POLITICS & POLICY

Paris was on Thursday counting down the hours to the most ambitious Olympics opening ceremony in history on the river Seine, as tennis icon Rafael Nadal was fighting an injury battle which could shatter his gold medal dreams.

Israeli forces retrieved the remains of five Israelis, killed during Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel, whose bodies had been taken to the Gaza Strip, the military said Thursday.

President Vladimir Putin held talks with Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in Moscow amid calls for Russian mediation to cool tensions between Turkey and Syria.

The death toll from landslides in a remote region of southern Ethiopia has risen to 257, the United Nations said Thursday, warning that the number of victims could soar to up to 500.

The foreign ministers of Russia and China met on Thursday on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers talks in Laos, Moscow and AFP journalists said.

US economic growth blew past expectations in the second quarter, boosted by consumer spending and inventory building despite high interest rates, government data showed Thursday, after a slow start to the year.

Paying tribute to the outgoing ministers, Prime Minister Albanese said, "I am proud to call them my friends. I'm proud to have witnessed firsthand their passion for this nation, their determination to leave the country better for their contribution as members of parliament and as ministers."

Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Thursday, causing deaths and injuries according to Palestinian medical sources, as a group supporting Israeli hostages held by Palestinian militants alleged "sabotage" of efforts to free them.

Anton Yushyn spent four years studying Italian at university in Kyiv but the outbreak of war taught him the most valuable lesson of his student life: to prioritise what matters most.

It started with a raid on a Chinese-run online gambling centre north of Manila where hundreds of foreigners and Filipinos were forced to run scams or risk torture.

US President Joe Biden will give what could be his final Oval Office speech Wednesday to explain why he dropped out of November's election and deny that he will spend six months as a lame duck.

"We are confident about the next election, we're certainly not sanguine in the sense that we do not underestimate our opponents," Marles said.

The tired troops moved through the forest in east Ukraine at dawn, imitating assault rifle fire while searching for non-existent Russians between the trees.

Israel swiftly condemned an agreement brokered by China Tuesday which Beijing said would bring Hamas into a "national reconciliation government" for post-war Gaza.

As Polish lawmakers debated easing stringent abortion laws, Warsaw-based lawyer Jerzy Podgorski was in court defending a man from the remote town of Pinczow charged with aiding his partner's abortion.

Hamas announced Tuesday it had signed an agreement in Beijing with other Palestinian organisations including rivals Fatah to work together for "national unity", with China describing it as a deal to rule Gaza together once the war ends.

A shrine perched on an extinct volcano in Myanmar once thronged with the bustle of pilgrims praying to flower-eating spirit Popa Maedaw, but civil war has cut the complex off from the faithful.

In his fight to get his kidnapped soldier son back from Gaza, Yehuda Cohen has marched through the desert, addressed tens of thousands, been spat at and called a traitor.

Thousands of Gazans fled an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone Monday after the army ordered them to leave and warned of an imminent operation in response to rocket attacks.

Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, a soft-spoken grandfather who eschews the spotlight, is the Venezuelan opposition's hope for unseating strongman Nicolas Maduro in July 28 presidential elections.

Tadej Pogacar hailed a new "golden age" for cycling after securing a third Tour de France title on Sunday to add to his 2020 and 2021 triumphs.

Joe Biden wanted to save the "soul of America" from Donald Trump, but his stubborn defiance of the march of time may have cleared his rival's path back to power.

Yemen's Huthi rebels on Sunday promised a "huge" retaliation against Israel following a deadly strike on the port of Hodeida, as regional fallout widens from months of war in Gaza.

Amor Nouira, a farmer in Tunisia's Chebika village, has lost hope of saving his prickly pear cacti, ravaged by the cochineal insect spreading across North Africa.

Donald Trump commanded the stage for nearly two hours Saturday in his first rally since a gunman tried to kill him last week, with a fiery, rambling speech to thousands of passionate supporters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to deliver a landmark speech to the US Congress on Wednesday as he fights off intense pressure to quickly cut a Gaza war ceasefire deal with Hamas.

Fresh tears flowed in Cyprus Saturday for loved ones killed 50 years ago when Turkish troops landed on the Mediterranean island in an invasion that has left it divided and scarred to this day.

The UN's top court, in a sweeping opinion on Friday, said that Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory was "illegal" and needed to end as soon as possible.

Paris shops, restaurants, bars and clubs are facing an "unprecedented slump in business and footfall", trade groups said Friday, blaming in part the "heavy security measures" imposed ahead of the Olympic Games starting July 26.