WORLD

Myanmar's junta has moved jailed democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi from prison to house arrest, a source told AFP on Wednesday.

Even small delays in Japan's much-vaunted bullet trains are rare, and more unusual still are snakes on board holding up the speedy "shinkansen" services.

Peru has defended its decision before a human rights court to free ex-president Alberto Fujimori from prison after he only served part of a 25-year sentence for crimes against humanity.

The United Nations Security Council will vote Thursday on the Palestinians' application to become a full UN member state, several diplomatic sources have told AFP. Amid Israel's military offensive in Gaza, the Palestinians in early April revived a membership application first made to the world body in 2011, though the veto-wielding United States has repeatedly expressed opposition to the proposal.

Around 130 million young adults aged 18 to 22 will be newly eligible to vote in India's national elections when polls open Friday -- more people than the entire population of Mexico.

India's opposition faces huge challenges as their loose coalition of more than two dozen parties take on the juggernaut of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party.

Leonardo Muylaert was just another mild-mannered professional on vacation with his girlfriend when the 36-year-old Brazilian went viral on social media thanks to an unexpected superpower that has changed his life: his uncanny resemblance to Superman.

A contentious bill that aims to eventually phase out smoking in Britain advanced in parliament on Tuesday, as the House of Commons voted in favour of the controversial measure.

A top US university has canceled its plans for a graduation speech by a Muslim student over what it says are safety concerns, after pro-Israel groups criticized her selection.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday he had ordered the closure of his country's diplomatic missions in Ecuador after a raid on the Mexican embassy in Quito.

Solomon Islanders began voting Wednesday in an election that could reshape regional security, with citizens effectively choosing if their Pacific nation will deepen ties with China.

The fate of US aid to Ukraine hung in the balance Tuesday as House Speaker Mike Johnson faced potential revolt from within his Republican party over his complex plan to renew the long-delayed funding along with fresh assistance for Israel.

Georgian lawmakers on Tuesday agreed an early draft of a controversial "foreign influence" bill, sparking fresh street protests against the legislation criticised for mirroring a repressive Russian law.

A top rebel commander has pulled out of Colombia's peace negotiations amid a split in one of the most powerful guerrilla groups in the country, the government said Tuesday.

Donald Trump could not have made his stance clearer: he would rather be anywhere else than in a New York courtroom Tuesday, on trial for business fraud.

President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday hailed the heroism of members of the World War II Resistance based on a remote Alpine plateau, but also remembered the "errors" of French collaborationist forces who sided with the Germans against them.

Hard drugs like cocaine and ecstasy should be regulated, according to the mayor of Amsterdam, who believes this is the only way to defeat narco-trafficking and its "disastrous" effect on her city.

Joe Biden loves nothing more than peppering speeches with references to his blue-collar roots in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun via video teleconference Tuesday, the Pentagon said, in the first substantive talks between the superpowers' defense chiefs in nearly 18 months.

The Paris Olympics' chief organiser Tony Estanguet said on Monday an opening ceremony on the river Seine was the "very probable" option, after French President Emmanuel Macron said it could be moved to a stadium.

It's Day 193 of the Israel-Hamas war and amid continuing hostilities in Gaza, the world is also watching whether Israel will respond to Iran's weekend aerial rampage toward Israel that included over 300 drones and missiles, and some are monitoring the tension-packed Israeli-Lebanese border amid intensifying fire exchanges between the IDF and Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

Israel and Iran traded threats after Tehran's first ever direct attack on its arch foe sharply heightened Middle East tensions and as the Gaza war ground on with no truce in sight.

Meta's oversight board said Tuesday it is scrutinizing the social media titan's deepfake porn policies, through the lens of two cases.

No other ex-president in US history has been hauled before a criminal court and the trial in an unglamorous Manhattan courthouse comes as Trump is fighting to make a shock return to the White House in November's election.

Gulf states are grappling with the widening Middle East conflict as hostilities between Iran and Israel threaten their security and ambitious plans to reshape their economies.

The black hole, named Gaia BH3, was discovered "by chance" from data collected by the European Space Agency's Gaia mission, an astronomer from the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) at the Observatoire de Paris, Pasquale Panuzzo, told AFP.

The 54-metre (180-foot) spire disappeared into flames at the Borsen, which was commissioned by King Christian IV and built between 1619 and 1640, an AFP journalist saw.

During six months of war between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hamas in Gaza, Iran's proxies around the region have stepped up attacks on Israel and its allies, saying they are acting in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

Orange lava bubbles and pops, occasionally spewing large fountains from a volcano that has been erupting for a month in Iceland, the second-longest eruption since the region's volcanic activity reawakened in March 2021.