WORLD

Two-time champion Jonas Vingegaard said he was feeling stronger than ever Friday and confident of winning another Tour de France as tensions mount on the eve of the start.

Russia launched its largest-ever drone and missile attack on Ukraine overnight on Friday just hours after a telephone call between US and Russian presidents ended without any breakthrough.

US President Donald Trump will sign his flagship tax and spending bill Friday in a pomp-laden Independence Day ceremony featuring fireworks and a flypast by the type of stealth bomber that bombed Iran.

A North Korean civilian voluntarily crossed the heavily mined land border between the two countries, aided by the South's military in a delicate 20-hour operation, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Friday.

The United States and Colombia called home their respective envoys on Thursday in an apparent acceleration of worsening ties, against the backdrop of an alleged plot against Colombia's leftist leader.

Afghanistan's government said on Thursday that Russia had become the first country to officially recognise its rule, calling it a "brave decision".

Even for a man who once boasted that his supporters would get "tired of winning," US President Donald Trump is on a roll.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday secured a major political victory when Congress narrowly passed his flagship tax and spending bill, cementing his radical second-term agenda and boosting funds for his anti-immigration drive.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin told US President Donald Trump by telephone on Thursday that Moscow will not "give up" on its aims in Ukraine, the Kremlin said.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 69 people on Thursday, including 15 in a strike on a school sheltering Palestinians displaced by the war nearing its 22nd month.

The US trade deficit widened more than expected in May, with both imports and exports declining as US President Donald Trump's tariffs sent shock waves through the economy and snagged supply chains.

Mali's military authorities on Thursday granted the junta chief a five-year presidential mandate, renewable "as many times as necessary" and without election.

Salvadoran prison officials allegedly said Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia's tattoos were not gang-related, contradicting President Donald Trump's claims.

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Thursday said a multi-billion-dollar mega-dam on the Blue Nile that has long worried neighbouring countries is complete and will be officially inaugurated in September.

US lawmakers teed up a final vote on Donald Trump's marquee tax and spending bill for early Thursday after a bruising day of Republican infighting that threatened to derail the centerpiece of the president's domestic agenda.

China's first domestically built aircraft carrier sailed into Hong Kong on Thursday, just days after the city marked 28 years under Chinese rule.

Hindus began a vast month-long pilgrimage in contested Indian Kashmir on Thursday, with many of the faithful starting from near the site where a deadly April attack triggered conflict with Pakistan.