WORLD

Israel's long-contentious relationship with the United Nations has since October 7 spiralled to new depths, amid insults and accusations and even a questioning of the country's continued UN membership.

Incoming NATO chief Mark Rutte brings new leadership this week to one of the world's most powerful-sounding roles -- helming the nuclear-armed Atlantic alliance.

The gunman suspected of planning to kill Donald Trump on his golf course wrote a chilling letter months ago about a failed "assassination attempt" on the former US president, according to court papers filed Monday as he was remanded in custody.

As wars rage worldwide, with civilian casualties a daily occurrence, critics of the United Nations say the body is failing at its most basic job, while experts warn the organization is being scapegoated for things that are beyond its control.

As one of the world's most biodiverse countries, Colombia is determined to lead by example when it hosts an upcoming UN summit to save nature, Environment Minister Susana Muhamad told AFP on Monday.

The world's biggest rainforest, the Amazon, has lost an area about the size of Germany and France combined to deforestation in four decades, a study showed Monday.

A French court on Monday began hearing the cases against six new defendants as the mass rape trial that has sparked horror in the country moved into its fourth week.

Britain's governing Labour party on Monday sought to strike a more upbeat note about the country's future but against a furious backlash from unions at proposed cuts to welfare payments and a row over top ministers receiving gifts.

Bitter enemies Russia and Ukraine clashed at the world's oldest arbitration court on Monday over a long-running case about access to coastal waters around the annexed Crimea peninsula.

Israel's military pounded Hezbollah targets in south and east Lebanon Monday and said more strikes were coming, warning Lebanese to stay out of harm's way despite international calls for restraint.

He built on his father's real estate empire and turned the family's millions into billions, but Donald Trump has not stuck to selling merely buildings.

The UN's refugee chief questioned Sunday what future awaited the Sudanese people as the country's civil war rages, pushing its people ever further afield including to Uganda and Europe's maritime borders.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday arrived in the United States for a crucial visit to present Kyiv's plan to end two and a half years of war with Russia.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats narrowly beat the far-right AfD in a state election Sunday in the formerly communist east, a rare bit of good news for his party.

The "Pact for the Future" is the United Nations' master plan for tackling challenges that lie ahead for humanity, with 56 "actions" covering everything from peacekeeping to the potential threats posed by artificial intelligence.

A regional military escalation is not in Israel's "best interest," White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said on Sunday, as heightening cross-border tensions between Israel and Lebanon have led to fears of an all-out war.

A study on the origin of Covid-19 provided new evidence on Thursday supporting the theory that humans first caught the virus from infected animals at a Chinese market in late 2019.

Israel said it pounded Lebanon's Hezbollah, just hours after the group's leader vowed retribution for deadly explosions that targeted its communication devices, killing 37 people and wounding thousands.

US President Joe Biden will host the leaders of Australia, Japan and India at his Delaware home this weekend to bid farewell to the so-called "Quad" group that he has pushed as a counterweight to China.

Two people from Taiwanese companies were questioned as part of a probe into pagers that exploded while being used by Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon, investigators said Friday, as top officials insisted the devices were not from the island.

Kamala Harris held a star-studded rally hosted by talk show legend Oprah Winfrey on Thursday in a bid to bedazzle voters, as rival Donald Trump criticized Jewish Americans for not voting for him.

The Titan submersible had to abort a dive just days before the implosion that killed its five passengers as they explored the wreck of the Titanic, an ex-employee of the company that operated the vessel testified on Thursday.

One of dozens of men accused of raping a Frenchwoman drugged unconscious by her husband told a court Thursday he realised something was wrong during their encounter that he now concedes was sexual assault.

A series of deadly explosions targeting Hezbollah members this week in Lebanon came only days after Israel announced plans to expand its war in Gaza to its northern border with Lebanon.

Outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday cautioned the United States and Europe against "isolationism" in his parting speech, as Donald Trump vies to return to the White House.

The council reviewed progress on the carbon market project and the Carbon Pricing Study. Future work will compare different carbon pricing options and develop models to assess their possible economic and social impacts.

Hundreds of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah exploded across Lebanon in unprecedented attacks this week, killing 32 people and wounding more than 3,000 others.

Israel said Thursday it bombed Hezbollah sites in Lebanon, piling pressure on the militant group already reeling after a series of deadly explosions targeting its communications systems that it blamed on Israel.

The coming winter will prove the "sternest test yet" for Ukraine's energy grid, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday, as the EU announced additional aid to help the country weather Russia's attacks on its power infrastructure.