WORLD

Marathon rehearsals, informal consultations, campaign rallies: Joe Biden and Donald Trump are each preparing in their own unique way for their televised debate next Thursday, the first in the 2024 race for the White House between the bitter rivals.

Several hundred people protested against anti-Semitism and "rape culture" in Paris on Thursday after the gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl at the weekend sparked nationwide outrage.

Donald Sutherland, the enigmatic actor whose lengthy career encompassed films including "The Dirty Dozen" and "The Hunger Games," has died, his son said Thursday.

A far-right camp led by Italian premier Giorgia Meloni's party and a centrist rival linked to France's Emmanuel Macron are tussling over which emerges larger in the EU parliament once the dust settles from elections this month.

England struggled to show their credentials to win Euro 2024 in a 1-1 draw with Denmark that left them with work to do to reach the last 16, while Spain and Italy will battle it out to reach the knockout stages later on Thursday.

Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who on Thursday sealed the race to be the next head of NATO, will take the reins of the Western military alliance at a perilous moment.

Thousands of mostly young demonstrators took to the streets across Kenya on Thursday to protest tax hikes, blowing whistles and chanting slogans in a vivid show of anger by Gen-Z protesters against the government.

Major weapons exporter South Korea will "reconsider" a longstanding policy that bars it from supplying arms directly to Ukraine, a presidential official said Thursday, after North Korea and Russia signed a defence deal.

The ongoing civil war in Sudan has provoked one of the world's worst humanitarian crises in decades, the international chief of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Thursday.

The death toll from this year's hajj has exceeded 1,000, an AFP tally said on Thursday, more than half of them unregistered worshippers who performed the pilgrimage in extreme heat in Saudi Arabia.

Eddie Jones vowed Japan will have "a red-hot go" against his former team England when the two sides meet in Tokyo on Saturday.

The targeted aerial barrages over recent months have crippled Ukrainian electricity generation capacity and forced officials to impose rolling blackouts and import supplies from neighboring EU states.

A community of nuns in a 15th century convent in northern Spain has split with the Roman Catholic Church because of a property dispute and doctrinal wrangling that has seen them join up with a renegade priest.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the liberal FDP, who came to power in 2021, have until July 3, the end of the current parliamentary term, to reach a compromise.

Chinese coast guard sailors brandishing knives, an axe and other weapons clashed with Philippine naval vessels near a strategic reef in the South China Sea, dramatic new footage released by Manila showed.

The committee's report also urged the state obtain special rights over French energy giant TotalEnergies' strategic decisions and major changes in shareholders.

Chinese coast guard sailors brandishing weapons including sticks, knives and an axe clashed with Philippine naval vessels near a strategic reef in the South China Sea, dramatic new footage released by Manila showed.

Saudi taekwondo standout Donia Abu Taleb had an unusual introduction to the sport: for years she trained at a boys' club because there were no girls to compete with.

Samantha still does not know how she survived the slaughter of 46 fellow inmates in a brutal gang battle at Honduras's only women's prison a year ago.

Russian President Vladimir Putin begins a state visit to Vietnam on Thursday, a day after signing a mutual defence pact with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, who offered his "full support" on Ukraine.

Ecuador suffered a nationwide blackout for several hours Wednesday as the electrical grid failed, with metro services, road traffic and other critical services crippled.

The action, condemned by Chancellor Rishi Sunak as "disgraceful vandalism," coincided with preparations for the summer solstice celebrations, drawing sharp criticism from various political figures.

The gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl sparked nationwide outrage in France with President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday condemning the "scourge" of anti-Semitism after two 13-year-old boys were charged.

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte said Wednesday she has resigned from the cabinet of President Ferdinand Marcos, with tense relations between the two families turning into a public rift in recent months.

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.