WORLD

China's foreign minister said Tuesday that relations with the United States "stabilised" last year, as the two powers seek to put ties on a surer footing in 2024.

Since Sudan's war spread to Al-Jazira state south of Khartoum, farmers have watched their livelihoods wither away after fighting between paramilitary forces battling the army wreaked havoc on once-bountiful lands.

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan began voting Tuesday in general elections with parties vowing to tackle serious economic challenges, calling into question its longstanding policy of prioritising "Gross National Happiness" over growth.

Hundreds of thousands of Catholic faithful swarmed a historic statue of Jesus Christ as it was pulled through the streets of the Philippine capital on Tuesday, in one of the world's biggest displays of religious devotion.

A caravan in Mexico of at least 1,000 migrants resumed its march northward towards the US border on Monday, accusing Mexican authorities of failing to fulfill their promise of granting humanitarian visas.

Bottled water is up to a hundred times worse than previously thought when it comes to the number of tiny plastic bits it contains, a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences said Monday.

Ecuador has launched a manhunt for an "extremely dangerous" narco leader who has vanished from a maximum security prison in the South American country beset by drug gang violence.

In an exhibition laden with symbolism, Brazil on Monday marked the anniversary of the far-right riots that rocked the capital a year ago by displaying artworks, antique furniture and other objects vandalized in the attacks.

French President Emmanuel Macron was on Monday preparing a long-awaited cabinet reshuffle with the prime minister's job on the line but uncertainty remaining to the last minute over the head of state's intentions.

Public anger is mounting over what has been described as Britain's biggest ever miscarriage of justice that saw hundreds of subpostmasters wrongly convicted of theft because of a computer software glitch.

Former Gambian interior minister Ousman Sonko faced trial in Switzerland on Monday, accused of crimes against humanity committed under the regime of ex-dictator Yahya Jammeh.

Furious farmers opposed to Berlin's plans to cut tax breaks for agriculture used tractors to block roads across Germany on Monday, kicking off a series of crippling strikes sinking the country deeper into a winter of discontent.

India's top court ruled Monday that 11 murderers convicted of a gang rape that drew global outrage, but who were released early, must return to jail.

Russia said Monday it had moved some 300 people from the border city of Belgorod due to Ukrainian shelling, the biggest evacuation from a major Russian city since the conflict began.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler on Monday before heading to Israel as part of efforts to stop the Gaza war spiralling into a regional conflict.

A heavy dumping of snow meanwhile complicated relief efforts a week after the 7.5-magnitude quake, with more than 2,000 people still cut off and many others lacking power or forced to take shelter in crowded emergency sites.

The death toll from Japan's New Year's Day earthquake jumped to 161 on Monday as snow complicated relief efforts with more than 2,000 people still cut off and many others lacking power or in crowded emergency shelters.

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken was due in Israel on Monday for difficult talks on the war in Gaza as fears grow that the conflict could engulf the wider region.

Anders Behring Breivik, the right-wing extremist who killed 77 people in 2011 and is now "suicidal" according to his lawyer, appears in court Monday in his lawsuit against Norway over his prison conditions.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will mark the first anniversary Monday of the far-right riots that rocked the Brazilian capital last year, with a ceremony in Congress declaring "democracy unbowed."

Day 94 of the Israel-Hamas war looks to be focused on escalated tensions across the Middle East following an Iraqi militia's claim of attacking an Israeli port and Hezbollah's continued rocket barrages toward northern Israel.

A British-Palestinian doctor who worked in Gazan hospitals during the Israel-Hamas conflict hopes that testimony he has given to UK police will lead to prosecutions for war crimes.

The New Year's Day earthquake demolished wooden buildings all across Japan's Noto Peninsula but thanks to decades-old smart architecture, one small fishing village stood strong.

Six sailors set out on the 40,000km around-the-world Ultim Challenge from France on Sunday, hoping to complete one of the sport's "biggest challenges" inside 50 days.

Belgian politician Charles Michel has announced he will step down as European Council president after running in the European Parliament elections set for June.

Sheikh Hasina once helped rescue Bangladesh from military rule, but her time in power has seen the mass arrest of her political opponents and human rights sanctions against her security forces.

Al Jazeera on Sunday said two of its Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip were killed in an Israeli strike on their car, in what the Qatar-based media network claimed was a "targeted killing".

London's underground train network was to grind to a virtual halt for several days late Sunday due to a strike over wages.

Internet and social media services across Pakistan were severely disrupted Sunday night as the party of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan prepared to launch a massive online campaign ahead of elections next month.