WORLD

The UN peacekeeping chief whose force monitors Lebanon's south said redeploying Lebanese troops there is crucial for any solution to more than a year of Hezbollah-Israel clashes that escalated into war in September.

Migration to richer countries reached a record level for the second year running in 2023, the OECD said on Thursday, reflecting demand for foreign labour and gaps in the workforce left by ageing populations.

An independent central bank is "fundamental" to good economic outcomes, a senior Federal Reserve official said Thursday, amid concerns that president-elect Donald Trump may seek to influence Fed policy.

Authorities in Brazil on Thursday were searching for the motive of a man who apparently tried to bomb the Supreme Court, killing himself in the process.

Two women in Norway, swapped at birth almost six decades ago, allege a government coverup of the mix-up. Their lawsuit against the state seeks justice and compensation after discovering the truth through DNA tests and withheld information.

Israel's warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide, a special UN committee said Thursday, accusing the country of "using starvation as a method of war".

Russian authorities ordered the closure from Thursday of Moscow's award-winning Gulag History Museum, dedicated to the victims of Soviet-era repression.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has accused Donald Trump of repeatedly criticising him because of his "ethnicity" and Muslim faith, in comments likely to renew his long-running feud with the US president-elect.

Air strikes hit the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Thursday after an Israeli warning to evacuate parts of the Hezbollah bastion, AFPTV images showed.

When Bart Gruyaert agreed to help rebuild destroyed apartment blocks outside Kyiv, he hoped to be one cog in Ukraine's vast reconstruction programme, repairing just some of the damage wrought by Russia's invasion.

Burnt-out love-seekers are shunning dating apps in their millions, but the apps are trying to woo them back with a counter offer: If you don't want a lover, perhaps you just need a friend?

Human Rights Watch said in a report released Thursday that Israel's repeated evacuation orders in Gaza amount to the "war crime of forcible transfer", and to "ethnic cleansing" in parts of the Palestinian territory.

Scientists say they have found the world's largest coral near the Pacific's Solomon Islands, announcing Thursday a major discovery "pulsing with life and colour".

Donald Trump's cabinet of China hawks have likened the nation's communist rulers to Nazis, levelled Covid conspiracies at them, declared a Cold War, and flagged much greater military support for Taiwan.

Israel face France in a Nations League match in Paris on Thursday that will be surrounded by a huge security operation following attacks on Israeli football fans in Amsterdam last week.

A man with explosives died Wednesday trying to enter Brazil's Supreme Court in what appeared to be a suicide, officials said, days before the country hosts the G20 summit.

South Korean students are sitting a crucial university entrance exam Thursday, with a record number re-taking the test in a bid to capitalise on reforms that made it easier to get into medical school.

US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping arrive Thursday in Lima for an Asia-Pacific summit overshadowed by the prospect of a world embroiled in trade wars under Donald Trump.

In 2016, a Colombian court sent a powerful statement on environmental protection by ruling that a crucial river in the northwestern Choco jungle, which was being decimated by illegal mining, had legal rights.

The percentage of adults suffering from diabetes across the world has doubled over the past three decades, the biggest rises coming in developing countries, a study said Wednesday.

Dutch parliamentarians clashed in a heated debate Wednesday as they addressed last week's attacks on Israeli football fans, while police in Amsterdam arrested pro-Palestinian protesters who again defied a ban on demonstrations in the wake of the violence.

Israel suffered one of the deadliest days of its ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon on Wednesday when six of its soldiers were killed in combat near the border.

The Republican Party has won a majority in the US House of Representatives, media projected Wednesday, completing their clean sweep of Congress, which will hand President-elect Donald Trump vast legislative power.

Donald Trump's triumphant return to the White House signals a potential golden era for cryptocurrencies, whose influential backers heavily supported his presidential bid.

The ceremony is short: a man walks up to a desk and signs a few papers before a serviceman in army fatigues shakes his hand and welcomes him into the Ukrainian armed forces.

Sudan has seen a surge in extreme violence in recent weeks as the warring military and paramilitary push for a decisive victory, with no political solution in sight.

Russia escalated its attacks on Kyiv early Wednesday, launching waves of drones and missiles in its first combined aerial assault on the capital in more than 70 days, authorities said.

Anglican leaders faced pressure Wednesday to speed up reforms following Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby's resignation over a damning report concluding the Church of England covered up a serial abuse case.

US top diplomat Antony Blinken warned Wednesday that the deployment of North Korean troops alongside Russian forces fighting on the Ukrainian border demanded a "firm response".