POLITICS

Taiwan's president-elect Lai Ching-te, a staunch defender of the island's democracy, will be sworn into office Monday as Beijing ratchets up military and diplomatic pressure on Taipei.

The newly agreed Dutch coalition government on Thursday proposed what it called the "strictest ever" asylum policy, including an opt-out from European Union rules, and vowed to examine moving its Israel embassy to Jerusalem.

Arab leaders are gathering Thursday in Bahrain for a summit dominated by the Israel-Hamas war which has been raging in the Gaza Strip without a ceasefire in sight.

It's crunch time for Donald Trump's defense team as they take another stab Thursday at Michael Cohen, the key witness in the criminal trial in which the former president is accused of fraudulently covering up his affair with a porn star to influence his first presidential bid.

Leaders Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin framed their nations' ties as a stabilising force in a chaotic world as they met Thursday in Beijing, where the Russian president is seeking greater Chinese support for his war effort in Ukraine and isolated economy.

A suspect detained for shooting Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico is a 71-year-old writer from the centre of the European nation, the interior minister said Wednesday, after media identified the man.

US President Joe Biden and Donald Trump agreed Wednesday to hold election debates in June and September, with the rivals trading barbs about their first on-stage meetings in nearly four years.

Donald Trump's lawyers on Tuesday got their first stab at Michael Cohen, the former president's confidante-turned-foe,trying to paint him as a money-hungry, untrustworthy narrator.

Singapore will swear in Lawrence Wong on Wednesday as the city-state's new prime minister, as Lee Hsien Loong steps down after two decades in office.

UK MPs arrested on suspicion of serious sexual or violent offences could be barred from attending parliament after lawmakers changed the rules in a narrow vote late on Monday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China this week, both countries announced Tuesday, meeting his "dear friend" Xi Jinping as he seeks to win greater support from Beijing for his war effort in Ukraine and isolated economy.

Cheering crowds greeted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday as he submitted his candidacy for a Hindu holy city's parliamentary seat in a general election his party is strongly favoured to win.

American military aid for Ukraine is "on its way", US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Kyiv on Tuesday, as Russia pressed on with a new offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

Hong Kong's leader on Tuesday defended its foreign trade offices and said he had little recollection of a man accused by Britain of spying for the Chinese city, after a photograph emerged seeming to show the two together.

Modi remains popular across much of India and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is widely expected to win the poll when it concludes early next month.

Britain's main opposition Labour party on Friday pledged to scrap the Conservative government's flagship Rwanda scheme if it comes to power, replacing it with a tougher more joined-up approach to tackling irregular migration.

India's top court on Friday ordered a jailed opponent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be released on bail, allowing him to campaign in an ongoing national election.

It could be a loyal lieutenant, an ex-rival or perhaps a political newcomer, but one thing is certain: all eyes are on White House hopeful Donald Trump as he considers potential running mates.

Donald Trump's youngest son, who is still at high school and largely shielded from the public eye, will debut on the political stage in July as a delegate at the Republican Party convention.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol held a rare press conference Thursday, admitting "shortcomings" after his party's recent electoral defeat, and laying out policies on issues from the country's low birthrate to Russia's war in Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned his nuclear forces were "always" on alert and added that Moscow would not tolerate any Western threats, during an address on the annual Victory Day parade.

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Hungary on Thursday seeking a "new journey" with Beijing's closest European Union ally amid divisions with the West over the Ukraine war and global trade.

Former Fiji prime minister Frank Bainimarama was sentenced Thursday to one year in prison for perverting the course of justice, with a judge finding he used his political clout to shut down a police investigation.

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic reaffirmed his strong support for China's sovereignty over Taiwan Wednesday as he gave a lavish welcome to President Xi Jinping, who is seeking to deepen political and economic ties with friendlier countries in Europe.

A Florida judge on Tuesday indefinitely postponed Donald Trump's criminal trial over his alleged mishandling of classified documents, making it unlikely the case will be heard before the November presidential election.

France's ambassador to Moscow on Tuesday represented Paris at the inauguration of President Vladimir Putin for a fifth term, a day after the envoy was summoned to the Russian foreign ministry in a move France denounced as intimidation.

US President Joe Biden condemned a "ferocious surge" in anti-Semitism on Tuesday, in a Holocaust memorial speech that came at a fraught moment in Israel's war in Gaza and with protests roiling American universities.

"Puigdemont, president!" The president should be allowed to go where he needs to go, to Catalonia, which is why it's very important that we're here," explained Angels Lores, a 58-year-old teacher who refers to Puigdemont as if he were still regional leader.

President Vladimir Putin vowed at a lavish inauguration on Tuesday to deliver victory to Russians, embarking on a record-breaking fifth term with more power than ever.