International news

Vandals targeted France's high-speed train network with a series of coordinated actions that brought major disruption to some of the country's busiest rail lines ahead of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.

Mexican drug kingpin Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and the son of his ex-partner, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, were arrested on Thursday in El Paso, Texas, in a major coup for US authorities that may also reshape the Mexican criminal landscape.

Vice President Kamala Harris took her presidential campaign blitz to the largest US teachers' union on Thursday, promising a "fight for the future" as new opinion polls showed her narrowing the gap with Republican rival Donald Trump.

US Vice President Kamala Harris pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to help reach a Gaza ceasefire deal that would ease the suffering of Palestinian civilians, striking a tougher tone than President Joe Biden.

US District Judge Reed O'Connor should reject a "sweetheart" plea deal the Justice Department struck with Boeing, relatives of 15 of the 346 people killed in two fatal 737 MAX crashes said on Thursday.

The Bolivian department of Santa Cruz has declared a state of emergency through the end of this year due to extreme weather including wildfires, the departmental government said in a decree published on Thursday.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Thursday in Laos, where the two leaders agreed to resolve border issues as soon as possible.

Greater Manchester Police have suspended a police officer after a video showed a British policeman kick and stamp on a man's head during an arrest at Manchester airport.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sketched a vague outline of a plan for a "deradicalised" post-war Gaza in a speech to Congress on Wednesday and touted a potential future alliance between Israel and America's Arab allies.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday said dropping out of the race for the presidency and endorsing his vice president, Kamala Harris, as the Democratic candidate was the best way to unite the country, despite his ambition to win a second term.

Typhoon Gaemi swept through northern Taiwan on Thursday, killing two people, bringing floods and snarling traffic, before heading across the sea and into China where it is expected to dump more torrential rain.

At least 18 people were killed when a small plane crashed and caught fire while it was taking off from Nepal's capital Kathmandu, officials said.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday at his resort in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said on Tuesday, a sign the two men are looking to ease tensions between them.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday, arguing that US Vice President Kamala Harris could not legally take over funds raised by President Joe Biden's reelection campaign.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reaffirmed Washington's unwavering support for Ukraine in a call with Ukraine's defense minister, Rustem Umerov, the Pentagon said late on Tuesday

US President Joe Biden headed to Washington on Tuesday, two days after ending his re-election bid and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination to take on Republican former President Donald Trump.

Taiwan hunkered down on Wednesday ahead of the arrival of Typhoon Gaemi, with financial markets closed, people given the day off work, flights cancelled, and the military put on stand-by amid forecasts of torrential rain and strong winds.

US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned after the agency came under harsh scrutiny for its failure to stop a would-be assassin from wounding former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally, the White House said on Tuesday.

India unveiled a major spending plan to create new jobs and satisfy key coalition partners in the first budget by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government after an election setback, aiming to win back voters and retain political support.

The death toll from two landslides in southern Ethiopia has jumped to 229 and could rise further as the search for survivors and casualties continued into a second day.

Sunday, July 21, was the hottest day ever recorded globally, according to preliminary data from the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told families of hostages held in Gaza that a deal that would secure their release could be near, his office said on Tuesday, as fighting raged in the battered Palestinian enclave.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina blamed her political opponents for deadly violence that swept the country during recent student-led protests against quotas in government jobs, stating on Monday that a curfew would be lifted when the situation improved.

US President Joe Biden is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday at the White House, a US official said on Monday.

Britain's Conservative Party said on Monday it will name its new leader on Nov. 2, following the party's worst-ever election performance this month that prompted former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to say he would stand down.

US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle admitted to Congress on Monday that she and her agency failed when a would-be assassin wounded Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, but rejected calls to resign.

A gunman entered a nursing home in northwestern Croatia on Monday shooting dead five people, including his mother, and injuring six others, a government minister said.

Israel declared dead two more of its hostages being held in Gaza, as talks to secure a ceasefire deal that would include the release of some 120 captives there were set to resume later this week.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will try to show swing voters that his likely new rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, has her fingerprints all over two issues he is counting on for victory in November: immigration and the cost of living.

US President Joe Biden abandoned his reelection bid on Sunday under growing pressure from his fellow Democrats and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the party's candidate to face Republican Donald Trump in the November election.

Delta Air Lines struggled to restore normal operations on Sunday after last week's crippling global cyber outage, canceling about 1,000 flights on top of the 3,500 it had already scrapped.

Israeli forces battled Palestinian fighters in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday, and struck areas in the centre of the coastal enclave where thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes have been seeking shelter.

Israeli air defences intercepted a surface-to-surface missile fired from Yemen on Sunday, the military said, after Yemen's Houthi movement said it had targeted the Israeli Red Sea city of Eilat with multiple missiles.

Ukraine needs long-range weapons to protect its cities and troops on the frontline from Russian bombs and drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday after a massive overnight drone and missile attack.

Bangladesh's Supreme Court on Sunday scrapped most of the quotas on government jobs that have sparked student-led protests in which at least 114 people have been killed in the country.

Donald Trump said on Saturday nobody forewarned him of a problem in the lead-up to the former president's rally in Pennsylvania last week, when a would-be assassin shot him in the ear.

Vietnam will hold a state funeral next week for Nguyen Phu Trong, the leader of its ruling Communist Party, who died on Friday, the government said on Saturday.

Three pro-Russian hackers have been arrested for alleged cyberattacks against Spain and other NATO countries for terrorist purposes, Spanish police said on Saturday.

Russian drones and missiles struck overnight in Ukraine, killing two civilians and hitting energy facilities and railway infrastructure across the country, officials said on Saturday.

President Xi Jinping urged all-out rescue efforts after a highway bridge collapse on Friday in Shaanxi province in China's northwest killed 11 people, state media reported on Saturday.

Bangladesh soldiers patrolled the deserted streets of Dhaka, on Saturday during a curfew meant to quell deadly student-led protests against government job quotas that have killed at least 105 people this week.

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has deployed a fix for an issue that triggered a major tech outage that affected industries ranging from airlines to banking to healthcare worldwide, the company's CEO said on Friday.

The United Nations' highest court said on Friday that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there are illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible.

Three people were killed in Bangladesh on Friday as police cracked down on unrelenting student-led protests against government job quotas despite a ban on public gatherings, local media said.

Vietnam's ruling Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong died on Friday after holding the country's most powerful position for 13 years.

A major tech outage is affecting flight operations, causing severe disruption across the globe. The outage has also impacted other industries including banks and health services.

The European Parliament has re-elected Ursula von der Leyen for another five years as President of the European Commission.

Donald Trump has described how he narrowly survived an attempt on his life, and honoured Corey Comperatore, who lost his life at the Republican National Convention.

The Royal Oman Police has announced three brothers of Omani nationality were responsible for the shooting near Imam Ali mosque in Wadi al-Kabir on Monday.

A strong 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck the mining-intensive Antofagasta region of Chile on Thursday, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said.

The Israeli military said it was investigating an apparent drone attack that hit central Tel Aviv in the early hours of Friday but which did not trigger the air raid sirens.

The Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit condemned the Israeli Knesset’s decision to reject the establishment of a Palestinian state on Thursday.

An Air India plane flying from Delhi to San Francisco made a precautionary landing in the Russian region of Siberia after crew detected a potential issue in the cargo hold area, the Indian airline said on Friday.

US President Joe Biden is working towards a decision on whether to stay in the presidential race that is good for the country, Senator John Hickenlooper told Reuters, noting sadness among Democrats about the president while stopping short of saying he should step aside.

Israeli forces bombarded the Gaza Strip's historic refugee camps in the centre of the enclave and struck Gaza City in the north on Thursday, killing at least 13 people, and tanks pushed deeper into Rafah in the south.

NASA announced it has cancelled its moon rover due to high costs. The VIPER was intended to explore the moon’s south pole for ice, with around $450 million (AED 1.6 billion) spent on the project.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo finally swam in the River Seine, fulfilling a promise to try to convince doubters that its waters will be clean enough to hold Olympic swimming events.

The US military's mission to install and operate a temporary, floating pier off the coast of Gaza has formally ended, concluding an extraordinary but troubled effort to bring humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

South Korea ordered people living near rivers in its central region to evacuate homes on Thursday as heavy monsoon showers dumped more than 300 mm (12 inches) of rain, while warnings went out across a large swathe of the country, including the capital.

Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate, US Senator J.D. Vance, presented himself to the nation on Wednesday night as the son of a forgotten industrial Ohio town who will fight for the working class if elected in November.

The humanitarian truce between the warring parties in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been extended for 15 days and is set to expire on August 3, the White House confirmed.

US President Joe Biden, under pressure from fellow Democrats to drop his re-election campaign, tested positive for COVID-19 while visiting Las Vegas on Wednesday and is self-isolating after experiencing mild symptoms, the White House said.

Sixteen people were killed in a fire at a department store in Sichuan province in China's southwest on Wednesday evening, state media said on Thursday.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has agreed to testify before the US House of Representatives Oversight Committee on July 22 for a hearing related to the shooting of former President Donald Trump at a rally, the panel said on Wednesday.

Germany will halve military aid for Ukraine next year, even with the possibility that Republican candidate Donald Trump could return to the White House and curb support for Kyiv.

Israeli forces pounded areas in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing at least nine Palestinians, according to health officials, while Israeli tanks carried out a limited advance further into Rafah in the south.

Cyanide poisoning was likely the cause of the deaths of six foreigners whose bodies were found in a room in a plush Bangkok hotel, with the suspected killer among the dead, Thai police said.

US Vice President Kamala Harris has asked former President Donald Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance, to join an Aug. 13 debate hosted by CBS, a Biden-Harris campaign official said on Tuesday.

At least 25 people were killed and 17 injured in Peru on Tuesday after a bus crashed while traveling through a mountainous area, according to Ayacucho's regional health department.

The Arab League has issued a statement condemning the gunfire attack near a mosque in Oman’s Wadi al-Kabir area.

Six people were found dead at an upmarket hotel in Bangkok on Tuesday, including at least one American national of Vietnamese descent.

North Korea said on Tuesday that South Korea will face "devastating consequences" over anti-Pyongyang leaflets following the back and forth of ‘trash balloon drops’ between the two countries in May and June this year.

Nine people, including a policeman, have been killed and 28 others injured in a shooting incident near a mosque in Oman's capital Muscat.

A Camorian-flagged oil tanker has capsized off the coast of Oman, 25 nautical miles southeast of Ras Madrakah, Wilayat Duqum on Monday.

Donald Trump made a triumphant entrance during the first night of the Republican National Convention on Monday, receiving a raucous ovation from the party faithful two days after a would-be assassin's bullet grazed his right ear.

A rescue team on the Spanish island of Tenerife on Monday found human remains in the area where British teenager Jay Slater went missing nearly a month ago and evidence strongly suggests they are his, police said.

Donald Trump chose Ohio US Senator J.D. Vance to be his vice presidential running mate, as the Republican Party officially nominated the former president to run again for the White House on Monday at the start of the party's national convention in Milwaukee.

US President Joe Biden said on Monday he made a mistake when he told supporters to put rival Donald Trump in a "bullseye" in an effort to focus attention on his rival's behavior but said Trump regularly employed rhetoric that was inflammatory.

Pakistan is planning to ban former Prime Minister Imran Khan's political party and move the country's top court to press treason charges against him, the information minister said on Monday.

Sri Lanka is set to implement a significant reduction in power prices starting from Tuesday July 16th aiming to alleviate the financial burden on its citizens.

Former US President Donald Trump has arrived in Wisconsin to attend the Republican National Convention, just a day after surviving an assassination attempt during a rally in Pennsylvania.

US President Joe Biden used the formal setting of the White House Oval Office on Sunday to ask Americans to lower the political temperature and remember they are neighbors after a would-be assassin wounded Republican rival Donald Trump.

Rescuers in Nepal ruled out chances of finding survivors in last week's landslide that swept two passenger buses carrying 65 people into a river swollen by heavy rain, authorities said on Monday.

Various world leaders on Saturday condemned the shooting at Donald Trump's rally in Pennsylvania in which the former president was shot in the right ear.

Donald Trump was shot in the ear during a Saturday campaign rally, in an attack that left the Republican presidential candidate's face streaked with blood and prompting his security agents to swarm him, before he emerged and pumped his fist in the air, mouthing the words "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

An Israeli airstrike killed at least 90 Palestinians in a designated humanitarian zone in Gaza on Saturday, the enclave's health ministry said, in an attack that Israel said targeted Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.

A Polish coal miner trapped underground since Thursday was found alive by rescuers on Saturday, local media reported.

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his third wife were acquitted on charges of marrying unlawfully by a Pakistan court on Saturday, yet he will not be freed after authorities issued fresh orders to arrest him.

British police arrested a man on Saturday in connection with the discovery of human remains in two suitcases at a famous bridge in western England last week.

Russia accused Australia of inciting "anti-Russian paranoia" for charging a Russian-born couple with espionage, prompting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Saturday to tell Moscow to "back off".

Without the necessary support and financing to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Palestinian Refugees will lose a critical lifeline and the last ray of hope for a better future.

At least 22 people have died in central Nigeria after a school building collapsed as lessons were taking place, local authorities said on Friday.

Nepal is set for a new coalition government led by KP Sharma Oli after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal lost a parliamentary vote of confidence on Friday, ending a tumultuous 20-month tenure.

India's main opposition Congress party asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday to impose an additional tax on the country's billionaires to generate funds for stretched public services like education and health.

The UN nuclear watchdog's Board of Governors passed a resolution on Friday condemning Monday's military strike on a children's hospital in the Ukrainian capital, blaming Russia.

Israeli forces retreated from some Gaza City districts overnight after a fierce, week-long military offensive, leaving dozens of dead and wrecked homes and roads in the Palestinian enclave's biggest urban area, residents and rescue service said on Friday.

India's Supreme Court granted interim bail on Friday to opposition leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a graft case, but he will stay in jail due to his arrest in another case.

COVID-19 is still killing around 1,700 people a week around the world, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said, urging those most at risk to continue receiving vaccinations against the virus.

More than 60 people are missing in Nepal after a landslide triggered by heavy rains swept two buses off a highway and into a river, authorities said.

US President Joe Biden on Thursday mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as Russian President Vladimir Putin before correcting himself at the NATO summit in Washington.

US President Joe Biden said on Thursday the Israel-Gaza war must end now and Israel must not occupy the enclave after the war, telling reporters his ceasefire framework had been agreed on by both Israel and Hamas but there were still gaps to close.

Parts of north-west Delhi were flooded on Thursday after a breach in a canal that supplies water from a nearby state, and repair work was being carried out to minimise the impact, a senior local official said in a social media post.

Russia will act to counter the planned US deployment of long-range missiles in Germany, the Kremlin said on Thursday, as it regarded the NATO military alliance's actions as a serious threat to Russia's national security.

Rescue teams are trying to bring 53 coalminers trapped underground to the surface after their pit in southern Poland was struck by an earth tremor, a company spokesperson said.

The United States will start deploying longer range missiles in Germany in 2026, the two countries announced at a meeting of the NATO alliance, a major step aimed at countering what the allies say is a growing threat Russia poses to Europe.

Hollywood actor George Clooney has issued a striking call for President Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.

Palestinian officials said an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza Strip killed more than two dozen people while advancing tanks in Gaza City forced residents to flee under fire as Israel on Tuesday stepped up an offensive that Hamas warned could jeopardise ceasefire talks.

At least 18 people died and 19 were injured when a bus collided with a milk tanker in northern India's Utter Pradesh state early on Wednesday, police said.

Record torrential rainfall battered the South Korea's southern regions Wednesday, leaving at least four people dead and disrupting train services, Yonhap News Agency reported.

US President Joe Biden pledged to forcefully defend Ukraine against Russia's invasion at the NATO summit in Washington on Tuesday, using the global stage to try to show allies at home and abroad that he can still lead.

Space bosses hailed Europe's return to space after the Ariane 6 rocket successfully carried out a series of trials in a debut flight on Tuesday, but the mission ended with the launcher coasting in orbit without releasing its final batch of payloads.

Donations poured in on Tuesday to help rebuild Kyiv's main children's hospital as Ukraine mourned at least 41 people killed during a major Russian missile assault on the Ukrainian capital and other cities a day earlier.

Israeli forces killed at least 18 Palestinians on the second day of a stepped-up military offensive in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday that Hamas said was jeopardising ceasefire talks.

The United Nations Security Council will meet on Tuesday over a Russian attack on Ukraine that struck Kyiv's main children's hospital, said diplomats.

India's relationship with Russia is based on "mutual trust and mutual respect", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Moscow on Tuesday, where he also said he appreciated President Vladimir Putin's leadership.

Tropical Storm Beryl brought howling winds and torrential rain to southeast Texas on Monday, killing at least three people, flooding highways, closing oil ports, canceling more than 1,300 flights and knocking out power to more than 2.7 million homes and businesses.

Russia rained missiles down on cities across Ukraine in broad daylight on Monday morning, killing at least 41 civilians and badly damaging Kyiv's main children's hospital in the deadliest air strike in months, officials said.

Last month was the hottest June on record, the EU's climate change monitoring service said on Monday, continuing a streak of exceptional temperatures that some scientists said puts 2024 on track to be the world's hottest recorded year.

Hurricane Beryl strengthened as it neared the Texas coast on Sunday, the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said, forcing the closure of major oil ports, flight cancellations and a warning it would be a deadly storm for communities hit.

Any Gaza ceasefire deal must allow Israel to resume fighting until its objectives are met, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, as talks over a US plan aimed at ending the nine-month-old war were expected to restart.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) blocked an attempt by Ukraine to organise the hijacking of a Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber and fly it to Ukraine, the FSB said on Monday.

Heavy rains flooded roads and railways on Monday in India's financial capital of Mumbai, disrupting flights and forcing the closure of some schools and colleges, while overflowing rivers elsewhere affected more than 2 million people.

France faced a hung parliament and the prospect of taxing negotiations starting Monday to form a government, after a surprise left-wing surge blocked Marine Le Pen's quest to bring the far right to power.

At least 12 people died and 18 are missing after a torrential rain caused a landslide in an illegal gold mine over the weekend in Indonesia's Sulawesi island, officials said on Monday.

Protests aimed at pressuring the Israeli government to reach a hostage deal with Hamas began across the country on Sunday, with demonstrators blocking roads and picketing at the homes of government ministers.

Heavy rains triggered landslides and flash floods killing at least 11 people in the last 36 hours in Nepal and blocking key highways and roads, officials said on Sunday

The Iranian navy frigate Sahand capsized during repairs in the southern port of Bandar Abbas, Iranian state media reported on Sunday.

At least 16 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinian families in central Gaza on Saturday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

France voted on Sunday in a parliamentary run-off election that will reconfigure the political landscape, with opinion polls forecasting the far-right National Rally (RN) will win the most votes but likely fall short of a majority.c services.

Saudi Arabia's king and crown prince congratulated Masoud Pezeshkian on his election as Iran's president, state news agency SPA reported on Saturday.

The Dalai Lama said on Saturday that he is recovering from knee surgery and feels "physically fit," brushing aside rumours of ill health on his 89th birthday.

The chief organiser of an Indian preacher's event where a stampede killed 121 people this week surrendered to police on Friday, a lawyer for the preacher said after police had launched a manhunt.

Hamas said that they had accepted an American proposal to begin talks on the release of Israeli detainees in the Gaza Strip, including soldiers and men, within 16 days after the first phase of the agreement.

Masoud Pezeshkian won the runoff presidential elections held on Friday to become Iran’s 9th president, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on Saturday.

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.