POLITICS & POLICY

Israel's defence minister approved a plan on Wednesday for the conquest of Gaza City and authorised the call-up of around 60,000 reservists, piling pressure on Hamas as mediators push for a ceasefire.

Serbian anti-government protesters accused police Tuesday of beating and threatening detained activists, fuelling fears of a spiralling crackdown after a week of violent clashes.

A senior Israeli official on Tuesday said the government stood firm on its call for the release of all hostages in any future Gaza deal, after Hamas accepted a new truce proposal.

At the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip, hundreds of aid trucks sat unmoving in the Egyptian desert, stuck for days with only a handful allowed through by Israel to relieve the humanitarian disaster across the border.

Hamas has accepted a new ceasefire proposal for Gaza without requesting amendments, a source from the group told AFP Monday, after a fresh diplomatic push to end more than 22 months of war.

Laughter erupts over a board game and coffee at a rural cottage in China's eastern province of Zhejiang, one of a growing number of women-only co-living spaces far from social pressures and male judgment.

Demonstrators took to the streets across Israel Sunday calling for an end to the war in Gaza and a deal to release hostages still held by militants, as the military prepares a new offensive.

Over four decades of war, Afghanistan wielded limited control over five major river basins that flow across its borders into downstream neighbouring nations.

On a recent weekday, Diego Galdino was on the hunt for pickpockets in central London, patrolling tourist hotspots for familiar suspects and telltale signs of those about to commit thefts.

US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin meet Friday in Alaska in a high-stakes, high-risk summit that could prove decisive for the future of Ukraine.

A giant cruise ship dominates the skyline in the city of El Alto in landlocked Bolivia, a symbol of the transformation of an Indigenous bastion keenly fought over in Sunday's presidential election.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday acknowledged his high-stakes summit with Vladimir Putin may fail, and said any Ukraine deal would come through a future three-way meeting with Kyiv to "divvy things up."

Cholera has claimed at least 40 lives in Sudan's Darfur region over the last week as the country weathers its worst outbreak of in years, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday.

The powerful sister of North Korea's leader on Thursday denied reports by the South Korean military that Pyongyang has started removing loudspeakers used in tit-for-tat propaganda wars along their border.

At US President Donald Trump's new migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades, time has no discernible meaning.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele has tightened his grip on power and made life ever-more difficult for critics -- now a growing number face the prospect of a long and painful exile.

Russia's offensive in eastern Ukraine was gaining speed and seizing more ground Wednesday ahead of a summit in Alaska between US President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday it had approved the framework for a new offensive in the Gaza Strip, as Hamas condemned what it called "aggressive" Israeli ground incursions in Gaza City.

In a small urban park in Taiwan, more than 4,000 names are etched into a granite wall -- most of them British and American servicemen held by the Japanese during World War II. The sombre memorial sits on the site of Kinkaseki, a brutal prisoner of war camp near Taipei and one of more than a dozen run by Japan on the island it ruled from 1895 until its defeat in 1945.

Paul Pogba's return to Monaco this summer set tongues wagging as the 2018 World Cup winner made his comeback to football after nearly three seasons on the sidelines -- a turbulent period blighted by injury, blackmail and an 18-month doping ban.

A 15-minute walk from the White House, Tony and Mike stood on the sidewalk near the spot where a man was killed on Monday, the 100th murder of the year in Washington.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had scored a "personal victory" by getting invited to talks with Donald Trump on US soil, and that the meeting further delayed sanctions on Moscow.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday revived calls to "allow" Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip, as the military prepares a broader offensive in the territory.

For Hong Kong law student "C", AI-made pornography was a distant danger until a university classmate created graphic images of her and multiple other women.

A young boy died of heatstroke in Italy while wildfires threatened a UNESCO site in Spain and French cites saw record temperatures, as a heatwave baked Europe on Monday.

A bread roll has become a symbol of a severe economic crisis in Boliva that looks set to decide the outcome of the most significant elections in nearly two decades.

Gazans gathered on Monday for the funeral of five Al Jazeera staff members and a sixth reporter killed in an Israeli strike, with Israel calling one of them a "terrorist" affiliated with Hamas.

Gazans gathered on Monday for the funeral of five Al Jazeera staff members and a sixth reporter killed in an Israeli strike, with Israel calling one of them a "terrorist" affiliated with Hamas.

Al Jazeera said two of its correspondents, including a prominent reporter, and three cameramen were killed in an Israeli strike on their tent in Gaza City on Sunday.