International news

Syria's new rulers have appointed a foreign minister, the official Syrian news agency (SANA) said on Saturday, as they seek to build international relations two weeks after Bashar al-Assad was ousted.

Russia's Kazan airport has temporarily halted flight arrivals and departures, Russia's aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said via the Telegram messaging app on Saturday, following a Ukrainian drone attack on the city.

A driver rammed a car into a large crowd of revellers at a Christmas market in central Germany on Friday evening, killing at least two people and injuring more than 60 before he was arrested, authorities said.

António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, condemned the killing of three World Food Programme (WFP) staff members in Sudan on 19th December, when the agency’s field office in Yabus, in Blue Nile State, was hit by aerial bombardment.

Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), described Sweden's decision to stop funding the agency in 2025 as disappointing, stating that it comes at the worst time for Palestinian refugees.

Louise Wateridge, Emergency Officer for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Gaza, stated on Friday that more than two million people remain trapped in dire conditions in Gaza, deprived of their basic needs.

US diplomats visiting Damascus were expected on Friday to hold Washington's first in-person official meetings with Syria's new de facto rulers led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), hoping to gauge what plans the former Al Qaeda affiliate has for the country.

A seven-year-old child was killed by a knife-wielding assailant who attacked a teacher and pupils at a Zagreb primary school on Friday.

The United Nations General Assembly voted on Thursday to ask the International Court of Justice for an opinion on Israel's obligations to facilitate aid to Palestinians that is delivered by states and international groups including the U.N.

A court in France found Dominique Pelicot guilty on Thursday of repeatedly drugging and raping his wife for almost a decade, and inviting dozens of strangers to rape her unconscious body in a case that has horrified the world.

Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that Israel has killed thousands of Palestinians in Gaza by denying them clean water which it says legally amounts to acts of genocide and extermination.

The U.S. reported its first severe human case of bird flu on Wednesday in a Louisiana resident who is hospitalised in critical condition after suspected contact with an infected backyard flock.

Eleven people died in a fire in a cafe in Hanoi on Wednesday night and police have arrested a man suspected of starting the blaze, Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday.

Five French judges will deliver their verdicts on Thursday in a mass physical abuse case against 51 men that has appalled the world and transformed the victim, Gisele Pelicot, into a stirring symbol of courage and resilience.

Emergency services in Italy have rescued a cave explorer after she was injured and trapped underground for more than three days following a fall, bringing relief to Italians who have been following her fate.

Russia said on Wednesday it had detained a citizen of Uzbekistan who had confessed to planting a bomb which killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillovin Moscow a day earlier on the instructions of Ukraine's security service.

A ceasefire between Turkey and the US-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) around the northern Syrian city of Manbij has been extended until the end of this week, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday.

Moscow has intensified its attacks on Ukrainian forces battling to hold an enclave in Russia's Kursk region and increased pressure in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine's top army commander said on Tuesday. 

Ukraine's SBU intelligence service on Tuesday claimed the bomb attack that killed a top Russian general in Moscow, who they accused of using chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops.

Rescuers in Vanuatu searched on Wednesday for people trapped under rubble a day after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the Pacific nation's capital Port Vila, killing 14 people and damaging commercial buildings, embassies and a hospital.

South Korean investigators probing President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived martial law declaration failed to gain entry to his office to seek evidence on Tuesday after presidential office security staff denied them entry, Yonhap news agency reported.

A bomb hidden in an electric scooter killed a senior Russian general in charge of nuclear protection forces in Moscow on Tuesday, Russia's investigative committee said.

A 15-year-old girl opened fire at a Wisconsin school on Monday, fatally shooting a fellow student and a teacher and wounding six other people before killing herself with the handgun, police said. 

The US military said it conducted an airstrike on Monday against a command and control facility operated by the Houthis in Yemen.

The head of a US-based Syrian advocacy organization on Monday said that a mass grave outside of Damascus contained the bodies of at least 100,000 people killed by the former government of ousted President Bashar al-Assad. 

Istanbul-born founder and owner of fashion empire Mango Isak Andic died on Saturday in a mountain accident, aged 71.

Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least 53 Palestinians, including a journalist and rescue workers, medics said, and the Israeli military said its air and ground forces in the north of the enclave killed dozens of militants and captured others. 

Israel said on Sunday it would close its Dublin embassy due to the Irish government's "extreme anti-Israel policies" including the recognition of a Palestinian state and support for international legal action against its war in Gaza. 

Several hundred people and possibly even thousands may have been killed when the most powerful cyclone in nearly a century hit the French Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte, a senior local French official said on Sunday.

Seven tourists, including four Australians, were hospitalised in a suspected case of alcohol poisoning at a resort in Fiji, the Australian and Fijian governments said on Monday.

Israeli troops killed at least 20 Palestinians, most of them in the northern Gaza Strip, on Sunday airstrikes and other attacks on targets that included a school sheltering displaced Gazans, medics and residents said.

A Russian oil tanker carrying thousands of tonnes of oil products split apart during a heavy storm on Sunday, spilling oil into the Kerch Strait, while another tanker was also in distress after sustaining damage, Russian officials said.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol did not comply with a summons from prosecutors on Sunday, and they plan to issue another order as they investigate his short-lived martial law decree, Yonhap news agency reported.

At least 11 people were killed after a cyclone slammed into Mayotte, the most intense storm to hit the French Indian Ocean archipelago north of Madagascar in nearly a century, French weather forecasters and authorities said on Sunday.

Australia's government said on Sunday that five members of the "Bali Nine" drug ring have returned from Indonesia, after diplomatic efforts between the countries this month to strike a repatriation deal.

Two security agents and two migrants were killed in a shooting in Loon-Plage near the northern city of Dunkirk, French media reported on Saturday, citing security sources.

Georgian lawmakers elected Mikheil Kavelashvili, a hardline critic of the West, as the country’s new president on Saturday, setting him up to replace a pro-Western incumbent amid major protests against the government over a halt to the country’s European Union accession talks last month.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed on Saturday to fight for his political future after he was impeached in a second vote by the opposition-led parliament over his short-lived attempt to impose martial law, a move that had shocked the nation.

Thousands of South Koreans flooded the streets of Seoul on Saturday in competing rallies, both supporting and opposing President Yoon Suk Yeol, just hours before a parliamentary vote on his impeachment.

French President Emmanuel Macron has named Francois Bayrou his third prime minister of 2024, tasking the veteran centrist with steering the country out of its second major political crisis in the last six months.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Turkey on Thursday for talks focused on establishing stability in Syria after clashes between forces backed by the US and Turkey erupted in the north.

An Israeli strike killed at least 30 Palestinians and wounded 50 others who were sheltering in a post office in central Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll on Thursday in the enclave to 66. 

Israelis and Palestinians are signalling new efforts to forge a ceasefire deal, even a limited one, for the first time in a year that would pause the fighting in Gaza and return to Israel some of the hostages still held in the Palestinian enclave.

Outgoing US President Joe Biden said on Thursday he was pardoning 39 people convicted of non-violent crimes and commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 others who were serving long prison terms.

Russia will definitely respond to Ukraine's latest use of US-made ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory, the Kremlin said on Thursday.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would "fight to the end" on Thursday as his own political party shifted closer to voting with the opposition to impeach him over his short-lived martial law order that threw the US ally into turmoil.

Syrian rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa - better known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani - told Reuters in a written statement on Wednesday that he would dissolve the security forces of the toppled regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will undergo a new procedure on Thursday morning to complement the surgery he went through this week to drain a bleed on his brain, the hospital said on Wednesday in a medical update that stressed he was doing well.

US President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration next month, CBS News reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) overwhelmingly voted on Wednesday to demand an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the immediate release of all hostages.

The father and stepmother of Sara Sharif, a 10-year-old girl who was found dead in her home in Britain, were on Wednesday convicted of her murder after a trial which heard harrowing details of her treatment before her death.

The Afghan Taliban's acting minister for refugees, Khalil Rahman Haqqani, and six other people were killed in an explosion in the capital Kabul on Wednesday, his nephew said.

Israeli strikes in the northern and central Gaza Strip on Wednesday killed at least 33 Palestinians, most of them in Beit Lahiya town in the north of the enclave, medics said.

Syrian rebels backed by Turkey, who ousted president Bashar al-Assad, said on Tuesday they had taken the eastern city of Deir ez-Zur, while a war monitor confirmed Kurdish forces had withdrawn.

The death toll from a Russian missile strike that destroyed a clinic in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday has risen to six, while four more people remain under the rubble, the regional governor and emergency services said on Wednesday.

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte failed to appear on Wednesday for questioning over a purported threat to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, choosing instead to send a letter denying an allegation she made a "grave threat" to his life.

Sudan, for the second year in a row, topped a 2025 watchlist of global humanitarian crises released by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) aid organisation on Wednesday, followed by Gaza and the West Bank, Myanmar, Syria and South Sudan.

Taiwan's defence ministry reported a spike in Chinese military activity around the island on Wednesday, including 53 military aircraft, with Taiwan on high alert over Beijing's latest pressure campaign. 

South Korean police have raided the presidential office over President Yoon Suk-yeol's martial law decalaration, Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was recovering in an intensive care unit on Tuesday after being rushed to a Sao Paulo hospital for emergency surgery to drain a bleed on his brain linked to a fall in October.

Syria's new interim leader announced on Tuesday he was taking charge of the country as caretaker prime minister with the backing of the former rebels who toppled President Bashar al-Assad three days ago.

Pakistan's former intelligence chief Faiz Hameed has been indicted on charges of engaging in political activities, misuse of authority and government resources and violation of the Official Secrets Act, the military said on Tuesday.

Israel pounded Syrian army bases on Tuesday in strikes it says aim to keep weapons from falling into hostile hands, but denied its forces had advanced into Syria beyond a buffer zone at the border.

Indian opposition parties moved on Tuesday to impeach Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, a spokesman said, accusing him of being partisan in his role as chairman of parliament's upper house, in a first such move in the country's history.

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 34 Palestinians overnight and on Tuesday, medics said, as Israeli tanks pushed into areas in central and southern parts of the enclave.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign intelligence chief said on Tuesday that Russia was close to achieving its goals in Ukraine with Moscow holding what he said was the strategic initiative in all areas in the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the witness stand for the first time on Tuesday in his long-running corruption trial to give testimony that will likely force him to juggle for weeks between the courtroom and war room.

The man suspected of killing UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson in a shooting outside a Manhattan hotel was charged with murder by New York prosecutors on Monday.

Qatari diplomats spoke with Syria's leading rebel faction, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, on Monday, an official briefed on the developments told Reuters, as regional states race to open contact with the group after its rapid offensive toppled Bashar al-Assad.

Syria's former President Bashar al-Assad is in Moscow with his family after Russia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds, a Kremlin source told Russian news agencies on Sunday, while a deal has been made to ensure the safety of Russian military bases.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been banned from leaving the country over a failed attempt at imposing martial law, a justice ministry official said on Monday, amid growing calls for him to step down and a deepening leadership crisis.

A volcano in the central Philippines erupted on Monday spewing an eruption column of up to 3,000 metres, the country's seismology agency said.

President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview that aired on Sunday he would act on his first day in office to pardon rioters involved in the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, further building expectations for a broad granting of clemency.

At least 26 fighters were killed on Sunday as Turkish-backed Syrian forces launched an offensive in the Manbij region of northern Syria, days after seizing a Kurdish-held enclave, an NGO said.

At least 40 schools received a bomb threat by email in Delhi on Monday demanding $30,000, ANI news agency said, while police officials conducted initial searches on school premises.

The Arab League, on Sunday, reaffirmed Syria’s territorial integrity and sovereignty remain central pillars of the Arab consensus, effectively rejecting Israel’s further occupation of the Golan Heights.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he had ordered the Israeli military to "seize" a demilitarised buffer zone on the border with Syria after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. 

Syrian rebels declared President Bashar al-Assad ousted after seizing control of Damascus on Sunday, forcing him to flee and ending his family's decades of rule after more than 13 years of civil war in a seismic moment for the Middle East.

Palestinian health officials said on Sunday that Israeli forces had shelled the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya, damaging electricity and oxygen pumps and disrupting urgent surgeries.

US President-elect Donald Trump said on Sunday that Russia's abandonment of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad led to his downfall, adding Moscow never should have protected him in the first place and then lost interest because of a war in Ukraine that never should have started.

The Kremlin said on Sunday that Russia was open to talks on Ukraine after US President-elect Donald Trump called for "an immediate ceasefire and negotiations".

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol survived an impeachment vote in the opposition-led parliament on Saturday that was prompted by his short-lived attempt to impose martial law this week, after members of his party boycotted the session.

Syrian rebels said they seized control of the southern city of Daraa on Saturday, the birthplace of a 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad and the fourth city his forces have lost in a week.

US President-elect Donald Trump returns to the world stage on Saturday to join leaders for the reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, still a private citizen but already preparing to tackle a host of international crises.

Romania's top court annulled an ongoing presidential election after accusations of Russian meddling and ruled on Friday the entire process, which had been due to conclude this weekend, would have to be re-run.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol apologised on Saturday for his attempt to impose martial law this week but did not resign, defying intense pressure to step down even from some in his ruling party and only hours ahead of a planned impeachment vote.

The World Health Organisation said on Friday it is deploying experts to support health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo to investigate an as-yet undiagnosed disease linked to multiple deaths in a remote area of the country.

Thousands of people fled the central Syrian city of Homs overnight and into Friday morning, a war monitoring group and residents said, as rebel forces sought to push their lightning offensive against government forces further into Homs. 

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged all parties involved in the Syrian conflict to engage seriously with his Special Envoy, Geir Pedersen, to develop a new, inclusive approach to resolving the crisis, in accordance with Security Council resolution 2254 (2015).

The Israeli military killed at least 39 Palestinians in strikes across the Gaza Strip overnight, medics said on Thursday, including at least 20 in an attack that set ablaze tents sheltering displaced families in a crowded camp. 

India eased some restrictions imposed to combat pollution in its north on Thursday as air quality there improved, with smog giving way to blue skies and Delhi recording a "moderate" air quality index reading of 165. 

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced on Thursday new delays in the US space agency's Artemis program to return astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972, pushing back the next two planned missions amid potential policy changes under President-elect Donald Trump's administration. 

Hezbollah has paid out more than $50 million in cash gifts to families affected by war with Israel, its leader Naim Qassem said on Thursday, as the group seeks to shore up its support base after a devastating conflict with Israel.

A powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of a sparsely populated area of northern California on Thursday, prompting coastal towns to evacuate low-lying areas amid a tsunami warning that was later canceled.

French President Emmanuel Macron met allies and parliament leaders on Thursday as he sought to swiftly appoint a new prime minister to replace Michel Barnier, who officially resigned a day after opposition lawmakers voted to topple his government.

Syrian rebels said on Thursday they had started pushing into Hama, a major city where pro-government forces backed by intense Russian air strikes are trying to stave off a new rebel victory and halt the lightning advance.

A Pakistani court indicted jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday on charges of inciting his supporters to attack the country's military and its installations in 2023, Geo TV reported.

South Korean prosecutors have opened an investigation into President Yoon Suk Yeol, his interior minister, and the now-former defence minister over their roles in an attempt to impose martial law, Yonhap news agency reported on Thursday.

Ukraine on Wednesday rejected as "groundless" Russian suggestions it was involved in the Syria conflict, after Moscow's UN envoy accused Kyiv of aiding rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government. 

Hamas said it had information that Israel intended to carry out a hostage rescue operation similar to one conducted in Gaza's Nuseirat camp in June, and threatened to "neutralise" the captives if any such action took place, according to an internal statement seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has accepted the resignation of Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun and nominated the ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Choi Byung-hyuk, as new defence minister, the presidential office said on Thursday.

French lawmakers passed a no-confidence vote against the government on Wednesday, ousting the Prime Minister and throwing the European Union's second-biggest economic power deeper into a crisis that threatens its capacity to legislate and tame a massive budget deficit.

Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealth's insurance unit, was fatally shot on Wednesday morning outside a midtown Manhattan hotel, several media outlets reported, just before a scheduled company investor conference.

A gunman shot at a prominent Sikh politician outside the Golden Temple in northern India on Wednesday before police caught and arrested him.

Israeli tanks pushed into northern parts of the Khan Younis area in the south of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday and Palestinian medics said Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 20 people across the enclave.

South Korean lawmakers on Wednesday called for the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol after he declared martial law only to reverse the move hours later, triggering the biggest political crisis in decades in Asia's fourth-largest economy.

Syrian rebel forces arrived at the gates of the key city of Hama on Tuesday, as their fighting with the military sparked "a large wave of displacement", a war monitor said.

A second impeachment complaint was filed on Wednesday against Philippine vice-president Sara Duterte over her alleged misuse of public funds and refusal to defend her budget before Congress.

French lawmakers will vote on Wednesday on no-confidence motions which are all but certain to oust the government, throwing the euro zone's second-biggest economy deeper into a lingering political crisis.

Russia and the United States clashed at the United Nations on Tuesday, accusing each other of supporting terrorism, during a Security Council meeting convened over a sudden escalation of fighting in Syria.

Israel threatened on Tuesday to return to war in Lebanon if its truce with Hezbollah collapses, and said this time its attacks would go deeper and target the Lebanese state itself, after the deadliest day since the ceasefire was agreed last week.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law in an unannounced late night address broadcast live on YTN television, claiming he would eradicate "shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces".

Over the next two weeks, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague will host a groundbreaking climate change case, with 98 countries and 12 organizations testifying on the legal obligations of nations to address the growing crisis of climate change.

Syrian Kurds have been fleeing areas in the northeastern region after a coalition of rebels led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported by Turkey seized swathes of the area over the last few days.

At least nine people were killed and three injured on Monday from Israeli strikes on two southern Lebanese towns, Talousa and Haris, as the Israeli military said it struck dozens of Hezbollah targets throughout Lebanon. 

Hamas said on Monday that 33 hostages in Gaza had been killed during the almost 14-month-old war between the Palestinian group and Israel in the enclave, without giving their nationalities. 

NATO is highly unlikely to answer Ukraine's call for a membership invitation at a meeting on Tuesday, according to diplomats, dashing Kyiv's hopes of a political boost as it struggles on the battlefield and awaits Donald Trump's return to the White House. 

The French government is all but certain to collapse later this week after far-right and left-wing parties submitted no-confidence motions on Monday against Prime Minister Michel Barnier.

Rhodes, a popular Greek tourist destination, was hit hard by Storm Bora over the weekend, with homes, businesses, and roads covered in mud and debris.

A controversial refereeing decision led to violence and a deadly crush during a soccer match in southeast Guinea, resulting in at least 56 deaths, according to a provisional toll released by the government on Monday.

Iranian-backed groups entered Syria overnight from Iraq and were heading to northern Syria to beef up Syrian army forces battling a coalition of rebels, according to two Syrian army sources.

Hamas leaders held talks with Egyptian security officials on Sunday in a fresh push for a ceasefire in the Gaza war, two Hamas sources said, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to hold security talks on the matter, two Israeli officials said.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has paused its delivery of aid through the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza, citing lack of safety as looting by armed criminal gangs continued. 

US President Joe Biden said on Sunday he had pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, a reversal after pledging to stay out of legal proceedings against the younger Biden who pleaded guilty to tax violations and was convicted on firearms-related charges.

At least 25 people were killed in northwestern Syria in air strikes carried out by the Syrian government and Russia, the Syrian opposition-run rescue service known as the White Helmets said early on Monday.

Romania's ruling leftist Social Democrats (PSD) looked set to win the most votes in a parliamentary election on Sunday, fending off a resurgent far-right movement that challenges the country's pro-Western orientation, partial results showed.

Israeli military strikes killed at least 15 Palestinians in Gaza on Sunday, medics said, as Israeli forces kept up bombardments across the enclave and blew up houses on its northern edge.

The Syrian army said on Saturday dozens of its soldiers had been killed in a major attack led by rebels who swept into the city of Aleppo, forcing the army to redeploy in the biggest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad in years.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said on Sunday that President Salome Zourabichvili would have to leave office at the end of her term this month despite her statement that she will refuse to do so.

At least three people were killed in a Russian drone attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, the regional governor said on Sunday.

China vowed "resolute countermeasures" on Sunday to a recently approved US arms sale to Taiwan, and complained to the US for arranging for the democratically governed island's president to transit through US territory.

Sir Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, will be boarding Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity and blasting off to space on Sunday.

Singapore is reviewing penalties for violent offences following an outcry over a 12-day prison sentence for a student who strangled his girlfriend until she blacked out.