WORLD

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday opened a visit to crisis-riven South Korea, where he will seek delicately to encourage continuity with the policies, but not tactics, of the impeached president.

Russia said Sunday that Ukraine had launched a "counterattack" in the western border region of Kursk, where Kyiv's forces began a shock ground offensive last August.

The speaker of the US House said Sunday he was pushing an "aggressive" timeframe for getting a multi-trillion-dollar bill addressing immigration, tax cuts and more to Donald Trump's desk by April, within his first 100 days in office.

Ministers from Syria's transitional government urged the United States to lift its sanctions on Damascus during their first visit to Qatar since overthrowing president Bashar al-Assad.

Israel pounded the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing at least 23 people according to rescuers, nearly 15 months into the war with Hamas Palestinian militants.

Determining the fate of those who went missing during Syria's civil war will be a massive task likely to take years, the president of the International Committee for the Red Cross said.

Nicolas Sarkozy, who ruled France as a tough-talking right-wing president from 2007 to 2012, is seen by supporters as a dynamic saviour of his country but by detractors as a vulgar populist mired in corruption.

The president rejected the $14.9 billion deal between the steelmakers over national security concerns.

South Korea's suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol ignored the objections of key cabinet ministers before his failed martial law bid last month, according to a prosecutors' report seen by AFP on Sunday.

Thousands of people lined the streets of Suriname's capital Saturday for the funeral procession of Desi Bouterse, who led the country both as a coup leader and elected president before dying as a fugitive from justice.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives late Sunday in crisis-riven South Korea where he will seek delicately to encourage continuity with the policies, but not tactics, of the impeached president.

Rescuers in Gaza said on Saturday that Israeli strikes across the Palestinian territory killed at least 26 people, the day after Hamas militants said peace talks were to resume.

South Korean investigators attempted to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol at his residence Friday over a failed martial law bid but were blocked by his security forces.

South Korea's political leadership was in uncharted territory Saturday after the sitting president resisted arrest over a failed martial law decree days before the warrant expires.

The New York judge presiding over President-elect Donald Trump's hush money case on Friday set sentencing for 10 days before his January 20 inauguration and said he was not inclined to impose jail time.

Britain and Germany produced their cleanest electricity on record last year, with renewables reaching record highs, according to data released Thursday.

Oil from two ageing and damaged Russian tankers was detected Friday off the coast of Sevastopol, the largest city in Moscow-annexed Crimea, a local official said.

Lebanon's interior minister on Friday told AFP that Beirut was working to find a solution with Syria, after two security officials said Damascus had imposed new restrictions on the entry of Lebanese citizens.

The yellow drone with the markings 'HY-119' was snagged about six miles off the coast in the Philippines.

World food commodity prices declined by 2.1 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year, the FAO said on Friday, but they remain considerably higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Israeli military reported three rockets targetinh its territory on Friday from the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian rescuers said Israeli air strikes killed at least 16 people, including children.

Ukraine is developing a version of the Trembita rocket with enough range to strike deep inside Russia in case Trump cuts off military assistance.

The price cut comes as the tech giant faces intense competition from domestic rivals like Vivo and Huawei.

Saydnaya prison north of the Syrian capital Damascus has become a symbol of the inhumane abuses of the Assad clan, especially since the country's civil war erupted in 2011.

On Thursday, the United States Commerce Department said it was considering new rules to address risks posed by drones made with technology from foreign adversaries such as China and Russia.

South Korea is a key security ally for Washington but the country has been wracked by a crisis sparked by President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed martial law decree on December 3.

South Korea's spy agency said Friday it was analysing rare state media footage showing the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with two children -- saying they could be hers.

Yoon Suk Yeol, who has already been suspended from duty by lawmakers, would become the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested if the warrant is carried out.

French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo is set to publish a special God-mocking edition next week to mark 10 years since an attack on its offices by jihadist gunmen that left eight staff members dead.