POLITICS & POLICY

Donald Trump's administration on Thursday revoked Harvard's ability to enroll foreign nationals, putting the future of thousands of students at risk and threatening the prestigious university with a huge financial blow.

Plumes of smoke rose Thursday over the northern Gaza Strip where Israel's military urged civilians to evacuate, as rescuers said Israeli strikes across the territory killed more than 50 people.

Lyudmila Vasilyeva, 84, survived the Siege of Leningrad in World War II as a child.

Director Joachim Trier found himself crying behind the camera as he shot "Sentimental Value", his moving new tale about a quietly fractured family that got an extraordinary 19-minute standing ovation Thursday at the end of its premiere at the Cannes film festival.

Two Israeli embassy staffers were shot dead late Wednesday outside a Jewish museum in Washington by a gunman who shouted "free Palestine," authorities said, with US, Israeli and other world leaders expressing outrage over the killings.

A major accident occurred at the launch ceremony for a new North Korean naval destroyer, state media reported Thursday, with leader Kim Jong Un calling the mishap a "criminal act".

For world leaders an invitation to the Oval Office used to be a coveted prize.

President Donald Trump ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday by playing him a video that he claimed proved genocide is being committed against white people, driving farmers to flee to the United States.

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.