POLITICS & POLICY

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday announced a surprise Easter truce in Ukraine, set to last until midnight on Sunday in what would be the most significant pause in the fighting throughout the three-year conflict.

The United States and Iran are set to resume high-stakes talks Saturday on Tehran's nuclear programme, a week after an initial round of discussions that both sides described as "constructive".

President Donald Trump said Thursday that the United States was in talks with China on tariffs, adding that he was confident the world's largest economies could make a deal to end a bitter trade war.

The United States unveiled new port fees on Chinese built and operated ships Thursday, in a bid to boost the domestic shipbuilding industry and curb China's dominance in the sector.

American Senator Chris Van Hollen said Thursday he had met with a Salvadoran man wrongfully deported to his home country by the Trump administration, in a case that has sparked outrage in the United States.

Seated on the pavement outside a bank in central Damascus, Abu Fares's face is worn with exhaustion as he waits to collect a small portion of his pension.

It had been nearly two years since AFP journalist Abdelmoneim Abu Idris Ali set foot in his home in war-torn Khartoum, after the sound of children playing in the street gave way to the fearsome fire of machine guns.

While China's leaders use their economic and political might to fight Donald Trump's trade war "to the end", its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online.

Hamas late Thursday signalled rejection of Israel's latest truce proposal and called for a "comprehensive" deal to end the 18-month-long war.

France on Thursday hailed talks on the Ukraine war between top US and European officials during which US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reaffirmed a US peace plan.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday hailed rare talks involving top US, European and Ukrainian officials as a "very important occasion for convergence" as Kyiv's allies seek to rekindle stalled ceasefire efforts amid transatlantic tensions.

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said Thursday that Iran and the United States were running out of time to secure a deal as they prepare to hold fresh nuclear talks this weekend.

As President Donald Trump's tariffs threaten the US economy, questions are being asked about how long the dollar can maintain its status as the world's key trading and reserve currency.

According to the Australian Academy of Science president, professor Chennupati Jagadish AC, Australia must act quickly to capitalize on what he called an "urgent and unparalleled opportunity" to attract the smartest minds leaving the United States."

Gaza's civil defence agency said Thursday that a series of Israeli air strikes killed at least 37 people, most of them in encampments for displaced civilians, as Israel pressed its unrelenting military offensive in the Palestinian territory.

US President Donald Trump called Harvard a "joke" Wednesday and said it should lose its government research contracts after the prestigious university refused demands that it accept outside political supervision.

Astronomers announced Thursday that they had detected the most promising "hints" of potential life on a planet beyond our solar system, though other scientists expressed scepticism.

Assailants targeted cars and a building lobby linked to prison staff in France overnight, the authorities said Wednesday, the latest in a series of coordinated attacks that have put the government on edge.

Between June 28, 2023 -- the day the inquiry released its report -- and March 28, 2025, when parliament was dissolved, lawmakers from both major parties accepted 312 complimentary tickets to sporting events.

Cod and herring are normally more likely to be on the dinner menu than the negotiating table at European security talks.

Like thousands of senior citizens in Ukraine, Zinaida Gyrenko was spending the sunset years of her life in a shelter, her retirement upended by Russia's invasion.

Sheltering in the shade of a bus repurposed into a mobile museum, Mean Loeuy tells a group of children about the hell he went through in a Khmer Rouge labour camp.

Sudan on Tuesday marked two years of a war that has killed tens of thousands, displaced 13 million and triggered the world's worst humanitarian crisis -- with no sign of peace.

"We obviously do not want to see Russian influence in our region – our position is we stand with Ukraine," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. "We regard Vladimir Putin as an authoritarian leader who has broken international law, who's attacking the sovereignty of the nation of Ukraine."

US President Donald Trump resumed his attempts Monday to blame Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for Russia's invasion, falsely accusing him of responsibility for "millions" of deaths.

China's President Xi Jinping urged Vietnam to join forces in upholding free trade, before wrapping up a visit to Hanoi on Tuesday which President Donald Trump said was aiming to "screw" the United States.

The blistering tariff war launched by Donald Trump this month cast a shadow Tuesday as businesses met to strike deals at a trade show in southern China, for decades a key hub for exports to the United States.

US Vice President JD Vance hailed his country's transatlantic alliances, striking a more positive note, but in an interview urged European states to show greater independence.

Senior international officials gather in London on Tuesday aiming to chart a pathway to peace for Sudan on the second anniversary of its brutal civil conflict, but without the presence of the warring parties.