WORLD

Pope Francis may be on the mend, but as Easter nears, Catholic faithful are wondering how much of the celebrations the 88-year-old will be able to take part in after battling life-threatening pneumonia.

With President Donald Trump more unpredictable than ever and transatlantic ties reaching new lows, calls are growing louder for Europe to declare independence from US tech.

Britain's highest court will hand down a landmark ruling Wednesday on the definition of a "woman", weighing in on a long-running, divisive debate about biological sex versus gender identity.

US President Donald Trump ordered a probe Tuesday that may result in tariffs on critical minerals, rare-earth metals and associated products such as smartphones, in an escalation of his dispute with global trade partners.

President Donald Trump escalated his war against elite US universities Tuesday with a threat to strip Harvard's tax-exempt status if the country's most famous educational establishment refuses to submit to wide-ranging government oversight.

Standing on the doorstep of a funeral home on Tuesday, Lyudmyla Mosunova felt helpless while thinking about the burial of her mother Tetyana, killed in a Russian missile attack two days before.

US Vice President JD Vance hailed his country's transatlantic alliances, striking a more positive note, but in an interview urged European states to show greater independence.

China has told its airlines to stop taking deliveries of jets from American aviation giant Boeing, a report said Tuesday, as a trade war between Beijing and the United States deepens.

China's President Xi Jinping urged Vietnam to join forces in upholding free trade, before wrapping up a visit to Hanoi on Tuesday which President Donald Trump said was aiming to "screw" the United States.

Elite US university Harvard was hit with a $2.2 billion federal funding freeze on Monday after rejecting a list of sweeping demands that the White House said was intended to crack down on campus anti-Semitism.

US President Donald Trump is set to meet with Salvadoran counterpart Nayib Bukele on Monday, who has won heaping praise from Washington for partnering in its legally contested migrant crackdown.

South Korea's former president Yoon Suk Yeol denied Monday he had committed insurrection, as the impeached ex-leader appeared in court for the opening of his criminal trial over his martial law declaration.

Peruvian writer and Nobel literature laureate Mario Vargas Llosa died on Sunday at the age of 89, his family announced, ending the era of Latin America's literary golden generation.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned that protectionism "leads nowhere" and that a trade war would have "no winners", state media said, as he arrived in Vietnam on Monday on the first leg of a Southeast Asia tour.

Markets on Monday welcomed a US tariffs reprieve for electronics, but President Donald Trump warned no country would get "off the hook" in his trade war -- especially China.

The helicopter tour company behind a crash in New York that killed six people last week is shutting down, US authorities said Sunday.

Hungary's parliament on Monday is expected to approve constitutional changes further clamping down on rights for LGBTQ people and other groups, part of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's "Easter cleanup" against his domestic opponents.

Pop star Katy Perry will be the biggest name in an all-woman group set to touch the edge of space Monday, roaring into the cosmos on one of billionaire Jeff Bezos's rockets.

South Korea's impeached ex-leader Yoon Suk Yeol embraced supporters as he left the presidential residence in the capital Seoul on Friday, after being stripped of his duties.

US envoy Steve Witkoff was in Russia on Friday, the Kremlin said, his third visit to the country as Washington pushes for a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Indian investigative agencies on Friday questioned a man they extradited from the United States and charged with being a "mastermind" of the deadly 2008 Mumbai siege.

A massive black hole at the heart of a galaxy in the Virgo constellation is waking up, shooting out intense X-ray flares at regular intervals that have puzzled scientists, a study said Friday.

Iran is seeking a "real and fair" agreement with the United States on its nuclear programme, a senior aide to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday, setting the stage for a diplomatic showdown this weekend in Oman.

Gaza rescuers said a pre-dawn Israeli air strike Friday killed 10 members of the same family, while the UN stated that dozens of recent Israeli attacks on the Palestinian territory had left only women and children dead.

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the European Union on Friday to join hands with Beijing in resisting "unilateral bullying", in reference to swingeing tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

The US Senate approved Donald Trump's nominee to be the nation's top military officer on Friday after the president abruptly fired the previous chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff this year.

China said Friday it would raise tariffs on US goods to 125 percent but would ignore further levies by President Donald Trump because it no longer makes economic sense for importers to buy from America.

After Israel killed a string of its leaders, Hamas anointed new commanders to top ranks, this time shrouding their identities in secrecy to protect them from assassination.

Saudi Arabia's top diplomat held talks in Washington on Wednesday as he lays the groundwork for a visit by US President Donald Trump, which would be the first foreign trip of his second term.