WORLD

US economic growth blew past expectations in the second quarter, boosted by consumer spending and inventory building despite high interest rates, government data showed Thursday, after a slow start to the year.

Women's football takes centre stage at the Paris Olympics on Thursday after a chaotic start to the sporting action at the Games in the men's football, while preparations ramp up for an unprecedented opening ceremony.

A French law criminalising clients of sex workers does not infringe on the European Convention on Human Rights, the continent's top rights court ruled Thursday.

Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Thursday, causing deaths and injuries according to Palestinian medical sources, as a group supporting Israeli hostages held by Palestinian militants alleged "sabotage" of efforts to free them.

Survivor Tseganesh Obole, her voice hoarse, recalled the deadly deluge of red mud that swept down from a hill in a remote area of southern Ethiopia this week, engulfing her and her six children.

The death toll from landslides in a remote region of southern Ethiopia has risen to 257, the United Nations said Thursday, warning that the number of victims could soar to up to 500.

Manila street vendor Zenaida Cuerda said Thursday she is "back to zero" after floodwaters washed away the food she sells for a living and swept through her house.

President Vladimir Putin held talks with Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in Moscow amid calls for Russian mediation to cool tensions between Turkey and Syria.

Israeli forces retrieved the bodies of five people whose bodies were held in the Gaza Strip after they were killed during Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel, the military said Thursday.

Myanmar's junta and an ethnic minority armed group both claimed on Thursday they were in control of a town and regional military command in northern Shan state following days of clashes.

Anton Yushyn spent four years studying Italian at university in Kyiv but the outbreak of war taught him the most valuable lesson of his student life: to prioritise what matters most.

It started with a raid on a Chinese-run online gambling centre north of Manila where hundreds of foreigners and Filipinos were forced to run scams or risk torture.

A Philippine-flagged tanker carrying 1.4 million litres of industrial fuel oil capsized and sank off Manila on Thursday, authorities said, as they raced to contain a spill.

Artistic gymnastics at Paris 2024 gets underway at the Bercy Arena on Saturday.

Thousands of black-clad mourners including top Vietnamese officials gathered Thursday in Hanoi for the funeral of Communist party leader Nguyen Phu Trong as two days of national mourning began.

At least 25 migrants have died and dozens are missing after their boat capsized off Mauritania, the country's news agency AMI said Wednesday, in the latest in a string of migrant tragedies off the coast of West Africa.

The world's richest one percent increased their fortunes by a total of $42 trillion over the past decade, Oxfam said Thursday, ahead of a G20 summit in Brazil where taxing the super-rich tops the agenda.

The man accused of trying to kill the author Salman Rushdie has been charged with terrorism for allegedly acting on behalf of Hezbollah, according to documents unsealed Wednesday.

In his speech, Netanyahu likened the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, to historical atrocities such as Pearl Harbor and 9/11, emphasizing the severity of the situation. He also praised Biden for his longstanding support for Israel.

Venezuela's opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, barred by the regime from contesting Sunday's presidential election but tirelessly campaigning for her stand-in, gets mobbed by adoring supporters wherever she goes.

Thousands of demonstrators marched towards the US Capitol on Wednesday to protest Benjamin Netanyahu and call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, as the Israeli premier prepared to address the US Congress.

Small white squares dot the ocean off Havana, an unlikely fleet of fishermen bobbing on makeshift polystyrene rafts they use to make up for a lack of fuel or money to buy a proper boat.

At least 15 migrants have died and dozens are missing after their boat capsized off Mauritania, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and local sources said Wednesday, the latest in a string of migrant tragedies off the coast of West Africa.

Germany on Wednesday banned the Hamburg Islamic Centre, an association that has been under investigation for several months over its alleged support for Lebanon's Hezbollah group and its links to Iran.

Hungary falls well short of EU democratic standards, notably on corruption, bribery, political funding, conflicts of interest and lack of media independence, according to a European Commission evaluation published Thursday.

France has declared itself prepared for the deluge of Olympics visitors -- and so have Paris's drug dealers.

North Korean sweet wrappers and packets of crackers made at a factory once visited by leader Kim Jong Un were seen by AFP reporters on streets in the South Korean capital Wednesday.

Denmark is waiting for Japan's extradition for the veteran anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, arrested this weekend in Greenland, before ruling on the case, the justice ministry said Wednesday.

Dozens of journalists joined marches in Kenya on Wednesday in protest at what they see as heavy-handed government tactics to stifle media freedoms, including police attacks on journalists during the demonstrations that have rocked the country for the past five weeks.