WORLD

On Day 126 of the Israel-Hamas war, Washington urged Israel to take caution in moving toward Rafah as the Israeli army continues its hunt of Hamas militants, saying outright that the Biden administration is opposed to a military operation in the overcrowded city given the current circumstances in the area.

A court in El Salvador on Thursday held a virtual sentencing hearing for 492 leaders of the feared Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang, accused of thousands of crimes, including more than 500 homicides.

Meta on Thursday said it had removed the Facebook and Instagram accounts of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for violating its content policy.

The rescue of a child on Friday nearly 60 hours after a landslide hit a gold-mining village in the southern Philippines has been hailed as a "miracle" after searchers had given up hope of finding anyone alive.

Women from around the world gathered in northwest Portugal this week to practise a traditional technique of deliberately burning land to prevent the kind of wildfires -- intensified by climate change -- that have killed hundreds across Europe.

More than two decades after the outbreak of war in Darfur, fears are growing that the world has abandoned its people as a new conflict ravages Sudan and the perpetrators of atrocities act with impunity.

A German navy frigate set sail for the Red Sea on Thursday with the aim of protecting commercial ships from attacks by Yemeni rebels, as part of a planned European Union mission.

Liverpool must come to terms with a rare domestic loss as the Premier League leaders fight to get back on track this weekend.

With the clock ticking down to what has been called the biggest party on Earth, Brazilian dancer Pedro H. Gaspar confesses he is "excited... and tired."

Independent candidates linked to jailed former prime minister Imran Khan appeared Friday to be heading to victory in Pakistan's election, local media tallies said, as a long delay in official results sparked fears of a fix.

President Vladimir Putin said in an interview released Thursday with controversial right-wing US journalist Tucker Carlson that the West should understand it is "impossible" to defeat Russia in Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday replaced his education minister after a series of controversies, seeking to regain momentum for the final phase of his presidency under Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.

Ecuador is weighing up sending its old Russian military equipment to the United States so that it can be transferred to Ukraine, a US official said in Quito Thursday.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday warned that his organization's Palestinian refugee agency cannot be replaced, even as it faces criticism after 12 staffers were implicated in Hamas's attack on Israel.

US senators cleared a first hurdle Thursday to a sweeping foreign aid package -- including a $60 billion lifeline for Ukraine -- although opposition from right-wing allies of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump means final passage remains far from guaranteed.

A majority of justices on the US Supreme Court appeared to be leaning on Thursday towards rejecting a ruling by a state court that would bar Donald Trump from running for president again.

Ukraine's new armed forces chief, Oleksandr Syrsky is credited with defending Kyiv when Russian forces invaded, helping to scupper the Kremlin's plans to bring the country to its knees within days.

Ukraine's top commander Valery Zaluzhny was on Thursday removed from his post, in the biggest shake-up of Kyiv's military leadership since Russia's invasion almost two years ago.

Venezuela on Thursday vowed a "forceful response" if oil drilling begins in contested waters off neighboring Guyana, as announced by US oil giant ExxonMobil this week.

"They see us, and we see them," said French Navy Lieutenant Dany, board commander of a nimble Falcon 50 surveillance plane flying over the vast Bay of Biscay.

Brazilian police carried out dozens of raids Thursday targeting suspects accused of orchestrating an invasion of the seat of power last year, including far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, whose lawyer confirmed he would surrender his passport.

Argentina's President Javier Milei on Thursday likened Hamas's attacks on southern Israel to the Holocaust, after touring a kibbutz targeted in the October 7 raids.

A French bartender is riding high on the hog after setting herself up as a pig pedicurist.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday found France guilty of unlawfully employing a controversial police tactic to encircle protesters during a 2010 demonstration.

In Israel's biblical city of Nazareth, the basilica is empty, restaurants and shops that usually thrive on Christian pilgrims are closed, and many hotels have been shut for months.

Senegal opposition groups tried to mobilise Thursday after President Macky Sall sought to quell widespread public outcry at the delay to this month's presidential election, which has also drawn international condemnation.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday sought to advance a deal to free Gaza hostages in talks with Israeli moderates as he closed a Middle East tour without securing a pause in fighting.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered troops to prepare to enter Gaza's crowded southern city of Rafah, even as new talks aimed at securing a truce with Hamas were set to open Thursday in Cairo.

Russia's election commission on Thursday blocked pro-peace politician Boris Nadezhdin from running in next month's presidential election, the candidate said in a post on social media.