POLITICS & POLICY

When Donald Trump said on Thursday he'd give himself two weeks to decide on bombing Iran, critics wrote it off as the US president using a familiar timeframe to put off difficult decisions.

Tehran threatened on Monday to inflict "serious" damage in retaliation for US strikes on the Islamic republic's nuclear facilities, as the Iran-Israel war entered its 11th day despite calls for de-escalation.

Defiant about potential fines after police declared a ban, organisers and volunteers are working to ensure Saturday's Budapest Pride march is the largest Hungary has ever seen.

When wedding season comes in India, the phone of child rights activist Tatwashil Kamble never stops ringing with appeals to stop girls from being married off due to poverty.

At least 20 people were killed Sunday in a suicide attack on a church in Damascus, authorities said, with Syria's interior ministry blaming a member of the Islamic State group.

Unprecedented US strikes have wrecked Iran's nuclear program, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday as Washington sought to assess what remained of the three targeted sites.

Israelis expressed relief and optimism Sunday after US President Donald Trump ordered air strikes on Iran, 10 days into a war that has widespread public support.

For nearly a half-century the United States has squabbled with Iran's Islamic republic but the conflict has largely been left in the shadows, with US policymakers believing, often reluctantly, that diplomacy was preferable.

With a monthly pension barely sufficient to buy 15 eggs or a small bag of rice, Cuba's elderly struggle to make ends meet in one of Latin America's poorest and fastest-aging countries.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he had held "in depth" talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on a rare visit to arch-foe Turkey Friday, in what Yerevan described as a "historic" step toward regional peace.

Britain's parliament took a historic step towards allowing euthanasia on Friday when MPs backed contentious legislation that would introduce assisted dying for terminally ill people.

European foreign ministers will hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart on Friday, as President Donald Trump mulls the prospect of US involvement in the Iran-Israel war.

President Donald Trump's proposed "Golden Dome" defence system is a plan that will face mammoth technical and financial hurdles, and could increase global insecurity, experts say.

Governments around the world are evacuating thousands of their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiralling Israel-Iran conflict, organising buses and planes and in some cases assisting people crossing borders on foot.

Life in 1990s former Yugoslavia was a nightmare of war, economic collapse and an all-powerful mafia.

Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra apologised Thursday for a leaked phone call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen that has provoked widespread anger and put her government on the brink of collapse.

For days, Syrians have watched as Iranian missiles and Israeli interceptors light up the skies over their territory, but the new government in Damascus has so far remained officially silent on the unprecedented conflict.

The Iran-Israel war has helped strengthen Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu domestically and overseas, just as his grip on power looked vulnerable.

Israel said it struck a nuclear site near Tehran on Wednesday, while Iran said it fired hypersonic missiles as the arch foes traded fire for a sixth day.

Bustling Taipei-style shopping streets, majestic temples to the island's deities and thriving factories dot the eastern Chinese city of Kunshan, for years a hub for Taiwanese businesses.

Aynullah Rahimi's family has for decades tended the old cemetery in Kabul reserved for non-Afghans, but since the country's latest war ended and foreigners left in droves, he says few now enter the oasis of quiet in the capital.

Mizan Hossain fell 10 metres (33-foot) from the top of a ship he was cutting up on Chittagong beach in Bangladesh -- where the majority of the world's maritime giants meet their end -- when the vibrations shook him from the upper deck.

In Iraqi airspace, Iranian missiles and drones have crossed paths with Israeli warplanes, forcing Baghdad to step up efforts to avoid being drawn into the region's latest conflict.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet Central Asian leaders at a summit in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, his second trip to the region in under a year as Beijing competes with Russia for influence there.

In the Venezuelan mining community of El Dorado, the majority of residents carry around gold instead of cards or cash to pay for groceries.

Irish rappers Kneecap are "unfazed" by their legal problems and controversies kicked up by their anti-Israel pro-Palestinian statements, friend and film director Rich Peppiatt told AFP. Peppiatt helped create the Kneecap phenomenon with his 2024 semi-fictionalised film about the hip-hop group from Belfast, who are now playing major festivals around the world.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has weathered a series of challenges but Israel's unprecedented strikes mark his most serious crisis yet, threatening both the clerical system he leads and his own physical survival.

The "headwinds" of prizemoney and rival racing festivals are even more concerning than they were last year but nevertheless the quality of foreign runners at Royal Ascot is "pretty positive", director of racing Nick Smith told AFP. The five-day meeting -- described by Hong Kong-based Australian trainer David Hayes as "Melbourne Cup week on steroids" -- which starts on Tuesday is commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Royal Procession.

Israel and Iran traded heavy fire for a third straight day on Sunday, with mounting casualties and expanding targets marking a sharp escalation in hostilities between the longtime foes.