WORLD

US President Joe Biden on Friday pledged his support for Ukraine and announced another $225 million in security aid to Kyiv as he met Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for talks in Paris.

Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD is still committed to building a second factory in Europe and will roll out hybrid cars as the EV market slows down, a group executive told AFP. Stella Li, vice president for Europe and the Americas, also shrugged off a European Union probe that could lead to tariffs on Chinese EVs. "When your competition worries about you, that means that you're super good," Li said in an interview Thursday at the Top Marques auto show in Monaco.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologised on Friday for leaving the D-Day commemorations in France early to give a domestic television interview, the latest self-inflicted setback to his stuttering general election campaign.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked allied lawmakers Friday for unanimously agreeing to back his third term in office, after an unexpectedly close election forced his party to rely on coalition partners to keep him in power.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands, laid waste to much of the Gaza Strip, uprooted most of its 2.4 million population and put them at risk of starvation.

As two Philippine vessels meet on the high seas to transfer a sick Filipino soldier, China Coast Guard boats shadow, block and bump them, according to video released by the Philippine Coast Guard on Friday.

Opposition politicians accused Sunak of bringing "shame" to the office of prime minister by skipping a major international ceremony with other world leaders in Normandy on Thursday.

The decision to honour the founder of the AS Roma football club on a postage stamp has caused a furore in Italy due to his Fascist past.

Verona's ancient Roman Arena will host a star-studded classical concert Friday to celebrate the addition of Italian opera singing to UNESCO's list of intangible global heritage.

Voters in Ireland and the Czech Republic go to the polls Friday on the second day of marathon EU elections, after the Netherlands kicked off the ballot with a strong showing by the far right.

Mothers in crimson dresses and fathers clutching umbrellas huddled together in drizzly Beijing after sending their children into an exam hall on Friday, the first day of China's biggest ever "gaokao" tests that will shape the futures of millions of high school kids.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will on Friday address the French parliament and US President Joe Biden give a keynote speech on democracy after world leaders marked 80 years since the D-Day landings in World War II. Biden, Britain's King Charles III, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute Thursday to the tens of thousands of Allied troops who stormed the beaches of Normandy in northern France on June 6, 1944.

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Thursday that the EU risked being blocked by a big far-right presence in the European Parliament after this week's elections.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address lawmakers in the US Congress on July 24, Republican party leaders announced Thursday.

A British woman who claims she was the inspiration for the stalker in the smash Netflix hit "Baby Reindeer" sued the streamer Thursday, demanding $170 million in damages.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa said Thursday that his African National Congress (ANC) would seek to form a government of national unity, after failing to win an outright majority in last week's general election.

At the heart of Brazil's savannah, Adonilton Rodrigues toils on a small plot he illegally occupies as part of a movement battling the country's old land-ownership inequalities.

Russia on Thursday detained a Frenchman working for a Geneva-based conflict mediation NGO, accusing him of gathering military information and failing to register as a "foreign agent", Moscow officials said.

Standing in what remains of her house, partially destroyed by a Russian artillery strike, Raisa Abramtseva painted a bleak picture of her daily life in southern Ukraine's Kherson region.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame will face two challengers in next month's election, according to a provisional list published Thursday.

Former top Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon was ordered by a federal judge on Thursday to report to prison by July 1 to begin serving his four-month sentence for contempt of Congress.

The United States is waging a diplomatic offensive to persuade Hamas to accept a ceasefire plan laid out by President Joe Biden, working with the United Nations and world leaders favorable to the Palestinians.

Ukraine on Thursday ordered the evacuation of children and their guardians from several towns and villages in the eastern Donetsk region, where fighting with Russia is intensifying.

The US trade deficit expanded slightly less than analysts expected in April, to the widest since late 2022, as imports rose more quickly than exports, according to government data released Thursday.

Spain said Thursday it would join South Africa's case at the UN's top court in which Pretoria has accused Israel of "genocide" in the Gaza Strip.

A hospital in central Gaza said Thursday at least 37 people were killed in Israeli bombardment overnight of a UN-run school which the Israeli military said housed a "Hamas compound." The deadly strike came as US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators have resumed talks aimed at securing a truce and hostage release deal.

A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted three times on Thursday, belching an ash tower five kilometres into the sky and spewing lava against a backdrop of lightning, according to the Geological Agency.

Taiwan thanked the United States on Thursday for approving the sale of equipment and parts for F-16 fighter jets, saying it would help the island defend itself against China.

Sergeant Artur felt "great pride" to storm ashore on Omaha Beach Tuesday alongside American troops in an exercise ahead of the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings, as his French marine infantry practise with the latest technology for modern conflicts.