International news

Four people were stabbed near a shopping centre in Tampere, Finland's third-largest city, on Thursday and one person has been arrested, the police said.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has strongly condemned ongoing Israeli aggression and forced displacement in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem.

Hamas is seeking guarantees that a new US ceasefire proposal for Gaza would lead to the war's end, a source close to the group said on Thursday, as medics said Israeli strikes across the territory had killed scores more people.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday that US strikes 10 days ago had degraded Iran's nuclear programme by up to two years, suggesting the US military operation likely achieved its goals despite a far more cautious initial assessment that leaked to the public.

Hundreds of firefighters battled a blaze Thursday on Crete island, which burnt swathes of forest and olive groves and forced the evacuation of over 1,000 people, officials said, underscoring the region's vulnerability to destructive wildfires.

Five people were injured, including a seven-year-old boy and a nine-year-old girl, in a Russian attack on the southern Ukraine port of Odesa overnight, Ukrainian authorities said on Thursday.

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 hit a remote island in southwestern Japan on Thursday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Indonesian rescuers raced to find victims in rough seas on Thursday after five people died and dozens were left missing when a ferry carrying 65 people sank near the island of Bali, according to search and rescue agencies.

The Arab League, which includes the UAE, has condemned statements made by Israel’s Justice Minister Yariv Levin calling for the annexation of the occupied West Bank.

A fire that shut London's Heathrow airport in March, stranding thousands of people, was caused by the UK power grid's failure to maintain an electricity substation, an official report said on Wednesday, prompting the energy watchdog to open a probe.

US President Donald Trump urged Hamas on Tuesday to agree to what he called a "final proposal" for a 60-day ceasefire with Israel in Gaza that will be delivered by mediating officials from Qatar and Egypt.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian put into effect on Wednesday a law passed by parliament last week to suspend cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, Iranian state media reported.

Wildfires have killed two people in Spain and two others have died in France because of a heatwave that has gripped Europe and forced the closure of a nuclear reactor at a Swiss power plant.

CBS parent company Paramount has settled a lawsuit filed by US President Donald Trump over an interview broadcast in October, the latest concession by a media company to a president who has targeted outlets over what he describes as false or misleading coverage.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had a "substantial" phone call with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on the Iran-Israel conflict and Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, the first such exchange between the two leaders since September 2022.

The Republican-controlled US Senate passed President Donald Trump's tax and spending bill on Tuesday, signing off on a massive package that would enshrine many of his top domestic priorities into law while adding $3.3 trillion to the national debt.

More than a thousand schools were closed in France on Tuesday and the top floor of the Eiffel Tower was shut to tourists as a severe heatwave continued to grip Europe, triggering health alerts across the region.

Thailand's Constitutional Court on Tuesday suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from duty pending a case seeking her dismissal, in a major setback for a government under fire on multiple fronts and fighting for its survival.

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order terminating a US sanctions programme on Syria, allowing an end to the country's isolation from the international financial system and building on Washington's pledge to help it rebuild after a devastating civil war.

Former criminology graduate student Bryan Kohberger has agreed to plead guilty to killing four Idaho college students in 2022, a move that would spare him the death penalty under a deal with prosecutors, according to the family of one of the victims.

US President Donald Trump plans to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on July 7, a US official said, as the American leader pressed for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and the return of remaining hostages.

Strong winds and heavy rain led airlines to cancel many domestic flights from Sydney on Tuesday as Australia's weather bureau warned an intense low-pressure weather system offshore could result in flash flooding in parts of the country's southeast.

The Israeli military acknowledged on Monday that Palestinian civilians were harmed at aid distribution centres in the Gaza Strip, saying that new instructions had been issued to Israeli forces following "lessons learned".

Palestinians in northern Gaza reported one of the worst nights of Israeli bombardment in weeks after the military issued mass evacuation orders on Monday, while Israeli officials were due in Washington for a new ceasefire push by the Trump administration.

A Ukrainian F-16 fighter pilot died in a crash while repelling a Russian air attack that involved hundreds of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles, authorities said on Sunday, as Moscow intensifies night-time air barrages in the fourth year of war.

Firefighters in Turkey are battling wildfires for a second day raging in the western province of Izmir fanned by strong winds, the forestry minister and local media said on Monday.

Two firefighters were shot dead while responding to a fire in northern Idaho and the body of a man was later found with a gun nearby, the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office said on Sunday, as it lifted a shelter-in-place order.

Iran could be producing enriched uranium in a few months, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog Rafael Grossi was quoted as saying on Sunday, raising doubts about how effective US strikes to destroy Tehran's nuclear programme have been.

The Jerusalem District Court has cancelled this week's hearings in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's long-running corruption trial, accepting a request the Israeli leader made citing classified diplomatic and security grounds.

The Israeli military ordered Palestinians to evacuate areas in northern Gaza on Sunday before intensified fighting against Hamas, as US President Donald Trump called for an end to the war amid renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire.

Russia used hundreds of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles to attack western, southern and central Ukraine overnight, damaging homes and infrastructure and injuring at least six people, local authorities said on Sunday.

At least seven Palestinians were killed and several others injured early Sunday in a series of Israeli airstrikes targeting Gaza City and Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestinian News & Information Agency (WAFA) reported.

Three people were killed and six injured in a stampede during a festival in eastern India on Sunday, officials said.

The Republican-controlled US Senate narrowly advanced President Donald Trump's, sweeping tax-cut and spending bill on Saturday, during a marathon weekend session marked by political drama, division and lengthy delays as Democrats sought to slow the legislation's path to passage.

An explosive-laden car rammed into a Pakistani military convoy on Saturday in a town near the Afghan border, killing at least 13 soldiers, sources said.

Radiation levels in the Gulf region remain normal after the 12-day Israel-Iran conflict severely damaged several nuclear facilities in Iran, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.

Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo signed a US-brokered peace agreement on Friday, raising hopes for an end to fighting that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more this year.

The US Supreme Court on the last day of rulings for its current term gave Donald Trump his latest in a series of victories at the nation's top judicial body, one that may make it easier for him to implement contentious elements of his sweeping agenda as he tests the limits of presidential power.

Polish President Andrzej Duda arrived in Kyiv on Saturday for a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Duda's office said, as Kyiv aims to build support among allies at a critical juncture in its grinding war with Russia.

Israel has stopped aid from entering northern Gaza but is still allowing it to enter from the south, two officials said after images circulated of masked men on aid trucks who clan leaders said were protecting aid, not Hamas stealing it.

More than a dozen Israeli air strikes battered a row of hilltops in southern Lebanon on Friday, security sources said, with the Israeli military saying it had attacked a damaged military site that armed group Hezbollah was seeking to restore.

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told his Chinese counterpart that the two countries should seek a "permanent solution" to their decades-old border dispute, in a new push for a conclusive outcome.

South Korean police have detained six US citizens who were attempting to deliver around 1,300 plastic bottles filled with rice and dollar notes to North Korea, a police official said on Friday.

At least 7 people were killed with 39 others injured in multiple rain-related incidents as Punjab was battered by heavy monsoon showers on Thursday, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for Israel to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or cancel his corruption trial, saying the US would save him like it did his country.

Efforts are underway to reconstruct the sequence of events leading to the Air India plane crash this month that killed 260 people, and identify contributing factors, India's civil aviation ministry said on Thursday.

Israeli gunfire and airstrikes killed at least 21 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, local health authorities said, as mediators reached out to Israel and Hamas to seek a resumption of ceasefire talks to end the war.

Dozens of Israeli settlers attacked Kafr Malik in West Bank on Wednesday, sparking a confrontation that ended with Israeli forces killing three Palestinians and wounding seven more.

Sixteen people died during nationwide anti-government protests in Kenya on Wednesday, most of them killed by police, the head of Amnesty Kenya said, a year after deadly demonstrations against a tax bill culminated in the storming of parliament.

North Korea has completed construction of a massive tourist zone on its east coast, state media reported on Thursday, a key project driven by leader Kim Jong Un for years to promote tourism.

Towns and villages by a major river in China's Guangxi lay half-submerged as floodwaters from a province upstream roared into the mountainous region, with the expected landfall of a tropical cyclone later on Thursday compounding disaster risk.

The Pentagon will create two new military zones along the border with Mexico, US officials said, a move that allows troops to temporarily detain migrants or trespassers.

US President Donald Trump hailed the swift end to war between Iran and Israel and said Washington would likely seek a commitment from Tehran to end its nuclear ambitions at talks with Iranian officials next week.

NATO leaders on Wednesday backed the big increase in defence spending that US President Donald Trump had demanded, and restated their commitment to defend each other from attack after a brief summit in the Netherlands.

The ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump between Iran and Israel appeared to be holding on Wednesday a day after both countries signalled that their air war had ended, at least for now.

Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old state lawmaker and self-described democratic socialist, looks set to win New York City's Democratic mayoral primary in a surprising upset over former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The Ministerial Council of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has denounced the Iranian missile attacks on the Al Udeid air base in Qatar, describing it as a "blatant violation of Qatar’s sovereignty", during an "extraordinary meeting" in Doha.

Astronauts from India, Poland and Hungary have embarked on a two-week science research mission early Wednesday, marking a return to human spaceflight after more than 40 years and the first mission to the International Space Station.

Tens of millions of people in major cities across the US Northeast are facing record high temperatures on what was expected to be the worst day of an oppressive heat wave that has spread over much of the country since late last week.

Kenyans are expected to take to the streets in large numbers on Wednesday to mark the one-year anniversary of anti-government protests that culminated in the storming of parliament and several deaths as police opened fire on demonstrators.

A preliminary US intelligence assessment has determined that US strikes over the weekend on Iranian nuclear facilities have only set back Tehran’s programme by a matter of months, three sources told Reuters.

US President Donald Trump accused both Israel and Iran of violating a ceasefire on Tuesday hours after he announced it, expressing particular frustration with Israel which had announced major new strikes on Tehran.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday he had ordered the military to strike Tehran after Iran fired missiles in violation of a ceasefire after 12 days of war.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday a ceasefire between Israel and Iran was now in place and asked both countries not to violate it, only hours after Iran launched waves of missiles, which Israel's ambulance service said killed four people.

Israel has agreed to US President Donald Trump's proposal for a ceasefire with Iran after it achieved its goal of removing Tehran's nuclear and ballistic missile threat, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Tuesday.

Hundreds of firefighters were battling to contain wildfires at different locations on the Greek island of Chios for a third day on Tuesday after the island declared a state of emergency.

The UN human rights office said on Tuesday that the "weaponisation" of food for civilians in Gaza constitutes a war crime, in its strongest remarks yet on a new model of aid distribution run by an Israeli-backed organisation.

Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain have reopened their airspace following a precautionary suspension triggered by Iran's attack on a US air base near Doha.

Qatar has strongly condemned the Iranian attack that targeted Al Udeid Air Base on Monday.

The Qatari Ministry of Interior has affirmed that the security situation in the country remains stable, and there is no cause for concern.

Several Arab nations strongly condemned Iran's attack on Qatar's Al Udeid air base on Monday calling it a blatant violation of Qatari sovereignty, international law and regional stability.

Bahrain has announced the temporary suspension of air navigation within the Kingdom's airspace.

Iran has launched missiles at US airbases in Qatar and Iraq in response to strikes on its nuclear sites.

Qatar has shut down its airspace temporarily as a precautionary measure amid regional developments, a statement by the Qatari foreign ministry said on X.

Israel targeted Evin prison in Tehran on Monday, in what Israel called the most intense bombing yet of the Iranian capital, a day after the US joined the war by blasting nuclear sites.

Iran and Israel traded air and missile strikes as the world braced on Monday for Tehran's response to the US attack on its nuclear sites and US President Donald Trump raised the idea of regime change in the country.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday raised the question of regime change in Iran following US strikes against key military sites over the weekend, as senior officials in his administration warned Tehran against retaliation.

Waves of Russian drones and missiles in and around Kyiv overnight killed eight people, lit up the night sky with fires in residential areas and damaged the entrance to a metro station bomb shelter, Ukrainian officials said on Monday.

Greece will send more than 170 more firefighters on Monday to reinforce teams battling wildfires on the Greek island of Chios for a second day, as winds further whipped up the blaze, bringing power cuts and spurring the evacuation of residents.

At least 20 people were killed and dozens injured when at an explosion at the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighbourhood of Syria's capital Damascus on Sunday, health authorities and security sources said.

US forces struck Iran's three main nuclear sites, President Donald Trump said late on Saturday, and he warned Tehran it would face more devastating attacks if it does not agree to peace.

No radioactive traces have been detected in the environment of Saudi Arabia or other Arab Gulf states following the US strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, Saudi Arabia's nuclear regulator said in a post on X on Sunday.

Israel faced a missile attack on Sunday as Iran said it reserved all options to defend itself after unprecedented US strikes that President Donald Trump said had "obliterated" its key nuclear facilities.

Around 10,000 Russian soldiers are fighting in Russia's Kursk region, about 90 square km of which is controlled by Ukraine, Ukraine's top military commander said.

Pakistan said on Saturday it would recommend US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, an accolade that he has said he craves, for his work in helping to resolve the recent conflict between India and Pakistan.

Iran and Israel exchanged fresh attacks early on Saturday, a day after Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear programme while under threat and Europe tried to keep peace talks alive.

India's aviation watchdog has issued a warning to Air India for "repeated and serious violations" related to pilot duty scheduling and oversight, according to government directives reviewed by Reuters on Saturday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Friday that expansion of the Israel-Iran conflict could "ignite a fire no one can control" and called on both sides and potential parties to the conflict to give peace a chance.

As the air war between Israel and Iran enters its second week, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany are making renewed efforts to draw Iran back to negotiations, while US involvement remains undecided.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the past two days while trying to access food aid in Gaza, amid a worsening hunger crisis, according to local medics.

The Kremlin said on Friday it could not predict whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would meet U.S. President Donald Trump this year given how turbulent the world had become.

One person was killed and at least 14 were injured when Russian drones attacked the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odesa overnight, damaging high-rise buildings and railway infrastructure, local authorities and prosecutors said on Friday.

The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump will make a decision on whether the US will get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict in the next two weeks.

Israel struck a key Iranian nuclear site on Thursday and Iranian missiles hit an Israeli hospital as the air war between the two countries entered the seventh day.

Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners of war on Thursday, officials from both countries said, the latest round of swaps under an agreement struck in Istanbul.

Iran and Israel traded further air attacks on Thursday as President Donald Trump kept the world guessing about whether the United States would join Israel's bombardment of Iranian nuclear facilities.

Israeli gunfire and strikes killed at least 140 people across Gaza in the past 24 hours, local health officials said, as some Palestinians in the Strip said their plight was being forgotten as attention has shifted to the air war between Israel and Iran.

In a first, US President Donald Trump has admitted that "two very smart" leaders of India and Pakistan after they "decided" to end the conflict, without mentioning the US role in the mediation talks.

Air India said on Wednesday it will cut international operations on its widebody aircraft by 15 per cent for the next few weeks, citing ongoing safety inspections and operational disruptions following last week's deadly crash of one of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement read by a television presenter on Wednesday that his country will not accept US President Donald Trump's call for an unconditional surrender.

US President Donald Trump insisted on Wednesday that he had stopped the war between India and Pakistan, hours after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told him the ceasefire after a four-day conflict in May was achieved through talks between the neighbours' militaries, not US mediation.

Iran and Israel launched new missile strikes at each other on Wednesday as the air war between the two longtime enemies entered a sixth day despite a call from US President Donald Trump for Iran's unconditional surrender.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi maintained in a conversation with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday that a ceasefire with Pakistan after a four-day conflict was achieved through talks between the two militaries and not US mediation.

India's aviation safety watchdog said on Tuesday surveillance conducted on Air India's Boeing BA.N 787 fleet did not reveal any major safety concerns, days after one of its jets crashed, killing at least 271 people.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday repudiated Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard's assessment that Iran has not been building a nuclear weapon, publicly contradicting his spy chief for the first time during his second term.

Several flights to the Indonesian resort island of Bali were cancelled or delayed and the airport in Maumere in East Nusa Tenggara province was closed due to the eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki, officials said on Wednesday.

The U.S. military is deploying more fighter aircraft to the Middle East and extending the deployment of other warplanes, bolstering U.S. military forces in the region as the war between Israel and Iran rages, three U.S. officials said.

Israel and Iran attacked each other for a fifth straight day on Tuesday, and US President Donald Trump urged Iranians to evacuate Tehran, citing what he said was the country's rejection of a deal to curb nuclear weapons development.

Israeli tank shellfire killed at least 51 Palestinians on Tuesday as they awaited aid trucks in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the territory's health ministry said, adding that dozens of others were wounded.

Russia flattened a section of an apartment block in Kyiv on Tuesday in its deadliest attack on the Ukrainian capital this year, part of a huge barrage of hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles that killed at least 16 people and wounded 124 others.

US President Donald Trump left the Group of Seven summit in Canada a day early due to the situation in the Middle East, the White House said on Monday.

The U.S. military has moved a large number of refueling aircraft to Europe to provide options to President Donald Trump as Middle East tensions erupt into conflict between Iran and Israel, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

An Israeli strike hit Iran's state broadcaster on Monday as Iran called on US President Donald Trump to force a ceasefire in the four-day-old aerial war, while Israel's prime minister said his country was on the "path to victory".

Israel and Iran continued exchanging attacks that killed and wounded civilians, with both militaries urging civilians on the opposing side to take precautions against further strikes.

Air India's Chairman N. Chandrasekaran on Monday told staff that last week's plane crash that killed at least 271 people should be a catalyst to build a safer airline, urging employees to stay resolute amid any criticism.

Israeli fire killed at least 40 people, half of them near an aid distribution site operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation on Monday, the territory's health ministry said, as UN officials denounced Israeli-backed aid delivery methods.

A federal judge is set to consider on Monday whether to extend an order blocking US President Donald Trump's plan to bar foreign nationals from entering the country to study at Harvard University.

A massive two-day manhunt ended on Sunday with the arrest of Vance Boelter, 57, for allegedly killing a Minnesota Democratic state lawmaker and her husband while posing as a police officer.

Three hikers, including two brothers and the wife of one of the men, were killed by a lightning strike during a thunderstorm in Austria's Tyrolean Alps over the weekend, police said on Monday.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday said efforts to deport people who are illegally in the country must be expanded, following nationwide protests since immigration raids were ramped up.

Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, with intense cross-border missile exchanges resulting in casualties and severe damage on both sides.

At least two people died and a number were swept away after a bridge over the Indrayani river in the western Indian city of Pune collapsed on Sunday, Maharashtra statechief minister Devendra Fadnavis said.

A massive manhunt entered a second day on Sunday in Minnesota for the gunman who killed a Democratic state lawmaker while posing as a police officer, a crime that Governor Tim Walz characterised as a "politically motivated assassination".

Israeli fire and airstrikes killed at least 12 Palestinians on Sunday across the enclave, local health authorities said, at least five of them near two aid sites operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

A helicopter carrying six people crashed on Sunday in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.

India's aviation regulator has ordered all Boeing 787s being operated by local carriers to be inspected after an Air India crash killed 270 people this week, the aviation minister said on Saturday, adding the authorities were investigating all possible causes.

Iran and Israel targeted each other with missiles and airstrikes early on Saturday after Israel launched its biggest-ever air offensive against its longtime foe in a bid to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. 

Israeli fire and airstrikes killed at least 35 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip, most of them near an aid distribution site operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, local health authorities said.

The death toll from the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad rose to 270 on Saturday, as grieving families expressed frustration over delays in the release of victims' bodies, many of which were badly charred in the tragedy.

US President Donald Trump urged Iran on Friday to make a deal on its nuclear programme before it faced more attacks from Israel that he said would be "even more brutal."

The sole survivor of the Air India plane crash that killed more than 240 people said he walked out of a broken emergency exit after the aircraft hit a medical college hostel in the city of Ahmedabad.

Air India has confirmed that 241 people onboard a flight to London have been killed after it crashed in Ahmedabad, with only one known survivor.

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.