International news from Wednesday, February 19th, 2025

US President Donald Trump said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "better move fast," calling him a "dictator without elections" after the Ukrainian leader earlier on Wednesday accused Trump of being trapped in a "disinformation bubble."

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that a mass campaign to vaccinate children against polio in Gaza would resume on Saturday, with over half a million children targeted.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hit back on Tuesday at Donald Trump's suggestion that Ukraine was responsible for Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion, saying the US president was trapped in a Russian disinformation bubble.

The Israeli military prosecutor has filed indictments against five reservists, alleging severe abuse and injury of a Palestinian prisoner at Sde Teiman prison, the military said on Wednesday.

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte has asked the Supreme Court to nullify an impeachment complaint against her, making her first legal move to fight the case that could lead to her removal and lead to a lifetime ban from public office.

Wildlife rangers will on Wednesday begin shooting 90 dolphins stranded on a remote Australian beach, saying the stressed creatures would be euthanised after attempts to refloat them failed.

Former Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro was charged on Tuesday with overseeing a plot to overturn his 2022 election loss with a coup, further complicating the far-right firebrand's already narrow hopes of pulling off a political comeback.

Unknown gunmen shot dead seven passengers on a Lahore-bound bus in southwestern Pakistan's Balochistan provinceafter forcing them off the vehicle and checking their identity documents late on Tuesday, officials said.

US President Donald Trump said he intends to impose auto tariffs "in the neighbourhood of 25 per cent" and similar duties on semiconductors and pharmaceutical imports, the latest in a series of measures threatening to upend international trade.

Pope Francis has the onset of double pneumonia, the Vatican said on Tuesday, complicating treatment for the 88-year pontiff and indicating a further deterioration in his fragile health.