POLITICS & POLICY

Yuri Feniuk's relatives pleaded with him not to return to the front line in eastern Ukraine when he finally made it home, demoralised and weakened, after nearly one year in Russian captivity.

South Africa's biggest opposition party has triggered a furious row by appearing to call into question the country's hard won reputation for holding fair elections.

Once a bustling Palestinian town with sought-after restaurants and auto mechanics, Huwara in the occupied West Bank has been hit hard by the fallout from Hamas's October 7 attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday urged Russians to vote for him at a "difficult" time for the country, hours before polls open and as Kyiv launched a barrage of deadly attacks on Russian border regions.

A first boat loaded with 200 tonnes of food aid was making slow progress towards the Gaza Strip on Thursday as efforts grew to bring more humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian territory besieged by Israel.

Donor nations, aid agencies and charities pushed on with efforts Wednesday to rush food to war-torn Gaza by land, air and sea after the EU top diplomat said starvation had become "a weapon of war".

Sudan this week entered its second straight Ramadan in the throes of a deadly war that has left much of the country gripped by the spectre of famine.

Kremlin critic and chess legend Garry Kasparov on Tuesday called for a stronger Western response to Moscow's aggression in Ukraine and said Russian dissident voices must be included in efforts to stand up to Vladimir Putin.

Pope Francis is a passionate advocate for peace but his latest controversial comments on Ukraine clash with the Vatican's official line and risk hampering its diplomatic efforts to end the war with Russia.

The first day of Ramadan came and went in Gaza, with residents marking a joyless iftar against a backdrop of famine, disease and displacement as the war in the besieged territory ground on more than five months after it began.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has been written off many times during a turbulent decade in power.

The US said Monday that emergency talks were a "critical moment" in addressing spiraling instability in Haiti, where gang violence has crippled the capital and forced foreign diplomats to evacuate.

There were tears and emotional tributes Monday as Spain and the European Union paid tribute to the 192 victims of March 14, 2004, Madrid train bombings that marked the start of mass Islamist attacks in Europe.

Catherine, Princess of Wales on Monday apologised and admitted to editing an official portrait of her released by the palace, after AFP and other agencies withdrew the image.

Gaza's deadliest war showed no signs of abating as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began Monday amid a gruelling humanitarian crisis that has pushed much of the territory to the brink of starvation.

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins on Monday, Middle Eastern nations have announced, with the king of Saudi Arabia using the occasion to call for an end to the "heinous crimes" taking place in war-torn Gaza.

Reigning Grand Slam champions Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz turned in dominating performances on Sunday to roll into the fourth round of the ATP-WTA Indian Wells Masters.

Deadly fighting raged on in Gaza on Sunday, with no truce in sight on the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and a dire humanitarian crisis gripping the besieged Palestinian territory.

Students were just about to settle into their classes after singing Nigeria's national anthem when the gunshots rang out.

A dual referendum in Ireland on redefining family and women's roles in the constitution has been "comprehensively" defeated, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Saturday.

A shadowy political party that ruled Karachi for more than three decades, overseeing the city's descent into a swamp of organised crime, has risen from the ashes in Pakistan's tainted elections.

Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of Pakistan's slain first female premier Benazir Bhutto who has had a life storied equally by tragedy and farce, is set to become president for a second time on Saturday.

A jury in New York on Friday found former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez guilty of trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States, enriching himself while protecting and abetting some of the region's most infamous drug cartels.

People around the world marked International Women's Day Friday with protests, demonstrations and celebrations.

Nigeria's President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Friday sent troops to rescue more than 250 pupils kidnapped by gunmen from a school in the country's northwest in one of the largest mass abductions in three years.

"I don't sleep anymore," Latifa Abu Hamid said while looking at pictures of her children hanging on the walls of her living room, two women and 10 men.

US President Joe Biden warned Israel on Thursday that it cannot use aid as a "bargaining chip" in its fight against Hamas and called for an immediate temporary ceasefire in Gaza, where fears of a looming famine have multiplied.

Student activist Lin Lin led protests against Myanmar's junta, defying the generals for months before being hunted down and caught.

President Joe Biden launched a fiery attack on his "dangerous" November presidential election rival Donald Trump in Thursday's State of the Union address, warning that US democracy is under "assault."