POLITICS & POLICY

Israel said Monday that Hamas had not yet provided the status of 34 hostages the group declared it was ready to release in the first phase of a potential exchange deal.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday urged Ukraine to have "realistic" expectations on territory as its fight against the Russian invasion heads into a fourth year, saying he saw no "quick and easy solution" to the conflict.

Elon Musk's controversial plan for a live chat with a German extreme-right leader on X this week is allowed under European Union laws but will be scrutinised for potential violations of electoral interference rules, Brussels said on Monday.

Austria's conservatives said Sunday they were ready to start negotiations with the far-right Freedom party (FPOe) to form a new government, a policy U-turn after coalition talks with two centrist parties failed.

North Korea on Monday fired a missile as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited South Korea, where he warned Pyongyang was working ever more closely with Russia on advanced space technology.

French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo unveiled a special edition Monday to mark 10 years since an attack on its offices by Islamist gunmen that decimated its staff.

More than a hundred shaven-headed men pour out of their Yangon hostel around 6 am for a day of weightlifting, karate drills, dancing and Buddhist prayer -- drug rehabilitation, Myanmar style.

South Korean anti-graft investigators asked police Monday to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, after he fended off their week-long efforts to bring him into custody over his failed martial law bid.

Surreal narco-musical film "Emilia Perez" and actress Demi Moore were among the early winners at the Golden Globes on Sunday, where a crowded field of movies vied for glory at the year's first major showbiz awards gala.

His orange henna-dyed beard and striking eyewear would make him easy to pick out in a crowd, but Abdul Qadir Mumin has remained elusive.

Russia said Sunday that Ukraine had launched a "counterattack" in the western border region of Kursk, where Kyiv's forces began a shock ground offensive last August.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday opened a visit to crisis-riven South Korea, where he will seek delicately to encourage continuity with the policies, but not tactics, of the impeached president.

Israel pounded the Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing at least 23 people according to rescuers, nearly 15 months into the war with Hamas Palestinian militants.

Nicolas Sarkozy, who ruled France as a tough-talking right-wing president from 2007 to 2012, is seen by supporters as a dynamic saviour of his country but by detractors as a vulgar populist mired in corruption.

Thousands of South Koreans braved a snowstorm Sunday to rally in support or opposition of President Yoon Suk Yeol, suspended over a failed martial law bid and resisting arrest a day before the warrant expires.

Rescuers in Gaza said on Saturday that Israeli strikes across the Palestinian territory killed more than 30 people, the day after Hamas militants said peace talks were to resume.

South Korean investigators attempted to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol at his residence Friday over a failed martial law bid but were blocked by his security forces.

The new US Congress was thrown into chaos on its first day Friday as rebel right-wing Republicans defied incoming president Donald Trump to block Mike Johnson from returning as speaker of the House of Representatives.

The Israeli military reported three rockets targetinh its territory on Friday from the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian rescuers said Israeli air strikes killed at least 16 people, including children.

A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled that US regulators overstepped their authority by reinstating "net neutrality" rules governing internet service providers, dealing a blow to the Biden administration.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit South Korea for talks next week, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday, with the country mired in political turmoil as its impeached president resists arrest.

World food commodity prices declined by 2.1 percent in 2024 compared to the previous year, the FAO said on Friday, but they remain considerably higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic.

French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo is set to publish a special God-mocking edition next week to mark 10 years since an attack on its offices by jihadist gunmen that left eight staff members dead.

Hollywood's awards season heats up Sunday at the Golden Globes, with surreal narco-thriller musical "Emilia Perez" -- about a Mexican drug lord who transitions to life as a woman -- leading the charge.

Saudi Arabia has put six Iranians to death for drug trafficking, the interior ministry said Wednesday, after a year in which it carried out a record number of executions, according to an AFP tally of official reports.

Under the Albanese government's New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), pollution benchmarks will be set for new vehicles, with manufacturers facing a tax of AU$100 for every gram of CO2 per kilometer their vehicles exceed the limit.

The space in which refugee Shaharzad has to live has shrunk to the small courtyard of a guesthouse in Pakistan's capital, reminiscent of her life under Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Wednesday that an Israeli air strike in the territory's north killed at least 15 people, marking what the rescuers called the New Year's first deadly attack.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday vowed that his country would use 2025 to fight for an end to Russia's nearly three-year-long invasion by any means necessary.