WORLD

Israel's spy chief was expected in Qatar on Friday for the latest effort to free hostages held by Hamas Palestinian militants in Gaza, almost nine months into the Israel-Hamas war.

Gatherings have been banned this weekend in the restive French Pacific territory of New Caledonia during the second round of France's parliamentary polls.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's wife arrived at a Madrid court to testify before a judge Friday as part of a preliminary corruption probe into her business ties, but the hearing was quickly suspended with a new date set for July 19.

Refugees and migrants face extreme violence, abuse and exploitation on land routes crossing Africa to get to the Mediterranean, with far more believed to be dying there than at sea, a UN-backed report said Friday.

Liz Truss, Britain's shortest-serving prime minister, suffered further political ignominy Friday when she sensationally lost her seat in parliament at the British general election.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday makes his first visit to Russia since the invasion of Ukraine, walking a fine line between maintaining a longstanding Moscow alliance while courting closer Western security ties.

US President Joe Biden is hoping a televised interview on Friday will steady his imperiled reelection bid -- but a repeat of his disastrous debate performance could be his downfall.

A record number of Cabinet ministers lost their seats on Friday in Britain's general election, leaving only a couple of obvious contenders for the party leadership if Rishi Sunak resigns.

The London stock market advanced Friday after Britain's centre-left Labour Party clinched an expected landslide election victory to end 14 years of right-wing Conservative rule.

Iranians voted on Friday in a presidential runoff election where the choice is between a reformist advocating improved ties with the West and an ultraconservative former nuclear negotiator.

Britain's new prime minister Keir Starmer is an ex-human rights lawyer and public prosecutor who will have to focus his relentless work ethic and methodical mind on fixing the country.

The World Meteorological Organization, which is tracking Hurricane Beryl's deadly course through the Caribbean, told AFP that more storms with its hallmarks could be expected in the future.

While Americans were celebrating the July 4 holiday with fireworks and feasts, President Joe Biden on Thursday continued to face explosive fallout from his debate against Donald Trump that has left many Democrats hungry for a replacement.

Lebanon's Hezbollah said it launched more than 200 rockets and explosive drones at Israeli military positions on Thursday as tensions have soared amid the almost nine-months-old war raging in Gaza.

The European Union on Thursday slapped extra provisional duties of up to 38 percent on Chinese electric car imports because of "unfair" state subsidies, despite Beijing's warnings the move would unleash a trade war.

Torrential rains and surging rivers across northeast India and neighbouring Bangladesh have killed at least nine people, disaster officials said Thursday, with more than three million people affected.

A US mid-range missile system deployed in the Philippines for annual joint military exercises -- to the annoyance of China -- will be pulled out of the country, a Philippine Army spokesman said Thursday.

Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate as a wildfire rages out of control in northern California, with a swathe of the United States in the grip of a "record-breaking and dangerous" heatwave that was complicating firefighting efforts.

Britain voted Thursday in a general election widely expected to hand the opposition Labour party a landslide win and end nearly a decade-and-a-half of Conservative rule.

As residents of Joe Biden's hometown Scranton prepared to mark that most American of holidays -- July 4 -- many were also voicing alarm about the US president following his disastrous debate last week against Donald Trump.

More than seven percent of all deaths in 10 of India's biggest cities are linked to air pollution, a large study said Thursday, leading researchers to call for action to save tens of thousands of lives a year.

US Vice President Kamala Harris is engaged in a delicate balancing act, playing cheerleader for President Joe Biden while standing by as a leading contender to replace him if he ends his reelection bid.

Venezuela and the United States have agreed to "improve relations" as they resumed negotiations just months after Washington reimposed crippling sanctions on the South American country, Caracas said Wednesday.

The Kenyan presidency said Wednesday it had ordered a review of salary increases for public servants in an apparent move to defuse tensions after a wave of sometimes deadly anti-government protests.

Ex-prime minister Boris Johnson tried to rally the Conservative party faithful as UK politicians on Wednesday spent a final day campaigning ahead of the general election.

Georgian student Elene Deisadze was browsing TikTok in 2022 when she stumbled across the profile of a girl, Anna Panchulidze, who looked exactly like her.

Kenyan police said they have arrested more than 270 people masquerading as protesters who are suspected of going on a criminal rampage during anti-government rallies on Tuesday.

Survivors of India's deadliest stampede in more than a decade recalled on Wednesday the horror of being crushed at a vastly overcrowded Hindu religious gathering where 121 people were killed.

Nearly a quarter of a million people were evacuated in eastern China as rainstorms lashed swathes of the country and caused the Yangtze and other rivers to swell, state media reported Wednesday.