WORLD

Ben O'Connor won stage 18 of the Tour de France with a world-class climb over three Alpine mountains on Thursday as defending champion Tadej Pogacar tightened his grip on the yellow jersey.

The Hungarian government on Thursday barred provocative Irish rap group Kneecap from entering the country for three years and performing at the upcoming Sziget festival, accusing the band of "antisemitic hate speech".

Donald Trump is due to visit the US Federal Reserve Thursday as the president escalates his pressure on its chairman Jerome Powell over the central bank's management of the economy.

The International Criminal Court Thursday convicted a former top Central African Republic football official and a militiaman nicknamed Rambo for multiple war crimes committed during the country's civil war in 2013 and 2014.

With the contours of a hard-fought EU-US trade deal taking shape, the European Union is flexing its muscles in a bid to squeeze concessions from US President Donald Trump in the run-up to his deadline of August 1.

International news agencies Agence France-Presse (AFP), Associated Press (AP) and Reuters as well as the BBC on Thursday called on Israel to allow journalists in and out of Gaza, which is subject to a strict blockade.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer praised Britain's "unique bonds" with India as he and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi formally signed a recently announced UK-India trade deal during talks on Thursday.

Nigerian troops killed at least 95 members of an armed criminal gang in a shootout and airstrikes earlier this week, according to a situation report shared with the UN and seen by AFP on Thursday.

The United Nations said Thursday that Taliban authorities were committing human rights violations, including torture and arbitrary detention, against Afghans forced to return by Iran and Pakistan.

Hamas said on Thursday that it had responded to an Israeli proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, as pressure mounted for a breakthrough to end almost two years of devastating conflict that has triggered a humanitarian crisis for civilians.

Negotiations over the Philippines' new 19 percent US tariff rate are "not finished", a key government economic adviser said Thursday, tamping down fears over the deal's potential impact on the agriculture sector.

Divers clutch wooden spears as they plunge beneath the waves, hunting hordes of hungry starfish destroying the coral reefs around the Cook Islands.

Cambodian and Thai troops exchanged fire in a new round of clashes on Thursday, hours after the two sides downgraded diplomatic relations in an escalating row over a disputed border.

Mired in legal setbacks, Real Madrid are losing the lucrative star-studded concerts for which their costly Bernabeu stadium revamp was designed -- and cross-town rivals Atletico are cashing in.

Amit Gupta's company, Agrifields DMCC, alongside the Agrifields Foundation, has stepped in to provide educational scholarships, agri-tech innovations, and farming support at an international standard.

Asian markets extended the week's gains Thursday on optimism other countries will follow up Japan's US trade deal with ones of their own, with speculation building that the European Union is on course.

Columbia University said Wednesday it will pay $200 million to the US government after President Donald Trump threatened to pull federal funding over what he said was its unwillingness to protect Jewish students.

The cost-of-living crisis may be easing in Germany but that has not sparked a shopping frenzy just yet in a country where, as a recent survey suggests, people fear inflation more than war.

US President Donald Trump will head to Scotland on Friday for a visit melding diplomacy and golf, a sport that is both his favorite pastime and of financial interest to his family.

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Australia said Thursday it would lift trade barriers on beef from the United States, removing a major point of friction between Canberra and the Trump administration.

Aitana Bonmati netted the only goal of the game late in extra time as world champions Spain edged Germany 1-0 in their Women's Euro 2025 semi-final on Wednesday to set up a title decider this weekend against England.

A Salvadoran man who was wrongly deported and then returned to the United States to face human smuggling charges should be released pending trial and not be immediately taken into immigration custody, federal judges said Wednesday.

The Republican leadership in the House of Representatives on Wednesday sent lawmakers home early for a six-week summer break to avoid being forced into awkward votes on the probe into the late, politically connected sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The World Health Organization's chief warned Wednesday of widespread starvation in Gaza, saying food deliveries into the war-ravaged Palestinian territory were "far below what is needed for the survival of the population".

The EU and Japan pledged on Wednesday to work together on championing a "free and fair" trade global system, as US tariffs and disputes with China rattle their economies.

Russia said that it expected talks with Ukraine later on Wednesday in Istanbul to be "difficult", downplaying expectations of a breakthrough at a meeting between the two sides after nearly three and a half years of war.

With fuel prices exorbitant and road travel treacherous in the war-battered Gaza Strip, AFP video journalist Youssef Hassouna has to walk for hours in the searing heat every day just to document the news.

Norwegian energy company Equinor said on Wednesday that its giant offshore wind project in New York -- once halted by the US administration -- had lost nearly $1bn in value following regulatory changes and tariffs.