POLITICS & POLICY

President Joe Biden has stood firmly by Israel amid months of mounting domestic and international outcry over the humanitarian toll in Gaza, but the killing of seven aid workers in an Israeli strike seems to have brought him the closest yet to a breaking point.

The UN Human Rights Council on Friday demanded a halt in all arms sales to Israel, highlighting warnings of "genocide" in its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 33,000 people.

Ukraine said Friday that it had destroyed at least six Russian military planes at a Russian airbase, as the head of an eastern Ukrainian town said it was under "constant fire" by advancing Russian troops.

Rescuers freed nine people trapped in a winding cave in Taiwan's mountainous east on Friday, while locating two others who were feared dead, as they searched for those still missing after the island's biggest earthquake in 25 years.

Asian stocks tumbled Friday and oil extended the previous day's surge on worries that Israel's war with Hamas could widen to a regional conflict with Iran as both sides ratcheted up tensions.

The staggering suffering, death and destruction of six months of war since Hamas's October 7 attack has widened the gulf between Israelis and Palestinians, leaving both feeling that the prospect of peace is ever more elusive.

James Cameron, the mastermind behind "The Terminator", "Aliens" and "Titanic", has an exhibition opening in Paris Thursday showcasing his lesser-known skills with pencil and paper.

Peering through the window at a bustling crowd outside the Voskepar village council in northeastern Armenia, mayor Ishkhan Aghbalyan said locals are on edge over arch-foe Azerbaijan's claims to their lands.

US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are set to speak on Thursday in their first phone call since an Israeli strike on a humanitarian convoy killed seven aid workers in Gaza.

Nearly six months into the Gaza war, with the families of hostages still held captive by Hamas desperate for their release, many former hostages are finding the words to describe the ordeal of captivity.

Russia said that its defence minister Sergei Shoigu and French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu discussed the potential for talks on the Ukraine conflict during a rare telephone call on Wednesday, a claim that Paris immediately denied.

The bodies of six foreign aid workers killed in an Israeli strike were on Wednesday taken out of Gaza to Egypt for repatriation, a security source said, as Israel faced a chorus of outrage over their deaths.

A 12-year-old boy suspected of shooting and killing a classmate and wounding two girls at a school in Finland said he had been motivated by bullying, police said Wednesday.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Houdini of Israeli politics and its longest serving prime minister, has been written off many times before.

On a street corner in the Sudanese town of Tamboul, dozens of people tap feverishly on their phones, calling loved ones and moving money through online apps.

World powers widely condemned an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip that killed seven charity staff delivering desperately needed aid to the war-torn territory.

Sitting at home in Goma in the volatile east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rachel Sematumba describes herself as "a child of war".

A 12-year-old opened fire Tuesday at a school north of the Finnish capital Helsinki, killing a classmate and seriously injuring two other children, with police saying they were still investigating the motive and lead-up to the incident.

Senegal's left-wing pan-Africanist Bassirou Diomaye Faye was sworn in on Tuesday as the country's youngest president, pledging systemic change, greater sovereignty and calm after years of deadly turmoil.

A deadly strike blamed on Israel against Iran's diplomatic mission in Damascus could trigger a spillover of the Gaza war across the region, an escalation Tehran had sought to avoid, analysts said.

French writer Maryse Conde, who died on Tuesday at the age of 90, became one of the greatest chroniclers of the struggles and triumphs of the descendants of Africans taken as slaves to the Caribbean.

Deadly airstrikes pounded the Gaza Strip overnight as talks towards a truce between Israel and Hamas were set to resume in Cairo Sunday, according to Egyptian state television.

The death of six Latino workers who were fixing potholes when a Baltimore bridge collapsed highlights the crucial role immigrants play in keeping America running, say advocates.

Manchester United lost more ground in the battle for a place in next season's Champions League after a dramatic finale in a 1-1 draw at Brentford on Saturday, as Son Heung-min fired Tottenham to a 2-1 win over Luton.

Fans and critics alike are lavishing praise on "Cowboy Carter," Beyonce's rhinestone-studded, history-rich honky tonk of an album that's rising in the charts after Friday's hotly anticipated release.

Jeffrey Donaldson, the leader of Northern Ireland's main pro-UK Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and one of its best known politicians, resigned on Friday after police charged him with reported sex offences.

Accused of "betraying" fans, subject to relentless online and real-world public abuse, K-pop star Karina recently issued a grovelling, handwritten apology.

Battles and bombardment pounded the Gaza Strip on Thursday, after Washington said Israel agreed to reschedule cancelled talks with tensions worsening between the allies.

The United States has taken a public distance from Israel as never before over the Gaza war but the decisive test will be Rafah and whether Israel heeds US warnings against an offensive in the packed city.