WORLD

The White House on Wednesday accused judges of "usurping" executive power after a series of rulings against Donald Trump's administration, including one that blocked the deportation of Venezuelan migrants and drew the president's ire.

Ukrainians have reacted sceptically to a phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump, who had sought to convince Moscow to agree to a temporary ceasefire.

For Russian civil servant Larisa, talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have put Moscow one step closer to victory, even if they are far from ending three years of fighting in Ukraine.

"We're living in a dictatorship," said Kuzey, an Istanbul shopkeeper after police detained the city's popular opposition mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on corruption allegations.

Russia represents a threat for all European nations -- regardless of how far they lie from Moscow, EU chief Antonio Costa told AFP ahead of a leaders' summit on Thursday.

Hamas said it remained open to negotiations while calling for pressure on Israel Wednesday to implement a Gaza truce after its deadliest bombing since the fragile ceasefire began in January.

Distraught Myanmar relief camp dwellers received final handouts from the World Food Programme on Wednesday as the UN agency begins halting aid to a million people in the country because funding has dried up.

Since avian flu turned eggs into a luxury item, pastry chef Annie Clemmons has spent countless hours in her Maryland workshop, racking her brains about how to replace them in her recipes.

The scene is nearly unimaginable in Kosovo -- Serbs, Albanians, NATO peacekeepers and European diplomats all in one room chatting and feasting.

The EU on Wednesday will look to fire the starting pistol on plans to help member states bolster their defences, as Europe grapples with an aggressive Russia and the potential loss of US security protections.

Two ex-bodyguards for former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen go on trial in absentia in France on Wednesday, charged over a 1997 grenade attack on a leading opposition figure.

Young, urban women in Afghanistan are increasingly ditching the all-enveloping blue burqa with a face mesh that has become a symbol of the Taliban's oppression of women.

Ukraine on Wednesday accused Russia of effectively rejecting a US-backed ceasefire proposal, reporting a barrage of strikes on civilian infrastructure hours after Moscow agreed only to pause attacks on the energy grid.

Goals in each half from Linda Caicedo and Athenea del Castillo gave Real Madrid a 2-0 win over Arsenal in their Women's Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday while eight-time winners Lyon defeated Bayern Munich by the same scoreline.

Hungarian lawmakers passed a bill on Tuesday aimed at banning Budapest's annual Pride march, the latest in a series of measures under Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government, which critics say curtail the rights of the EU country's LGBTQ community.

Poland and the Baltic states on Tuesday took a first step towards quitting a treaty banning anti-personnel mines, citing an increased security risk from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

A tennis union co-founded by Novak Djokovic on Tuesday announced a series of legal actions aimed at the sport's governing bodies, alleging "anti-competitive restraints and abusive practices".

Istanbul's powerful mayor Ekrem Imamoglu is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's biggest political rival who has had hurdle after hurdle thrown at him to stop him making a bid for Turkey's top job.

Donald Trump's rumbling conflict with the judiciary burst into open confrontation on Tuesday as Supreme Court Justice John Roberts issued a rare public rebuke of the US president over his call for the impeachment of a federal court judge.

A Turkish university said Tuesday that Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu -- a rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and already the target of a clutch of court cases -- falsely obtained his university degree.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday said Washington could hold off reciprocal tariffs for countries that halt practices it deems unfair, adding that officials will produce a list of levies on April 2.

Workers at a Belgian brewer stack bottles and kegs sky high as they rush to fill containers for shipment to the United States before President Donald Trump's eye-watering tariffs on European Union alcohol exports kick in.

Indonesian activists on Tuesday condemned plans to change a law that would allow the army to have more government positions, a move they say could lead to "abuse" in a country long influenced by its powerful military.

Russian pensioner Olga Shkuratova trembled, clutching a scrap of paper bearing a handwritten phone number for her son.

Beijing on Tuesday said media outlets facing the axe by US President Donald Trump had a "notorious" history of reporting on China, as Cambodia's autocratic former leader hailed the move for "combating fake news".

Australia voiced unease on Tuesday over anonymous letters reportedly offering hefty rewards for information on a Hong Kong activist now living in Melbourne.

A 46-year-old man convicted of rape and murder is to be put to death by nitrogen gas in the southern state of Louisiana on Tuesday, the first of four executions scheduled this week in the United States.

Hit by massive funding cuts and a crackdown on student protesters, Columbia University is under fire from US President Donald Trump, putting the world of higher education on tenterhooks.

Israel on Tuesday unleashed its most intense campaign on the Gaza Strip since a January ceasefire, with rescuers reporting more than 121 people killed, prompting Hamas to accuse Benjamin Netanyahu's government of torpedoing the truce.