POLITICS & POLICY

Gazans waited desperately for vital supplies on Wednesday after Israel said it let in dozens of UN trucks but faced mounting international pressure to increase the aid flow and abandon its intensified military campaign.

A day after Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump spoke by phone on Ukraine, showering each other with compliments, Russian home-maker Anastasia had one wish: for Moscow to finish what it started in 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia on Tuesday of delaying peace talks in a bid to pursue its three-year invasion, even as US President Donald Trump pushes for an immediate ceasefire.

Dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi makes his first appearance at an international film festival in 15 years at Cannes on Tuesday, with a story about political prisoners trying to get back at their jailers.

Twin Gazan filmmakers Arab and Tarzan Nasser said they never thought the title of their new film "Once Upon A Time In Gaza" would have such heartbreaking resonance.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 44 people on Tuesday across the war-ravaged Palestinian territory, where Israel has intensified a military offensive aimed at crushing Hamas.

The trial of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro on charges of planning a coup d'etat will open Monday afternoon as the nation's Supreme Court hears from key witnesses, with the far-right politician potentially facing decades in prison.

Young Cameroonian voters hoping for change in this year's elections still face the possibility that 92-year-old President Paul Biya could announce a bid to extend his more than four decades in power.

With its pristine swimming pool, manicured lawns and lush forest backdrop, Villa Baviera, a German-themed settlement of 122 souls in southern Chile, looks like the perfect holiday getaway.

Donald Trump will speak by phone Monday with Russia's Vladimir Putin as part of the US leader's effort to end the grinding war set off by Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Israeli strikes killed at least 22 people in Gaza on Monday, rescuers said, after Israel pledged to let a "basic amount" of food into the territory to avert a hunger crisis.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosts European Union chiefs on Monday for a landmark summit designed to usher in a closer relationship between Britain and the bloc, five years after Brexit.

Israel signalled Sunday that it was open to striking a deal with Hamas that included "ending the fighting" in Gaza, where rescuers reported dozens killed a day after Israel stepped up its offensive.

Pope Leo XIV set the tone for his papacy Sunday with a call to stop exploiting nature and marginalising the poor, before an audience including JD Vance and tens of thousands of pilgrims.

Poland voted on Sunday in a tight presidential election that will be decisive for the future of the country's pro-EU government as well as for abortion and LGBTQ rights.

The Kremlin on Saturday said a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would be possible only after both sides reach an agreement, a day after after Moscow and Kyiv held their first direct talks in more than three years, which did not result in a truce.

US President Donald Trump's claim to have helped end fighting between arch-rivals India and Pakistan has driven a wedge between him and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, analysts say.

The Israeli military announced the early stages of an intensified operation in Gaza aimed at defeating Hamas, with rescuers in the besieged Palestinian territory reporting 10 killed Saturday in fresh strikes.

In a blaze of laser lights, artists from 26 countries were preparing to rip the roof off at Saturday's Eurovision Song Contest final, the world's biggest live music television event.

The first week of testimony in the sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs included a witness core to the case: Casandra Ventura, the music mogul's ex-girlfriend who accuses him of harrowing abuse, coercion and rape.

Iran met with European powers on Friday to discuss its nuclear negotiations with Washington, while US President Donald Trump issued a new threat unless the Iranians "move quickly" towards a deal.

US President Donald Trump said Friday "a lot of people are starving" in the besieged Gaza Strip, where rescuers reported more than 50 deaths in Israeli air strikes since midnight.

Delegations from Moscow and Kyiv will be in Istanbul Friday for what could be their first direct meeting on the conflict in Ukraine since 2022, but the absence of Russian President Vladimir Putin leaves little hope for progress in ending the war.

Attorneys for Sean "Diddy" Combs on Thursday tried to chip away at the credibility of Casandra Ventura, the music mogul's former girlfriend, after two days of her grueling testimony in his trial on sex trafficking charges.

The US Supreme Court appeared divided on Thursday on whether federal judges have the right to issue nationwide blocks to presidential decrees, as they heard arguments about President Donald Trump's bid to scrap birthright citizenship.

Shruti Sharma tearfully hugged her family goodbye and fled her home near the contested border in Kashmir with her three children on the first night of India and Pakistan's worst conflict in decades.

Russia's former culture minister and Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky took part in failed talks with Ukraine at the start of Moscow's invasion in 2022 and has built a career promoting an ultra-patriotic version of Russian history.

However, economists still expect the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to cut interest rates next week, as inflation continues to ease and global economic risks grow.

A Russian delegation landed in Istanbul on Thursday for the first direct peace talks with Ukraine in more than three years, Russian state media reported, but without President Vladimir Putin as many world leaders had urged.