WORLD

A spate of high-profile visits by US officials to Saudi Arabia underscores how ties have warmed amid talks over a potential deal that would see the Gulf kingdom recognise Israel, analysts say.

Two Ukrainian combat drones headed for Moscow were shot down, Russian officials said on Wednesday, the latest in a surge of drone attacks targeting the capital.

Pakistan's parliament was due to be dissolved Wednesday, ushering in a technocrat-led interim government to oversee an election that will not include the country's most popular politician, Imran Khan.

Nigeria's president has not ruled out military intervention in neighbouring Niger after its president was ousted in a coup but believes diplomacy is the "best way forward" to resolve the crisis, his spokesman said Tuesday.

The US trade deficit narrowed in June on a bigger pullback in imports than exports, according to government data released on Tuesday.

The coup that shook Niger nearly two weeks ago triggered an international outcry and curbs on domestic freedoms, yet many people in the capital say the change is a breath of fresh air.

Thousands of people displaced by 12 years of war are stuck in squalid, unofficial camps in Syria's Kurdish-held northeast, languishing in extreme poverty and largely cut off from international assistance.

Much of the eastern United States was lashed by intense storms Monday, leaving at least two people dead, hundreds of thousands without power and thousands of flights canceled or delayed.

July was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth, the European Union's climate observatory confirmed Tuesday.

Rescue workers combed through the rubble of damaged buildings in the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, the day after Russian strikes killed at least seven people.

China last month suffered its biggest fall in exports for more than three years, official data showed Tuesday, as the world's second-largest economy is battered by sluggish global demand and a domestic slowdown.

Lawyers for Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan were Tuesday set to file a bail application for him, as he languished in a small cell of a century-old prison at the start of a three-year jail term for graft.

Russia said Monday it plans to launch a lunar lander this week after multiple delays, hoping to return to the Moon for the first time in nearly fifty years.

Crouching beside Ukrainian-made attack drones on a runway, TV star Serhiy Prytula appeared keen to taunt Moscow with a crowdfunded fleet that experts have linked with recent strikes inside Russia.

Five people including two policemen were killed and at least 11 others injured during the collapse of several buildings in Iran's capital, local media reported on Monday.

More than 3,000 US military personnel have arrived in the Red Sea aboard two warships, as part of increased deployments after tanker seizures by Iran, the US Navy said Monday.

The Chadian Defence Minister, Daoud Yahya Brahim appreciated the UAE's support for Chad, noting that this move will ensure peace and stability in the country. He went on to share that military cooperation is essential for enhancing security and overcoming ongoing challenges.

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan's lawyers were on Monday attempting to launch legal challenges against his three year-sentence for graft that has ruled him out of contesting national elections.

Saudi Arabia hosted talks on the Ukraine war Saturday in the latest flexing of its diplomatic muscle, a session that Kyiv had predicted would "not be easy" given the wide range of countries represented.

Iraqi villager Omar Ziad gazes at the cracked and barren earth where his fish farm once stood, lost to water conservation efforts during a devastating four-year drought.

Pato looks at the picture on his phone. "I have lots of wonderful memories," Pato said, scrolling through his pictures on a new phone bought with the help of friends.

Mourners on Saturday attended the funeral of a Palestinian killed by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, after the UN warned of a dramatic spike in such cases.

Three family members, all civilians, were killed on Saturday when Russian warplanes struck the outskirts of the northwest Syrian city of Idlib, a war monitor said.

The coup in Niger will undermine the fight against resurgent terror groups in Africa's Sahel region, France's defence minister said this week, accusing the country's junta of taking "hostage" not just President Mohamed Bazoum but the entire country.

A former aide of a lawmaker from Israel's hard-right governing coalition was among two settlers arrested Saturday over the killing of a 19-year-old Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, Israeli media reported.

Factory worker Lubna Babar was made redundant at the beginning of the year, a victim of a crisis in the Pakistan textile industry that has seen it lose ground to more nimble Asian competitors.

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan's three-year sentence for graft prompted scattered rallies around the country, but there was no sign of any mass uprising Sunday despite his call for supporters to protest.

Ukraine's trident coat of arms glimmered on the shield of a gigantic statue overlooking Kyiv on Sunday, after construction workers winched it up to replace a Soviet hammer and sickle.

Niger closed its airspace due to the "threat of intervention" as the junta defied a deadline from the West African bloc ECOWAS to reinstate democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum or face possible military action.