International news

Anti-corruption demonstrators in Nepal defied an indefinite curfew on Tuesday, holding demonstrations and shouting slogans against Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, a day after 19 people died in violent protests triggered by a social media ban.

The Global Sumud Flotilla seeking to deliver aid for Gaza said that one of its main boats was struck by a drone in Tunisian waters on Tuesday.

Thailand's Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra must serve one year in jail because his detention in a VIP wing of a hospital in lieu of prison was unlawful, in another major blow for a powerful family that has dominated politics for two decades.

Indian lawmakers began voting to elect a new vice president on Tuesday, more than a month after the last incumbent resigned abruptly.

10 people were killed and at least 61 were injured in central Mexico when a freight train smashed into a double-decker passenger bus, which the train operator said had been attempting to pass in front of the moving train on Monday.

One of the four terminals at London's Heathrow Airport has now reopened after it was declared safe following an evacuation on Monday over what authorities called a "possible hazardous materials incident".

France's parliament voted on Monday to bring down the government over its plans to tame the ballooning national debt, deepening a political crisis and handing President Emmanuel Macron the task of finding a fifth prime minister in less than two years.

The United Nations human rights chief condemned Israel on Monday for its "mass killing" of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and "hindering of sufficient lifesaving aid", saying the country had a case to answer before the International Court of Justice.

Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a bus stop on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Monday, killing six people in what police described as "a terrorist attack," one of the deadliest in the city in the past few years.

Unrest killed at least 14 people and injured dozens in Nepal's capital on Monday, state TV said, as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters trying to storm parliament in anger at a social media shutdown and corruption.

A New Zealand father who had been on the run with his three children for nearly four years was shot dead by police on Monday and the children are all safe in custody, police said.

The World Health Organisation has asked Taliban authorities to lift restrictions on Afghan female aid workers, allowing them to travel without male guardians, after a powerful earthquake killed 2,200 people in eastern Afghanistan.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday suggested a Gaza deal could come soon to secure the release of all the hostages held by Hamas, after earlier issuing what he called his "last warning" to the group.

Israel's Ramon Airport near the southern city of Eilat resumed operations after being briefly shut on Sunday when a drone launched from Yemen struck the arrivals hall, Israel's Airports Authority said.

London underground workers are to begin a week of rolling strikes on Sunday, action which is set to bring the network to a standstill and cause massive disruption for travellers in the British capital.

Israel again called on Hamas to surrender on Sunday, as the military carried out strikes on Gaza's largest urban centre where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are seeking shelter.

Russia's largest overnight air attack of the war set the main building of the Ukrainian government in Kyiv on fire and left three people dead, including an infant, whose body was pulled from the rubble, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Sunday he had decided to resign, ushering in a potentially lengthy period of policy paralysis at a shaky moment for the world's fourth-largest economy.

Problems with a cable likely caused a Lisbon funicular railway popular with tourists to hurtle down a hill, killing at least 16 people and injuring another 22 when it crashed into a building, according to a preliminary report.

The Israeli military on Saturday said Palestinians in Gaza City should leave for the south, warning that the military was operating throughout the city.

Australian authorities offered a A$1 million ($650,000) reward on Saturday for information leading to the capture of a gunman on the run for 11 days after allegedly killing two police officers.

Thailand's prime minister-elect on Saturday named the former Treasury Department head, the top oil and gas executive and a respected diplomat to run the finance, energy, and foreign ministries, saying his first cabinet picks would “bring confidence” to a country shaken by political and economic upheaval.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer brought in a new deputy and foreign and interior ministers on Friday in a sweeping reshuffle intended to restore his authority after the resignation of his deputy, Angela Rayner.

Thailand's Anutin Charnvirakul was elected prime minister on Friday after breezing through a parliamentary vote, trouncing the candidate of the Shinawatra family's once-dominant ruling party to end a week of chaos and political deadlock.

A passenger bus veered off a road and plunged into a deep ravine in a mountainous region in Sri Lanka, killing 15 people and injuring 16 others.

Two powerful aftershocks shook eastern Afghanistan in a span of 12 hours, the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) said, triggering fears of more deaths and destruction on Friday in a region where about 2,200 people died in quakes in four days.

Thailand's parliament was set to choose a new prime minister on Friday, after days of political chaos, in a vote that could be overshadowed by the dramatic departure from the country of its most powerful politician Thaksin Shinawatra.

US President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order on Friday to rename the Department of Defence the 'Department of War,' a White House official said on Thursday, a move that would put Trump's stamp on the government's biggest organization.

Washington DC sued US President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday over his deployment of National Guard troops in the capital city, a move likely to heighten tensions between the Republican president and the city's Democratic leaders.

Flags flew at half-mast in Lisbon on Thursday after at least 16 people were killed and 23 injured in a crash of a hillside funicular railway popular with tourists, while Portuguese authorities began investigating the cause of the accident.

Rescue workers on Thursday pulled bodies from the rubble of homes razed in Afghanistan's earthquakes as the confirmed death toll topped 2,200, while homeless survivors faced a bleak future with global aid agencies warning of dwindling resources.

Parts of Delhi and Indian Kashmir were flooded on Thursday after two rivers breached the danger mark following heavy rain in several northern areas, but weather officials forecast some respite from downpours.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country would "fully support" Russia's army as a "fraternal duty", and Russian President Vladimir Putin called the two countries' ties "special", state media KCNA reported on Thursday.

President Donald Trump said the US could increase its troop presence in Poland and pledged to secure the country's defense during a White House meeting with its conservative nationalist President Karol Nawrocki on Wednesday.

Afghanistan airdropped commandos on Wednesday to pull survivors from the rubble of homes in mountainous eastern areas ravaged by earthquakes this week that have killed 1,400, as it ramped up efforts to deliver food, shelter and medical supplies.

A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that US President Donald Trump's administration unlawfully terminated about $2.2 billion in grants awarded to Harvard University and can no longer cut off research funding to the prestigious Ivy League school.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will press for stronger pressure on Moscow as he meets allies in Denmark and France on Wednesday after Russian forces launched a sweeping air attack on Ukraine, damaging energy and transport infrastructure.

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned the world was facing a choice between peace or war as he held his country's largest-ever military parade on Wednesday, flanked by Russia's Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un.

Widespread flooding has hit several parts of northern India, officials said, with more thunderstorms forecast for Wednesday as local media reported that 10,000 people were evacuated from the river banks in capital Delhi.

The US military killed 11 people on Tuesday in a strike on a vessel from Venezuela allegedly carrying illegal narcotics, President Donald Trump said, in the first known operation since his administration's recent deployment of warships to the southern Caribbean.

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit has called on all Libyan parties to lessen tensions and resolve differences through dialogue following recent buildup of military forces near the capital, Tripoli.

An earthquake of magnitude 5.5 shook southeastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, sparking fears of further damage and destruction almost two days after a large quake in the same region killed more than 1,400 people and injured thousands more.

Belgium will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly, Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said on Tuesday, adding to international pressure on Israel after similar moves by Australia, Britain, Canada and France.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un crossed the border into China on his special train early on Tuesday to attend China's celebration of the formal surrender of Japan in World War II, North Korean state media said on Tuesday.

At least 1,000 people were killed in a landslide that destroyed a village in the mountainous Jebel Marra area in the Darfur region of Sudan, leaving only one survivor, the armed group that controls the area said early on Tuesday.

Vietnam celebrated the 80th anniversary of its declaration of independence from colonial rule on Tuesday, with its largest military parade in decades, unprecedented cash handouts and the release of nearly 14,000 prisoners.

One of Afghanistan's worst earthquakes killed more than 800 people and injured at least 2,800, authorities said on Monday, as helicopters ferried the wounded to hospital after they were plucked from the rubble of homes being combed for survivors.

Israel pushed tanks deeper into Gaza City and detonated explosives-laden vehicles in one suburb as airstrikes killed at least 19 people on Monday, Palestinian officials and witnesses said.

India's Narendra Modi told Vladimir Putin on Monday that India and Russia stood shoulder to shoulder even in difficult times after the Kremlin chief cast the Indian prime minister as his "dear friend" and gave him a lift in his armoured limousine.

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged leaders to leverage their "mega-scale market", while Russian President Vladimir Putin showed support for Xi's ambition for a new global security and economic order that poses a challenge to the US during a regional summit on Monday.

South Korea has suspended a military radio broadcast that transmits to North Korea as part of measures aimed at easing tensions with Pyongyang, Seoul's defence ministry said on Monday.

Indonesian political parties have agreed to cut lawmakers' benefits, President Prabowo Subianto said on Sunday, in a bid to calm anti-government protests that have killed at least five people in the country's worst violence in decades.

Yemen's Houthis raided United Nations offices in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday and detained at least 11 UN personnel, the body said.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that Hamas' armed wing spokesperson Abu Ubaida has been killed by the Israeli military in Gaza.

Israeli forces pounded the suburbs of Gaza City overnight from the air and ground, destroying homes and driving more families out of the area as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet was set on Sunday to discuss a plan to seize the city.

Russian drone attacks on power facilities in northern and southern Ukraine overnight left nearly 60,000 customers without electricity, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowing to retaliate by ordering more strikes deep inside Russia.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was committed to improving ties with Beijing in a key meeting with China's President Xi Jinping on Sunday, as both countries resolved to put aside differences from a years-long border standoff.

The prime minister of Yemen's Houthi-run government and several other ministers were killed in an Israeli strike on the capital Sanaa, the head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council said on Saturday, in the first such attack to kill senior officials.

A divided US appeals court ruled on Friday that most of Donald Trump's tariffs are illegal, undercutting the Republican president's use of the levies as a key international economic policy tool.

The United States said on Friday it will not allow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to travel to New York next month for a United Nations gathering of world leaders, where several US allies are set to recognise Palestine as a state.

Two dead storks at Delhi Zoo have tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus, prompting authorities to shut the facility from Saturday, the Times of India reported.

Australian police battled severe alpine weather on Saturday on the fifth day of a search for a gunman who escaped into dense bush after allegedly shooting dead two officers and injuring another at a rural property in Victoria state.

Turkey has decided to bar Israeli vessels from using its ports, forbid Turkish ships from using Israeli ports and impose restrictions on planes entering Turkish airspace, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday.

Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi agreed on Friday to deepen economic and security ties as New Delhi confronts new US tariffs and Tokyo looks to counter China's growing influence.

The British government on Friday won a court ruling that means asylum seekers will not have to be evicted from a hotel where a resident was charged with sexual assault, a decision that could ignite more protests and criticism from opponents.

US President Donald Trump has cancelled Secret Service protection for former vice president and 2024 Democratic rival Kamala Harris, a senior White House official said on Friday.

Thailand's Constitutional Court dismissed Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office on Friday for an ethics violation after only a year in power, in another crushing blow to the Shinawatra political dynasty that could usher in a new period of turmoil.

Israel has recovered the body of hostage Ilan Weiss from the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously extended "for a final time" on Thursday a long-running peacekeeping mission in Lebanon until the end of 2026, when the operation will then begin a year-long safe withdrawal.

Nearly three-dozen soldiers who had been kidnapped by armed civilians in a jungle area of southeastern Colombia have been released, Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday.

Canada and India have announced new high commissioners to each other's countries, in the latest sign of improving ties frayed by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegation that India was linked to the killing of a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil.

Israeli forces killed at least 16 Palestinians across Gaza on Thursday and wounded dozens in the south of the enclave, local health officials said, as residents reported intensified military bombardment in the suburbs of Gaza City.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will visit China to attend a military parade next week marking the formal surrender of Japan in World War II, state media said, in what is likely to be the biggest multilateral diplomatic event Kim has attended.

Russian forces launched a large-scale overnight drone and missile attack on Kyiv, killing 10 people, injuring 38, and damaging residential and other buildings across seven districts, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday.

Pakistan's eastern towns of Chiniot and Hafizabad face a risk of catastrophic floods if an irrigation barrage crumbles on a major river upstream after heavy rains swelled it beyond capacity, officials warned on Thursday.

All United Nations Security Council members, except the US, on Wednesday said the famine in Gaza was a "manmade crisis" and warned that the use of starvation as a weapon of war is banned under international humanitarian law.

Hundreds of people protested in southern Lebanon on Wednesday against a planned visit by US envoy Thomas Barrack, a day after the envoy stirred anger in the country by publicly scolding Lebanese reporters.

Two children were killed and 17 other people were injured on Wednesday after a gunman opened fire on students who were attending Mass at a Minneapolis Catholic school, authorities said.

A magnitude 6 earthquake struck in the sea off the northeast coast of Taiwan on Wednesday, the island's weather administration said, with no immediate reports of damage.

Israeli tanks pushed into a new area on the edge of Gaza City overnight, destroying houses and prompting residents to flee, witnesses said, ahead of an expected meeting on the war to be chaired by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

Heavy rain swept across the Himalayas, killing at least 36 people in India over the past 24 hours and forcing authorities to open major dams, in turn triggering flood alerts on three rivers in neighbouring Pakistan.

Six Syrian soldiers were killed in Israeli drone strikes in the Damascus countryside, state-run El Ekhbariya TV reported early on Wednesday.

South Korea passed a bill on Wednesday to ban the use of mobile phones and other digital devices in school classrooms nationwide, as concern grows about the impact of heavy social media use among the young.

The Arab Parliament has strongly condemned the recent escalations in the West Bank, which include raids and attacks by Israeli occupation forces in the cities of Ramallah, Al-Bireh and Al-Khalil against Palestinian citizens.

Australia accused Iran of directing two antisemitic arson attacks in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne and gave Tehran's ambassador seven days to leave the country on Tuesday, its first such expulsion since World War Two.

A Sri Lankan court granted bail on Tuesday to former president Ranil Wickremesinghe who was arrested last week over allegations that he misused state funds while in office.

Pakistan has carried out emergency evacuations in areas along three rivers in its agricultural heartland under threat of flooding after India warned it plans to release excess water from a dam.

Arab Parliament has condemned the latest Israeli attacks in Gaza, calling out the systematic targeting of journalists, medical personnel and relief workers at Nasser hospital.

Typhoon Kajiki killed at least three people and injured 10 others in Vietnam, authorities said on Tuesday as they warned that heavy rains could cause flooding and landslides.

India's top court has ordered an investigation into a wildlife rescue park run by Reliance Foundation, the philanthropic arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's group, although it said allegations of unlawful animal acquisitions and mistreatment were not supported by evidence.

The Arab League has strongly condemned the deadly Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital that killed 20 people, including five journalists.

Typhoon Kajiki brought torrential rains to Vietnam's north central coast on Monday, felling trees and flooding homes, despite wind speeds tapering off from earlier in the day.

Three people died and one was seriously injured after a helicopter crashed in a field during a flying lesson near a seaside resort town on Britain's Isle of Wight on Monday.

Israel struck Nasser hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip on Monday, killing at least 20 people, including five journalists who worked for Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera and others.

US National Guard troops patrolling the streets of Washington DC as part of what President Donald Trump said was his crackdown on crime will begin carrying weapons on Sunday night, two officials said.

Elon Musk's SpaceX on Sunday called off the launch of Starship's tenth mission from Texas over an issue at its launch site, delaying an attempt to achieve several long-sought development milestones missed due to past tests ending in early failures.

Israeli strikes hit the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday in retaliation for Houthi missiles fired towards Israel, with a Houthi health official saying the attack killed six people and wounded 86.

Syria's first parliamentary election under its new administration, scheduled for September, will not include the southern province of Sweida and two other provinces due to security concerns, the electoral commission announced.

Ukraine launched a drone attack on Russia on Sunday, forcing a sharp fall in the capacity of a reactor at one of Russia's biggest nuclear power plants and sparking a huge blaze at the major Ust-Luga fuel export terminal, Russian officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked Independence Day on Sunday alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who said Ukraine would receive more than C$1 billion ($723 million) in military aid from a previously announced package next month.

Israeli planes and tanks pounded the eastern and northern outskirts of Gaza City overnight Saturday to Sunday, destroying buildings and homes, residents said, as Israeli leaders vowed to press on with a planned offensive on the city.

The Pentagon is working on plans to deploy the US military to Chicago as President Donald Trump says he is cracking down on crime, homelessness and undocumented immigration, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

Thousands of Australians joined pro-Palestinian rallies on Sunday, organisers said, amid strained relations between Israel and Australia following the centre-left government's decision to recognise a Palestinian state.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised the firing of new air defence missiles to test their combat capability, state media KCNA reported on Sunday.

Portugal's authorities have said that between July 27 and August 15, 1,331 excess deaths from extreme heat were reported, with the over 75 age group particularly hard hit, Euronews reported on Saturday.

A tour bus carrying more than 50 people veered out of control and rolled over on an Upstate New York highway on Friday, killing at least five people and injuring dozens of others, authorities said.

Foreign ministers from European countries, Australia and Britain on Friday jointly condemned Israel's plans to construct a settlement east of Jerusalem.

Famine has struck an area of Gaza and will likely spread over the next month, a global hunger monitor determined on Friday, an assessment that will escalate pressure on Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un lauded his country's "heroic" troops who fought for Russia in the war against Ukraine, in a ceremony where he decorated returning soldiers and consoled children of the bereaved with hugs, state media said on Friday.

Former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who led the country during a devastating 2019-2024 economic crisis, was arrested and appeared in court on Friday over allegations he misused state funds while in office, police said.

The Arab League has strongly condemned the settlement plan approved by the Israeli government in the area known as E1 east of Jerusalem, stressing that it threatens the territorial continuity of Palestine.

India's Supreme Court modified its order on stray dogs on Friday, directing that those picked up from streets in and around Delhi be released after sterilisation and immunisation, after a storm of protests from animal lovers.

The death toll from an explosion at a fireworks warehouse in the Pakistani city of Karachi has risen to four, authorities confirmed on Friday, with more than 30 others injured.

A court in Thailand on Friday dismissed a royal insult case against influential former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, his lawyer said, the first in a series of high-stakes rulings involving the powerful Shinawatra dynasty.

At least 18 people died and more than forty were injured on Thursday following a bomb explosion and helicopter attack in Colombia attributed to different dissident factions of the former FARC guerrilla group, authorities reported.

A Ukrainian man was arrested at a holiday bungalow in Italy on suspicion of coordinating attacks on three Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022, officials said on Thursday, a breakthrough in an episode that sharpened tensions between Russia and the West.

The Israeli military maintained its pressure on Gaza City with heavy bombardments overnight, residents said, ahead of a Thursday meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers on plans to seize the enclave's largest city.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy but all issues must be worked through first and there's a question about the Ukrainian leader's authority to sign a peace deal, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, after Israel announced the first steps of an operation to take over Gaza City.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv would like a "strong reaction" from Washington if Russian President Vladimir Putin was not willing to sit down for a bilateral meeting with him.

Russian overnight attack killed one person, injured at least 18, and struck a US electronics manufacturer in western Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday.

A widely condemned Israeli settlement plan that would cut across land which the Palestinians seek for a state received final approval on Wednesday, according to a statement from Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions on two judges and two prosecutors at the International Criminal Court, as Washington kept up its pressure on the war tribunal over its targeting of Israeli leaders.

Israel's military called up tens of thousands of reservists on Wednesday in preparation for an expected assault on Gaza City, as the Israeli government considered a new proposal for a ceasefire after nearly two years of war.

U.S. forces took part in a pre-dawn raid in northwestern Syria early on Wednesday that targeted a member of the Islamic State group, a U.S. official and a Syrian security source said.

Syria's foreign minister met Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer in Paris on Tuesday to discuss security arrangements in southern Syria, two Syrian sources familiar with the meeting said.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he had ruled out putting American troops on the ground in Ukraine, but said the country might provide air support as part of a deal to end Russia's war in the country.

The death toll from a collision between an overcrowded bus carrying Afghans refugees expelled from Iran and two other vehicles on the Herat-Kabul highway has risen to 79.

Pakistan declared a public holiday in Karachi on Wednesday as the financial capital braced for more rain, after the arrival of the annual monsoon season left at least seven people dead and caused widespread flooding.

A Ukrainian drone attack late on Tuesday knocked out power to areas of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region under Russian control, the Moscow-installed governor said.

Israel is demanding the release of all 50 hostages held in Gaza, Israeli public broadcaster Kan cited the prime minister's office as saying on Tuesday, as talks on a proposed deal envisaging a 60-day truce and release of half the hostages continue.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he hoped Vladimir Putin was going to "be good" and move forward toward ending the war in Ukraine, but conceded it was possible the Russian president doesn't want to make a deal.

Aid worker killings rose nearly a third to almost 400 last year, the most deadly year since records began in 1997, and the conflict in Gaza is continuing to cause high death rates for humanitarian staff in 2025, U.N. and other data showed.

Israel is studying Hamas' response to a Gaza ceasefire proposal, two officials said on Tuesday of a potential deal for a 60-day truce and the release of half the Israeli hostages still held in the battered enclave.

Russia attacked the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk with drones overnight, the city mayor said on Tuesday, calling it a sign that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want peace.

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.