WORLD

US President Joe Biden faces a critical week Monday that will test his standing at home and abroad, as moves to force him to quit his fight for a second White House term gather pace.

Hanging from a rope-and-bamboo ladder off a Himalayan mountain cliff, skilled Nepali climbers gather highly prized hallucinogenic honey -- an ancient tradition stung by environmental degradation and rapid climate change.

Britain's new Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed Sunday to "work constructively" with Scotland's nationalist government as he kicked off a trip aimed at improving ties between London and the UK's devolved nations.

Canadian writer Alice Munro's daughter said Sunday that her stepfather sexually abused her as a child and that her mother was told but stayed with him, in a damning account published after the Nobel laureate's death.

As the war entered into its 10th month, the demonstrators called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure a truce and hostage-release deal or step down.

Argentina's President Javier Milei addressed a conference of Latin American conservatives in Brazil Sunday, denouncing what he called the "judicial persecution" of far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro, under investigation for an alleged coup attempt.

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike won a landslide victory to secure a third term, official election results showed Monday, in a rare triumph for a woman in Japan's male-dominated politics.

President Emmanuel Macron on Monday was to start efforts to extract France from its most severe political uncertainty in decades after the left defeated the far right in elections with no group winning an absolute majority.

Emma Raducanu defended her controversial decision which ended Andy Murray's Wimbledon career by withdrawing from their mixed doubles match on the eve of her fourth round singles defeat against Lulu Sun.

As the first projections showed the left in the lead of France's parliamentary polls, against all expectations, a large crowd of left-wing activists erupted in joy in Paris.

The French left is "ready to govern", divisive hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said Sunday, after predictions showed a broad left-wing alliance could be the largest group in parliament ahead of the far right.

President Emmanuel Macron has avoided his nightmare scenario of the far right coming to power in France but still faces an unprecedented challenge steering his country and the remainder of his presidency through an uncertain future.

The Philippines and Japan are set to sign on Monday a key defence pact that will allow the deployment of troops on each other's territory.

The West African bloc ECOWAS on Sunday warned the region faced "disintegration" after the military rulers of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso cemented a breakaway union.

A loose alliance of French left-wing parties thrown together for snap elections was on course Sunday to become the biggest parliamentary bloc and beat the far right, according to shock projected results.

A millennium-old Danish Viking fortress is wowing tourists by offering visitors a broader view of Scandinavia's famed marauders.

Two pistols that Napoleon Bonaparte once intended to use to kill himself were sold in France on Sunday for 1.69 million euros ($1.8 million), the auction house said, with the government insisting that they stay in the country as national treasures.

Israeli protesters chanting "we will not give up" marched through Tel Aviv on Sunday, the second consecutive day of demonstrations in a stepped-up push for a deal to free hostages in Gaza.

A West African leaders' summit opened amid political turmoil on Sunday after the military rulers of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso cemented a breakaway union at a rival meeting.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said he might invite his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad to Turkey "at any moment", in a sign of reconciliation after the 2011 war broke ties between Ankara and Damascus.

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz targets the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Sunday against a piano-playing Frenchman, while Emma Raducanu has British fans dreaming of a first home women's champion in 47 years.

A West African leaders' summit opens on Sunday amid political turmoil after the military rulers of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso cemented a breakaway union at a rival meeting.

Polls opened Sunday to elect a new Tokyo governor with incumbent Yuriko Koike challenged by opposition figure Renho, two prominent women in Japan's male-dominated political sphere.

Spurred on by Russia's war in Ukraine and the spectre of Donald Trump's potential return to the White House, more of NATO's European members are finally hitting the alliance's defence spending target.

The NATO military alliance in April marked 75 years since the signing of its founding treaty in Washington -- where its members gather for an anniversary summit this week.

NATO's 75th anniversary summit was meant to showcase the triumph of a larger, stronger alliance.

France votes in legislative elections Sunday that will be decisive in determining its political future and could see the far right become the largest party in parliament for the first time.

Joe Biden's presidential reelection bid hung in the balance Saturday, after his latest efforts to put a disastrous debate showing behind him failed to silence voices urging him to quit the White House race.

Thousands of protesters marched Saturday in Barcelona to denounce mass tourism and its effect on Spain's most visited city, the latest in a series of similar marches in the country.