WORLD

For dozens of US tourists watching a cargo ship pass along the Panama Canal, Donald Trump's threat to possibly wrest back control of the waterway is nonsensical.

Georgia inaugurated on Sunday an ex-footballer turned far-right politician -- Mikheil Kavelashvili -- as Tbilisi's next figurehead president, after a controversial election process denounced as "illegitimate" by the current pro-EU leader.

Croatians cast ballots Sunday to elect a new president with the outspoken incumbent Zoran Milanovic appearing to be the favourite in opinion polls.

Massive waves of up to 13 feet (four meters) are pummeling the coasts of Ecuador and Peru, leaving scores of ports closed and at least one person dead on Saturday, authorities said.

A Jeju Air plane carrying 181 people from Bangkok to South Korea crashed on arrival Sunday.

Donald Trump weighed in Saturday in a bitter debate dividing his traditional supporters and tech barrons like Elon Musk, saying that he backs a special visa program that helps highly skilled workers enter the country.

Israel's military said on Saturday it had ended its raid on "a Hamas command centre" in a north Gaza hospital and detained its director as a suspected Hamas operative.

Layan Al Nasr, 14, thought she would never walk again after both of her legs were amputated following an Israeli bombing in Gaza one year ago.

The cyber attack has not disrupted flights at Milan's Linate and Malpensa airports.

The head of the World Health Organization said Saturday he only narrowly escaped death in fatal Israeli strikes on the airport in Yemen's Huthi rebel-held capital.

A delegation from Turkey's main pro-Kurdish DEM party is due on Saturday to visit jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving life on a prison island off Istanbul, a party source said.

An Israeli military raid targeting Hamas militants has forced a major hospital in northern Gaza out of service and led to the detention of its director, the WHO and health officials said Saturday.

South Korea's suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol authorised the military to fire their weapons if needed to enter parliament during his failed bid to impose martial law, according to a prosecutors' report seen by AFP on Saturday.

Mourners in India's capital gathered Saturday to pay their respects to former prime minister Manmohan Singh ahead of a state funeral for the man key to the country's economic liberalisation.

The top UN official for humanitarian aid in Yemen, who narrowly dodged an aerial bombing raid by Israel on Sanaa's airport, denied Friday that the facility had any military purpose.

Montenegro has approved the extradition of a South Korean crypto mogul behind the $40 billion Terraform Labs collapse.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that "several" wounded North Korean soldiers died after being captured by Ukrainian forces, as he accused Russia of throwing them into battle with "minimal protection".

Some see the violence as a reaction to the Chinese state's oppressive control of its citizens

Negotiations are at a standstill as Israel and Hamas blame each other for a lack of progress in the talks

Authorities in Brazil said Friday they are probing Chinese auto giant BYD and one of its contractors for suspected "trafficking" of Chinese workers building a factory in the South American country.

The official said the Russian system could have hit the aircraft in a case of mistaken identity caused by poor training

Han Duck-soo assumed the office after President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached on Dec. 14 after declaring martial law

NATO will bolster its military presence in the Baltic Sea after the suspected sabotage of an undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia this week, the Western military alliance's chief Mark Rutte said on Friday.

Han Duck-soo took over as acting president from President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was suspended following a parliamentary vote over his move to impose martial law on December 3.

Israeli air strikes hit rebel-held Sanaa's international airport and other targets in Yemen on Thursday as the head of the UN's World Health Organization said he and his team prepared to fly out.

South Korea's spy agency said Friday it had confirmed that a North Korean soldier sent to back Russia's war against Ukraine had been captured by Ukrainian forces.

India announced seven days of state mourning on Friday after the death of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, one of the architects of the country's economic liberalisation in the early 1990s.

India on Friday announced seven days of state mourning after the death of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, one of the architects of the country's economic liberalisation in the early 1990s.

Japan's government on Friday approved a record budget for the next fiscal year, ramping up spending on social welfare, as the population ages, and defence to tackle regional threats.