WORLD

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te reportedly expressed appreciation during a press conference in Taipei, emphasizing the crucial role of such arms sales in upholding peace across the Taiwan Strait.

Thousands of miles from Gaza, medical student Samar Alghoul is supposed to be living her dream in Cuba, where she and hundreds of other Palestinians have been given the opportunity to study for free.

The agreement includes a mutual defense clause and aims to strengthen economic and military ties amid ongoing Western sanctions and geopolitical tensions.

From Algeria, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan, citizens of distant, Muslim countries wait for US asylum at a shelter in the Mexican border city of Tijuana -- more used to seeing migrants from Latin America than the Middle East.

The son of Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is "concerned" about her health, he told AFP on Wednesday, as the Nobel laureate turned 79, passing another birthday in military detention.

Muslim voters are increasingly worried about the prospect of a far-right victory less than two weeks before France's snap parliamentary elections, fearing the possible restrictions that could follow.

South Korea's highest court rejected on Wednesday a request by medical students and doctors to halt a government plan to train more physicians, while senior medics have joined a months-long strike.

An escalating cross-border tit-for-tat between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah raised fears Wednesday of a full-blown war, but experts are divided on the prospect of a wider conflict.

Brazil's majority conservative Congress has scored a series of victories in recent weeks, advancing bills on touchy cultural battles like abortion, traditional family values and gun use.

Russia said Wednesday it had presented its ideas for a prisoner swap to the United States and was waiting for a response, days before it was set to put US reporter Evan Gershkovich on trial.

UK police arrested two people on Wednesday after environmental activists sprayed an orange substance on Stonehenge, the renowned prehistoric UNESCO World Heritage Site in southwest England.

Japan's Emperor Naruhito said Britain's royals treated him "like family", as he recounted previous trips at a rare press conference on Wednesday ahead of a UK state visit.

As Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako make the first Japanese state visit to Britain since 1998, here are some key things to know about the imperial family: - Sun goddess - Legend has it that Japan's royals, whose myth-filled history spans 2,600 years, are descended from the Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu.

Monday's incident was the latest in a series of escalating confrontations between Chinese and Philippine ships in recent months as Beijing steps up efforts to push its claims to the disputed area.

Israeli air strikes and clashes between troops and Palestinian militants rocked Gaza on Wednesday, as Israel's army warned it had readied an "offensive" against the Lebanese Hezbollah movement on the country's northern front.

The European Union is expected on Wednesday to rebuke nearly 10 governments, including France and Italy, over their excessive spending after new budget rules entered into force this year.

China will send 11 swimmers implicated in a major doping scandal to next month's Paris Olympics, after the country named its squad for the Games.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said Wednesday that China was attempting to force the self-ruled island into submission but that it would not bow to pressure.

American intellectual, linguist and dissident Noam Chomsky was discharged from a hospital in Sao Paolo Tuesday, the facility said, and would continue an undisclosed treatment at home.

In 2023, a newborn Javan rhino in Indonesia raised hopes for the highly endangered species.

Baseball icon Willie Mays, one of the greatest players in the sport's history beloved for dazzling skill and athletic grace, died Tuesday aged 93, his family announced.

South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa is to be sworn in as president at a ceremony in Pretoria on Wednesday, after his weakened African National Congress (ANC) struck a government coalition deal.

Republicans are flooding the internet with out-of-context videos of US President Joe Biden, using what the White House has characterized as deceptive editing tactics to cast the 81-year-old as infirm less than five months from November's election.

Education bosses in Los Angeles voted Tuesday to work towards a complete ban on the use of smartphones in the city's schools.

A senior Federal Reserve official said Tuesday that she is optimistic about the US central bank's progress against inflation, and expects it will be appropriate to start interest rate cuts this year.

Ukrainian forces staged an overnight drone attack that set several oil storage tanks ablaze near the town of Azov in southern Russia, a source in Kyiv told AFP on Tuesday.

Kenyan police fired tear gas and arrested at least a dozen demonstrators Tuesday as hundreds of people gathered near parliament to protest tax hikes, according to AFP journalists at the scene.

With Thai lawmakers voting to legalise same-sex marriage Tuesday, we look at the situation across the globe.

Israeli strikes on Tuesday killed at least 13 people in central Gaza, the civil defence agency in the Hamas-run territory said, although fighting has largely subsided as Muslims mark Eid al-Adha.