest warrant should be issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

US President-elect Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, longtime political rivals, met on Wednesday for the first time since Trump won back the White House last week and both men promised a smooth transfer of power in January.

US president-elect Donald Trump has selected Mike Huckabee, who rejects the term "Palestinian" and supports building settlements, to be the next US ambassador to Israel.

Global carbon dioxide emissions, including those from burning fossil fuels, are set to hit a record high this year, pulling the world further off course from averting more destructive climate extremes, scientists said on Wednesday.

A federal jury on Tuesday ordered US defense contractor CACI International to pay $42 million in damages to three plaintiffs for its role in torture at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad during the Iraq war.

Flood-hit towns near the eastern city of Valencia were rushing on Tuesday to clear the sewage system of mud and debris, pile sandbags and cancel school classes as they prepared for another approaching storm.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 81 per cent by 2035 as he committed the country to a more ambitious climate goal at the United Nations COP29 climate summit. 

Israeli forces struck Dar al-Hawra Medical Centre in southern Beirut's Harek Hreik several times overnight, adding to one of the most intense days of bombardment in the capital, according to the National News Agency (NNA). 

US President Donald Trump has announced Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the newly established Department of Government Efficiency.

Mauritius' opposition Alliance du Changement (ADC) coalition led by veteran politician Navin Ramgoolam won 62.6% of votes in the country's general election, securing a near clean sweep of seats in parliament.

Israel has failed to meet criteria set by the United States to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip within 30 days, a group of international aid agencies said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

A hit-and-run attack at a sports centre in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai killed 35 people and severely injured 43, local police said on Tuesday.

Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich pledged on Monday to annex Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank in 2025, calling Donald Trump’s return to power in the United States “an important opportunity”.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev used a keynote speech at the COP29 climate summit to respond to Western critics of his country's oil and gas industry, saying it had been the victim of a "well-orchestrated campaign of slander and blackmail".

Dutch police on Monday said they had arrested five more people for their suspected involvement in attacks on Israeli football supporters late last week, which were sparked after they chanted anti-Arab slogans and caused public disturbances. 

The Philippines issued fresh evacuations on Tuesday ahead of Tropical Storm Usagi, the fifth major storm set to hit the country in a month. 

At least 14 people were killed and 15 others injured in an Israeli airstrike on the northern Lebanese town of Ain Yaaqoub, Akkar, on Monday, according to the town's mayor.

An Israeli airstrike killed seven people late Monday at a café near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, Palestinian medics said, bringing the death toll from Israeli strikes since Sunday night to at least 37.

Donald Trump selected US Senator Marco Rubio to be his secretary of state, the New York Times reported on Monday, putting the Florida-born politician on track to be the first Latino to serve as America's top diplomat once the Republican president-elect takes office in January.

The United Nations Security Council is discussing a British-drafted resolution that demands Sudan's warring parties cease hostilities and calls on them to allow safe, rapid and unhindered deliveries of aid across front lines and borders. 

Leaders of Arab and Islamic countries gathered in Riyadh on Monday for a high-stakes summit, where they issued a united call for Israel to withdraw from all occupied Arab territories to the pre-1967 borders.

Bhutan, the Himalayan kingdom that brought the world the concept of gross national happiness, is set to build a "mindfulness city" and began raising funds on Monday to help start the ambitious project.

A court in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal began the trial on Monday of a police volunteer accused of raping and murdering a doctor at a government hospital in August.

Hezbollah has not received any proposals on a truce for Lebanon, a spokesperson said Monday, as Israel's foreign minister said diplomatic efforts had made "progress" and amid Israeli media reports that the cabinet had approved a ceasefire proposal.

The world convened in Azerbaijan's capital Baku on Monday for COP29, the annual climate conference aimed at measuring progress made to advance the Paris Agreement and limit global warming.

The chief of staff of Saudi Arabia's armed forces, Fayyad al-Ruwaili, visited Tehran on Sunday to meet with his Iranian counterpart and discuss defence ties, state media reported the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff as saying.

The Israeli Army’s Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi approved plans to expand its ground offensive in Lebanon, Israeli broadcaster KAN reported on Sunday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Sunday that he authorised the deadly attack on Hezbollah communications devices in Lebanon in September.

Typhoon Nika made landfall in the Philippines' northeastern Aurora province on Monday after thousands were ordered to evacuate ahead of the fourth typhoon to hit the country in a month. 

Russia is attempting to push Ukrainian forces from its western Kursk region with tens of thousands of troops, Ukraine's top commander said on Monday, aiming to retake territory it lost in the summer, while its offensive in eastern Ukraine grinds on. 

US President-elect Donald Trump said on Sunday that Tom Homan, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), will be in charge of the country's borders in his new administration.

Haiti will name entrepreneur and former senate candidate Alix Didier Fils-Aime to replace Prime Minister Garry Conille in the latest blow to political stability as the country battles worsening violence by gangs.

An Israeli strike on a residential building in the Sayeda Zainab district south of the Syrian capital Damascus killed seven civilians on Sunday, the Syrian defence ministry said, in the second such attack in less than a week.

Republicans on Saturday were close to clinching control of the US House of Representatives, a critical element for President-elect Donald Trump to advance his agenda when he returns to the White House in January.

Dozens of people were killed and wounded in an Israeli strike on a house in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip at dawn on Sunday, Palestinian medics said.

Qatar has told Hamas and Israel it will stall its efforts to mediate a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal until they show "willingness and seriousness" to resume talks, its foreign ministry said on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia on Saturday over regional authorities' handling of devastating floods that killed more than 220 people in one of Europe's worst natural disasters for decades.

At least seven people have been killed and 46 injured following Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon's coastal city of Tyre, the Lebanese health ministry said on Saturday.

At least 24 people were killed and more than 40 injured in a bomb blast at a railway station in Quetta in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday.

The UN Human Rights Office said on Friday nearly 70 per cent of the fatalities it has verified in the Gaza war were women and children, and condemned what it called a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.

Britain on Friday named Jonathan Powell, who was chief of staff to former prime minister Tony Blair, as its national security adviser.

Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki erupted several times on Friday, belching volcanic ash that rose up to 10 km (32,800 ft) into the sky, officials said, following a big eruption on Sunday night that killed nine people.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed two rescue planes to Amsterdam after being informed of "a very violent incident" targeting Israeli citizens, his office said on Friday.

Pakistan's Punjab banned entry to many public spaces from Friday, including parks and zoos, as it sought to protect people from severe air pollution in parts of the eastern province.

The Israeli Knesset passed a new law on Thursday that would allow the deportation of family members of people convicted of terrorist offenses, including Israeli citizens, while experts said it was aimed at Palestinians.

President-elect Donald Trump announced that c, one of his two campaign managers, will be his White House chief of staff, entrusting a top position to a political operative who helped the Republican win election.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr signed two laws on Friday aimed at strengthening the country's maritime claims and bolstering its territorial integrity, as tensions with China over disputed areas in the South China Sea persist.

The United Nations has been planning for the possible return of Donald Trump and the cuts to US funding and engagement with world body that are likely to come with his second term as president.

France accused Israel on Thursday of harming bilateral ties after Israeli security forces entered a holy site under French administration in Jerusalem and briefly detained two French officials with diplomatic status.

Israeli forces stepped up bombardment across the Gaza Strip on Thursday and ordered more evacuations, creating a fresh wave of displacement from northern Gaza, to which Palestinians fear they will not be able to return.

Donald Trump's Republicans were projected to pick up another US Senate seat on Thursday and appeared to be retaining their narrow hold on the House of Representatives, putting them on track to control both chambers of Congress next year.

US President Joe Biden urged Americans to "bring down the temperature" on Thursday following Republican Donald Trump's election victory and sought to console fellow Democrats who were alarmed by the former president's stunning comeback.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed 40 people around the eastern city of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley on Wednesday, according to the country's health ministry, while more strikes hit Beirut's southern suburbs at dusk.

US elections are an opportunity to review the "wrong approaches" of the American government, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Thursday according to state media, after Donald Trump won the presidency on Wednesday.

Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki erupted eight times on Thursday, spewing a plume of volcanic ash up to 8,000 m (26,250 ft) high, officials said, as the government scrambled to build homes for victims of a big eruption that killed nine.

In an emotional concession speech at Howard University, US Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged her loss in the presidential race to Donald Trump but vowed to continue the fight for the values that fueled her campaign.

Germany's ruling coalition collapsed on Wednesday as Chancellor Olaf Scholz sacked his finance minister and paved the way for a snap election, triggering political chaos in Europe's largest economy hours after Donald Trump won the US presidential election.

Cuba's national electrical grid collapsed on Wednesday as Hurricane Rafael made landfall on the island's southwest coast, bringing powerful winds of 185 kph and causing widespread devastation.

Republican candidate Donald Trump has gained 276 electoral votes, and will officially become the 47th US President after his inauguration in January.

Two Vietnamese air force pilots parachuted to safety before their twin-seat military plane crashed in the province of Binh Dinh during a landing attempt in difficult weather on Wednesday, state media said.

The Kremlin reacted cautiously on Wednesday after Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election, saying the US was still a hostile state and that time would tell if Trump's rhetoric on ending the Ukraine war will translate into reality.

Congratulatory messages from world leaders began pouring in shortly after Donald Trump declared victory in the 2024 US Election, with Israeli PM Netanyahu one of the first.

Donald Trump declared victory during an address to his supporters on Wednesday, after projections showed him winning three swing states. 

Republican candidate Trump is projected to win Pennsylvania, a third swing state after Georgia and North Carolina, inching him closer to the White House. 

Donald Trump is projected to secure a second battleground state, Georgia, after winning North Carolina. The Republican candidate remains on track to regain the US presidency, however, votes are still being counted in five swing states.

Republican Bernie Moreno has won the Ohio Senate race, defeating Senator Sherrod Brown. The GOP managed to flip two seats, reversing the 51-to-49 majority held by Democrats.

Polls in almost all of the US states have closed, showing Trump leading with 46 electoral votes. The battleground state of North Carolina was called for the Republicans, however, the remaining six remain uncertain.

Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former president Donald Trump are locked in a fierce battle for the White House, with polls closing across the U.S. and the country awaiting results on Election Night.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday, citing a "crisis of trust", and replaced him with close ally Israel Katz to lead the country's war in Gaza and Lebanon.

The FBI is investigating a series of hoax bomb threats aimed at polling locations in Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, and Wisconsin during Election Day voting.

The FBI on Tuesday warned Americans about two new fake videos falsely citing terror threats and voter fraud, the latest in a string of disinformation that officials expect will intensify as voters head to the polls on Election Day.

The first polls have opened in the east coast's Vermont at 0500 ET (1400 GST) on Tuesday, kicking off the 2024 US Election and capping weeks of campaigning by candidates Trump and Harris that has left them virtually even in preliminary opinion polls. 

With sacred chants, ringing of bells and offerings of flowers and bananas, a Hindu priest in Kamala Harris' ancestral village in southern India conducted prayers on Tuesday for her victory in the US presidential election.

Israel has so far failed to significantly turn around the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Monday, as a deadline set by the US to improve the situation approaches.

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 37 Palestinians since Monday night, Palestinian media and medics said on Tuesday, as the Israeli army tightened its siege on northern areas of the enclave. 

The Philippines ordered evacuations, stockpiled food and put soldiers on standby in preparation for Typhoon Marce, officials said on Tuesday, as the storm barrels towards northeastern towns where it could make landfall this week.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris both predicted victory as they campaigned across Pennsylvania on Monday in the final, frantic day of an exceptionally close US presidential election.

A Pennsylvania judge has ruled that Elon Musk's political action committee, America PAC, can continue its $1 million giveaway to voters in swing states, despite legal challenges.

Pakistan on Monday passed an amendment to a law that will extend the terms of the heads of the armed forces to five years from three, in a parliamentary session opposed by jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan's party.

Spain is deploying 7,500 troops to its eastern region hit by devastating floods, the government said on Monday in the face of rising discontent over the response to the catastrophe that has killed at least 217 people.

At least 36 people died others injured after a bus fell into a deep gorge in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand on Monday.

Israel has officially notified the United Nations that it was cancelling the agreement that regulated its relations with the main UN relief organisation for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) since 1967, the country's foreign ministry said on Monday.

Israel threatened to strike at least 30 identified targets in Iraq if the country’s leadership fails to reign in Iranian-backed groups targeting Israel, according to the Saudi-based Elaph news site.

At least ten people died after Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki in eastern Indonesia erupted on Sunday, spewing explosive plumes of lava and forcing authorities to evacuate several nearby villages, officials said on Monday.

A suspected leak of classified Gaza documents involving an aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has jolted Israeli politics and outraged the families of hostages held by Hamas who have been pushing for a deal to get their loved ones home. 

A lightning strike on a church on Uganda killed at least 14 people and injured 34 as they gathered for prayers on Saturday, police said.

Israeli forces stepped up bombardment of the Gaza Strip on Sunday killing at least 31 people, Palestinian medics said, with over half the deaths in northern areas where the army has waged a month-long campaign it says is to prevent Hamas from regrouping.

Hundreds of residents of a Valencia suburb particularly badly hit by last week's deadly floods protested on Sunday during a visit by Spanish King Felipe and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, with some throwing mud at them.

Unprecedented air pollution levels in Pakistan's second-largest city of Lahore prompted authorities to take emergency measures on Sunday, including issuing work-from-home mandates and closing primary schools.

Serbia has launched a comprehensive investigation following a tragic roof collapse at the Novi Sad railway station, which resulted in the deaths of 14 people, including two children, and left three others injured.

Kemi Badenoch has been elected as the new leader of the Conservative Party, Britain's main opposition party.

At the COP16 biodiversity conference in Cali, Colombia, countries have agreed to establish a permanent body for Indigenous representation under the United Nations' biodiversity framework, marking a historic recognition of Indigenous contributions to nature conservation.

The third phase of a delayed polio vaccination campaign in Gaza will begin on Saturday, aid organisations said on Friday, after the rollout was derailed by Israeli bombardments, mass displacement and lack of access.

Spanish rescuers opened a temporary morgue in a convention centre and battled to reach cut-off areas on Friday after catastrophic floods killed at least 202 people in the worst weather disaster to hit the country in modern history.

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Israel's expansion of attacks indicate a rejection of efforts made to reach a truce, as fighting and air raids around the country continued.

Two people died and six were injured in a shooting in the downtown neighborhood of Orlando, Florida in the midst of Halloween festivities, the regional police department said on Friday, adding that a teenage suspect had been arrested.

A deadly explosion in an Athens apartment on Thursday was caused by a home-made bomb and authorities suspect it could be linked to local guerrilla groups, police and Greek officials said on Friday.

New Delhi topped charts on Friday as the world's most polluted city after revellers defying a ban on firecrackers to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, helped drive air quality to hazardous levels. 

Israel carried out at least 10 air strikes early on Friday on Beirut's southern suburbs, the first strikes there in nearly a week.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui has arrived in Moscow and will hold strategic consultations with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Four Thai nationals were killed and one was injured by Hezbollah rocket fire near the town of Metula, close to border between Lebanon and Israel, Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa posted on the social media platform X on Friday.

Egypt on Thursday denied it assisted Israeli military operations after media reported an Egyptian port received a shipment of explosives bound for an Israeli defence contractor.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy blasted what he called his allies' "zero" response to Russia's deployment of North Korean troops for the war in Ukraine, saying on Thursday a weak reaction would encourage Russia's Vladimir Putin to beef up the contingent. 

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sued CBS on Thursday over an interview of his Democratic rival Kamala Harris aired on its "60 Minutes" news program in early October that the lawsuit alleged was misleading, according to a court filing.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi held a meeting on October 31 with CIA Director William Burns to address efforts aimed at calming tensions in Gaza.

A treaty that Russia and Iran intend to sign shortly will include closer defense cooperation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.

A strong Typhoon Kong-rey made landfall on Taiwan's east coast on Thursday, the largest storm by size to hit the island in nearly 30 years, closing financial markets, causing hundreds of flights to be cancelled and reducing rail services.

Saudi Arabia hosted the first meeting of the new “global alliance” for the establishment of a Palestinian state through a two-state solution.

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.