WORLD

When eight Russian citizens including a convicted hitman touched down in Moscow on Thursday in a historic prisoner swap with the West, President Vladimir Putin greeted them like heroes.

Eight Russian opposition activists, including some very influential ones, are among the people who were released by Moscow in a historic prisoner exchange with the West.

The Kremlin on Friday said that at least three Russians freed in a landmark prisoner exchange were undercover Russian agents, a rare public admission into the work of Moscow's top-secret security services.

Demonstrations in Bangladesh after Friday prayers demanded justice for victims of nationwide unrest and police crackdown, after the release of protest leaders failed to quell public anger.

Monsoon downpours caused flash floods that killed 13 people in India's Himalayan foothills, officials said Friday, with helicopters rescuing hundreds stranded near a renowned Hindu shrine.

An Israeli strike that killed seven charity workers in a Gaza aid convoy was the result of "mistaken identification" and a raft of other serious failures, the Australian government found in a report released Friday.

US journalist Evan Gershkovich and a Russian intelligence colonel jailed for a Berlin murder were among two dozen prisoners freed Thursday in the biggest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War.

Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was released from a 25-year prison sentence on Thursday in a prisoner swap, has spent years warning the world of the dangers of a revanchist President Vladimir Putin.

Iran and armed groups backed by it are preparing coordinated action meant to deter Israel but avert all-out war, sources and analysts said, after the killings of top Hamas and Hezbollah figures.

A despondent Jose Vasquez, 31, has decided to join a mass exodus of Venezuelans seeking a better life elsewhere, having lost all hope in his future with the contested reelection of President Nicolas Maduro.

US journalist Evan Gershkovich and former US marine Paul Whelan are expected to be released by Russia as part of one of the biggest East-West prisoner swaps since the Cold War, according to US media Thursday.

Nigerian police fired tear gas on Thursday to break up several hundred protesters in the northern city of Kano and in the capital Abuja where demonstrators had joined in nationwide rallies against the high cost of living.

A teenager appeared in court Thursday charged with murdering three girls in a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party as violent protests over the attack erupted in several English cities.

Once a vibrant industrial hub, Chasiv Yar in Ukraine's east has been transformed into a smouldering wreck of mostly deserted streets and empty buildings.

Bangladesh police on Thursday freed six student leaders whose campaign against civil service job quotas sparked deadly nationwide unrest, as the government looked to calm tensions and forestall fresh demonstrations.

A night of troubles in three British cities which saw dozens of arrests forced Prime Minister Keir Starmer to convence an emergency meeting with police leaders on Thursday.

Thousands of mourners paid respects to Haniyeh as the Israeli military confirmed that an air strike in Gaza last month killed the Hamas military chief, Mohammed Deif. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers for Haniyeh ahead of his burial in Qatar, having earlier threatened a "harsh punishment" for his killing.

Tour guide Eugen Grigorov steered his boat past half-underwater combine harvesters and last year's flooded crops in a part of Romania's Danube Delta reclaimed by the great river.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, facing mounting pressure to offer evidence his election victory was valid, said Wednesday that opposition leaders Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia should be imprisoned following deadly protests across the country.

Simone Biles seeks to make more history in her glittering Olympic gymnastics career by recapturing the all-around title on Thursday, as the athletics programme kicks off at the Paris Games.

Iran was set to hold funeral processions on Thursday for Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh ahead of his burial in Doha after he was killed in a strike in Tehran blamed on Israel.

A 17-year-old male was charged on Thursday with the murder of three girls and the attempted murder of 10 more people in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, UK prosecutors said.

US prosecutors have reached a deal with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Pentagon said Wednesday, reportedly involving a guilty plea in exchange for avoiding a death penalty trial.

Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael Zambada Garcia is to appear in court on Thursday amid ongoing mystery about the circumstances surrounding the arrest of the alleged Mexican drug trafficking kingpin.

A Guinean court sentenced ex-dictator Moussa Dadis Camara to 20 years in jail for crimes against humanity on Wednesday, after a landmark trial over a 2009 massacre at a political rally.

The body of top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was recovered Wednesday from the rubble of an Israeli strike in south Beirut a source close to the group said, as fears mounted of a wider war.

Egypt warned that Israel's recent assassinations of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and Hezbollah military leader Fuad Shukr in Beirut jeopardize truce talks. T

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine and the entire world wants to see Russia take part in global forums aimed at ending the grinding conflict in Ukraine.

Former BBC news anchor Huw Edwards, one of the most recognisable faces on UK television, pleaded guilty Wednesday to three counts of making indecent images of children.