WORLD

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday said it was "extremely important" that the United States maintains its backing for Ukraine, after former president Donald Trump chose a sceptic of aiding Kyiv as his election running mate.

A 60-year-old German man is likely the seventh person to be effectively cured from HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant, doctors announced on Thursday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday slammed any attempts to cut deals with Moscow behind Kyiv's back, after Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

An apartment building blaze early Thursday killed seven people in the southern French city of Nice and police were investigating the fire as a possible arson, authorities said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa will lay out the new government's vision for South Africa on Thursday, opening parliament after elections in May forced his long-ruling ANC into an uncomfortable coalition.

Vietnam's communist regime handed the reins of power Thursday to the country's largely ceremonial president, as 80-year-old leader and party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong temporarily stood down for health reasons.

New UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosts dozens of European leaders on Thursday as he gets to work repairing relationships strained by the Conservatives' tumultuous Brexit years.

Caden Schaefer-Rose will only just be 18 by the time of November's US election, but he is determined to cast his very first presidential vote -- for Donald Trump.

South Korea's Supreme Court recognised new rights for same-sex couples Thursday, saying the state must provide health insurance for a gay man's partner in a landmark ruling that left activists weeping for joy.

After obliterating his Republican rivals, becoming the first former president convicted of a crime and surviving an assassination attempt, Donald Trump caps off a crazy year with his coronation as the Republican Party's presidential nominee.

J.D. Vance's formal nomination Wednesday as Donald Trump's running mate completes a remarkable transformation for a 39-year-old senator now seen as the future face of the Republican party.

A fire that tore through a shopping centre in southwestern China has killed 16 people, state media reported Thursday.

Ursula von der Leyen, who is expected to be confirmed as European Commission president for a second term on Thursday, is one of three women in the five top European Union jobs.

Kenyan police patrolled Port-au-Prince in armored vehicles Wednesday, a local official said, while Haiti's Prime Minister Garry Conille announced new emergency measures to combat the country's gangs.

Dust covers everything in Lim Tong Eng's yard, thrown up by excavators toiling next door to enlarge a channel that Cambodia's government hopes will soon be a major shipping canal.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken unveiled Wednesday a new plan for countries in the Americas to boost production of semiconductors, which are critical just about everywhere in modern industry and a sector dominated by China.

A motorist ploughed a vehicle into a cafe terrace in Olympic host city Paris on Wednesday evening, killing one person and seriously injuring several others, officials told AFP, suggesting the incident was a traffic accident.

Joe Biden faced fresh turmoil Wednesday as a heavyweight Democrat urged him to abandon his reelection bid and a backlash grew over plans for a virtual nomination before the party conference.

Kenyan President William Ruto named Wednesday his foreign minister as "acting cabinet secretary" for all ministries, nearly a week after dismissing almost his entire cabinet in an attempt to defuse deadly anti-government rallies.

French troops are out in force around Paris's river Seine, equipped with everything from drones to dogs, as the countdown to the riverside Olympic Games opening ceremony ticks towards zero.

France's best known priest, the late Abbe Pierre, a revered and beloved champion of the homeless, has been accused of sexually assaulting several women and a girl, his charities said Wednesday.

The UK government on Wednesday announced plans to axe 92 House of Lords seats retained for hereditary lawmakers, resurrecting reform of the unelected chamber started under Tony Blair's Labour government in the 1990s.

King Charles III will outline Labour's first programme for government in a decade and half on Wednesday when the UK parliament formally reopens following the July 4 election.

Israel kept up its air strikes on Gaza Wednesday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to ramp up the pressure on Hamas as hopes fade for a US-announced ceasefire plan.

One of the six foreigners found dead from suspected cyanide poisoning in a luxury Bangkok hotel likely also carried out the crime, Thai police said on Wednesday.

On a hillside near Palestinian landowner Olayan Olayan's olive groves, young Israeli settlers are hammering out a new, illegal outpost in a UNESCO-protected zone.

US Senator J.D. Vance was set to debut on the national stage Wednesday in his first address as the Republican vice-presidential nominee -- completing a meteoric rise from humble midwestern beginnings to a coveted spot on Donald Trump's ticket.

One of the six foreigners found dead from suspected cyanide poisoning in a luxury Bangkok hotel likely also carried out the crime, Thai police said on Wednesday.

Lebanese official media said separate Israeli strikes Tuesday in south Lebanon killed five people including three Syrian children, with Hezbollah announcing rocket fire at Israel in retaliation.