WORLD

Political veteran Joseph Boakai was on Friday close to victory in Liberia's presidential race against incumbent George Weah, with more than 99 percent of polling stations reporting.

The United States and China plan further talks on commercial issues next year, the US Commerce Department said Friday in a commitment to continue high level engagement despite tensions.

Spain's Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez was sworn in Friday as prime minister for another term with the right vowing to keep up its protests against his decision to grant Catalan separatists an amnesty.

Dozens of asylum seekers arrived at four Finnish border crossings with Russia on Friday, just hours before they were to close, a border guard captain told AFP. Finland is to shut half of its eight crossings along its eastern land border with Russia from midnight (2200 GMT).

The White House on Friday condemned the owner of social media platform X and the world's richest person, Elon Musk, for "abhorrent promotion" of anti-Semitism.

After a barrage of earthquakes that herald an impending volcanic eruption, some evacuated residents of the Icelandic town of Grindavik wonder if they will ever return.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived in Berlin for talks with German leaders Friday, in a highly controversial visit made more explosive by the Turkish leader's branding of Israel as a "terror state".

The UN's top court Friday ordered Azerbaijan to allow the safe return of people to the contested territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Baku seized in a lightning September offensive.

Rick Smith, founder of Taser-maker Axon, pointed one of his company's yellow stun guns at a target and discharged its electric darts to demonstrate its effectiveness at a security fair outside Paris.

French investigators on Friday were questioning a senator arrested on suspicion of drugging a lower house MP with a view to assaulting her, in a case that has rocked France's parliament.

Ukraine said Friday it had carried out successful attacks on the Russian-occupied eastern bank of the Dnipro river, days after Moscow admitted Kyiv's forces had gained a foothold there.

Public sector employees and transport workers across Italy went on strike Friday in an action pitting trade unions against the hard-right government in Rome over its 2024 budget.

About 250 Rohingya refugees in an overcrowded wooden boat have been turned away from western Indonesia and sent back to sea, residents said Friday.

Indian rescuers warned Friday it could take another two days of clearing rubble before they can reach 40 workers who have been trapped in a collapsed tunnel for nearly a week.

It took Croatia years to finally enter into Europe's passport-free travel zone that promised to ease access for other European nationals travelling to the country and boost its tourism-driven economy.

US President Joe Biden and his Mexican counterpart Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will meet Friday in San Francisco to discuss the fentanyl and migration crises that straddle their shared border.

One night in September, teacher Thomas Cervin was woken by gunshots in his apartment building in Uppsala.

When yet another winter storm hits Britain, Ellis Jacklin is happier than most, as he gets his energy at up to half the usual unit price.

On Day 42 of the Israel-Hamas war, the Israeli army continues to search Gaza's largest medical complex, the Al-Shifa Hospital, even as ground battles go on in northern Gaza.

Rocked gently on his mother's knees, a fly on his nose, a baby sleeps fitfully in a tent in a barren border camp as his family prepares to leave the waypoint to rebuild their lives in Afghanistan.

The UN's top court will Friday rule on a long-running clash between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Baku seized in September in a lightning offensive.

Raghad Qassem searched all over Iraq's capital Baghdad for a psychologist she could talk to about her problems, before finally settling for consultations online.

Israeli troops carried out building-by-building searches at Gaza's main hospital, as a new communications blackout in the territory on Friday compounded fears for Palestinian civilians trapped inside the facility.

Argentina, which holds a presidential runoff on Sunday, was one of the world's richest countries a century ago.

British newspaper The Guardian has removed from its website a 21-year-old message written by Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, after it was shared several million times on social media.

The Public Prosecutor's Office ratcheted up a battle with incoming president-elect Bernardo Arevalo on Thursday, calling on the Supreme Court to strip him of immunity for damages resulting from a 2022 protest at a university.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron vowed to maintain military support for Ukraine during a surprise visit to Kyiv announced on Thursday, with the West's attention focused on the Middle East.

Madagascar voted in highly contested presidential elections Thursday that were boycotted by most opposition candidates, resulting in a low turnout.

President Joe Biden's administration promised Thursday to engage systematically overseas with workers, as its plans for a new Asia trade pact met opposition from labor activists.