International

Nine people have been injured, four of them seriously, after a person released smoke bombs at a Taipei subway station and then attacked bystanders, the official Central News Agency said.

President Vladimir Putin offered no compromise on his terms for ending the war in Ukraine on Friday and accused the European Union of attempting "daylight robbery" of Russian assets.

Police and paramilitary troops fanned out across Dhaka and other cities in Bangladesh on Friday after violent protests overnight over the death of a popular youth leader, with concerns of further unrest ahead of national elections in which he was due to run.

The suspect in the mass shooting at Brown University last weekend is dead, a US attorney said, as authorities investigate whether the same person killed a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor two days after the rampage at Brown.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Poland's MAGA-aligned President Karol Nawrocki in Warsaw on Friday as the Ukrainian leader tries to shore up relations with a key ally at a crucial moment for Kyiv's war effort.

There is no evidence indicating that the two suspects involved in the Bondi Beach attack received any form of military training while in the Philippines, the country's National Security Adviser said on Wednesday.

At least 12 people were killed and three others abducted when gunmen attacked a mining site in Atoso village in Nigeria's restive Plateau state, a local group leader said on Wednesday.

Russia launched a "massive" drone attack on Ukraine's central Cherkasy region, injuring six people and triggering a blackout in part of Cherkasy city, the local governor said on Thursday.

The United Nations and aid groups have warned on Wednesday that humanitarian operations in the Palestinian territories, particularly Gaza, were at risk of collapse if Israel does not lift impediments that include a "vague, arbitrary, and highly politicised" registration process.

Israel has approved a deal that will supply natural gas to Egypt, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, describing it as the country's largest-ever gas deal.

The United States has approved $11.1 billion in arms sales to Taiwan on Wednesday, the largest ever US weapons package for the island which is under increasing military pressure from China.

President Donald Trump has expanded a list of countries subject to a full travel ban on Tuesday, prohibiting citizens from an additional seven countries, including passports from Syria and Palestine, from entering the United States.

The lower house of Indian parliament on Wednesday voted in favour of an atomic energy bill that will allow private participation in the country's nuclear power sector.

Doctors in England began a five-day strike on Wednesday over pay and working conditions during a surge in flu cases and with no end in sight to an increasingly bitter dispute with the government.

An Israeli settler shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian in the town of Tuqu' on Tuesday after the funeral of another teenager, the town's mayor said.

France's Louvre museum in Paris partially reopened on Wednesday despite its staff unanimously voting to extend a strike they began on Monday over pay and working conditions.

Authorities in India's capital Delhi rolled out strict measures on Wednesday in an attempt to curb pollution, including a ban on vehicles not compliant with latest emission control norms and regulating attendance in private and government offices.

India summoned Bangladesh’s High Commissioner to New Delhi to convey its strong concerns on Wednesday over what it described as a deteriorating security situation in Bangladesh, particularly threats targeting the Indian Mission in Dhaka.

A man who allegedly opened fire on Sydney's famed Bondi Beach has been charged with 59 offences, including murder and terrorism, police said on Wednesday.

Myanmar’s junta has said that detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi is "in good health," a day after her son told Reuters he has received little information about the 80-year-old’s condition and fears she could die without him knowing.

The alleged gunman shot dead by police during Sunday's attack on Australia's Bondi beach was originally from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad and his family did not know about his 'radical mindset', Indian police said on Tuesday.

 US President Donald Trump has ordered on Tuesday a "blockade" of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, in Washington's latest move to increase pressure on Nicolas Maduro's government, targeting its main source of income.

The Israeli military have shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian during a raid on the town of Tuqu' on Monday, the Palestinian health ministry said, the latest deadly incident in a recent surge of violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

US President Donald Trump has sued the BBC on Monday for defamation over edited clips of a speech that made it appear he directed supporters to storm the US Capitol, opening an international front in his fight against media coverage he deems untrue or unfair.

Four people are facing criminal charges in connection with what Attorney General Pam Bondi described on Monday as a foiled bomb plot that contemplated multiple targets, including US immigration agents and their vehicles.

Hong Kong's High Court on Monday found pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai guilty of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and to publish seditious material under a China-imposed national security law that could see him jailed for life.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will resume talks with US President Donald Trump's envoys in Berlin on Monday, after the US side said a "lot of progress" had been made on ending Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.

At least 37 people have been killed in flash floods triggered by torrential rains in Morocco's Atlantic coastal province of Safi, Moroccan authorities said on Monday.

A Sydney resident who wrestled a gun from one of the alleged attackers during the mass shooting at Bondi Beach is recovering in hospital after undergoing surgery for bullet wounds to his arm and hand, his family said.

Seventeen people were killed and 20 injured after a bus carrying school children fell off a cliff in a rural area in northern Colombia, the local governor said on Sunday night.

Australia signalled plans for tougher gun laws on Monday as the country began mourning victims of its worst mass shooting in almost 30 years, in which a father and son duo killed 15 people at Sydney's Bondi Beach.

The man held as a "person of interest" in the Brown University shooting that left two students dead and nine injured will be released from custody, authorities said on Sunday night.

At least 12 people were killed and almost 30 wounded when gunmen opened fire at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Sunday in what Australian police and officials described as a terrorist attack.

A man has been taken into custody on Sunday at a Rhode Island hotel and held as a "person of interest" in the Brown University shooting that left two students dead and nine wounded amid year-end final exams at the Ivy League school, authorities said.

Israel's assassination of a senior Hamas commander threatens the viability of the ceasefire in Gaza, the chief negotiator of the group said on Sunday, calling on US President Donald Trump to demand Israel comply with the terms of the truce.

Ukraine has relinquished its ambition of joining the NATO military alliance in exchange for Western security guarantees as a compromise to end the war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said ahead of talks with US envoys in Berlin.

Thailand announced a curfew in its southeastern Trat province on Sunday as fighting with Cambodia spread to coastal areas of a disputed border region, two days after US President and would-be peacemaker Donald Trump said the sides had agreed to stop.

India tightened anti-pollution measures in Delhi and adjoining areas after the capital's air quality deteriorated to the season's worst.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, fresh from a meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin, said he hopes to discuss a Ukraine-Russia peace plan with US President Donald Trump, adding that "peace is not far away".

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko freed 123 prisoners on Saturday including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and leading opposition figure Maria Kalesnikava after two days of talks with an envoy for President Donald Trump, a US statement said.

The death toll from floods and landslides that struck three provinces on Indonesia's Sumatra Island has exceeded 1,003, with 218 people still missing, according to the latest data released Saturday by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB).

Ukraine's southern port city of Odesa and the surrounding region suffered major blackouts on Saturday after a large overnight Russian attack on the power grid across the country.

Two people were killed overnight in a Ukrainian drone strike on the Russian city of Saratov, regional governor Roman Busargin said on Saturday.

Thailand's leader vowed to keep fighting on the disputed border with Cambodia as fighter jets struck targets on Saturday, hours after US President Donald Trump said he had brokered a ceasefire.

The European Union agreed on Friday to indefinitely freeze Russian central bank assets held in Europe, removing a big obstacle to using the cash to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia.

Severe rainfall has triggered major flooding in the US state of Washington, prompting evacuation orders for tens of thousands of residents.

At least 30 people have been killed, including patients, and 70 injured after an airstrike by the country's ruling junta hit a hospital in Myanmar's western Rakhine state, according to a rebel group, an aid worker and a witness.

Japan has lifted a tsunami advisory issued after an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 hit the country's northeastern region on Friday, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.

Thailand's caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul revealed on Friday he was scheduled to speak to US President Donald Trump late in the day, as border clashes between Cambodia and Thailand continued for a fifth day.

Bangladesh will hold parliamentary elections on February 12, its first national vote since a deadly student-led uprising forced then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to India last year.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado said she planned to take her award back to Venezuela, but declined to say on Thursday when she would return to her home country after leaving in great secrecy to receive the honour.

Torrential rain swept across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, flooding hundreds of tents sheltering families displaced by two years of war, and leading to the death of a baby due to exposure, local health officials said.

The US has seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, a move that sent oil prices higher and sharply escalated tensions between Washington and Caracas.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday took aim at young people parading themselves on social media a day after a world-first ban on under-16s went live, saying the rollout was always going to be bumpy but would ultimately save lives.

Bangladesh's Election Commission will announce on Thursday the date of parliamentary elections scheduled for February, a commission official said, after a student-led uprising toppled Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in 2024.

The US has seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, a move that sent oil prices higher and sharply escalated tensions between Washington and Caracas.

A US judge in Manhattan on Wednesday allowed for the public release of records from a grand jury investigation into Jeffrey Epstein because of a law recently passed by Congress, the latest in a string of similar rulings.

An environmental group has filed suit on Wednesday seeking to prevent the US Interior Department from placing an image of President Donald Trump's face on annual entrance passes for national parks and federal recreational areas that go on sale next year.

At least 22 people were killed late on Tuesday after two buildings collapsed in Fez, one of Morocco's oldest cities and a key tourist destination, with the state broadcaster saying the blocks had shown signs of cracking.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is prepared to hold elections within three months if the US and Kyiv's other allies could ensure the security of the vote.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday that Moscow was pleased with the developing military ties between the two countries and ready to help Jakarta in the field of nuclear energy.

An Air India investigation into why one of its Airbus planes conducted eight commercial flights without an airworthiness permit found "systemic failures", with the airline admitting it needed to do better on compliance, a company document showed.

Australian teenagers have taken to social media for the last time to bid farewell to their followers and mourn the loss of the platforms that shaped much of their lives before a world-first ban took effect on Wednesday.

Twelve people have been killed in a residential fire in the southern Chinese city of Shantou, state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday.

The Arab Parliament joined the Arab League in condemning the storming of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) headquarters in East Jerusalem by Israeli forces.

Fighting between Cambodia and Thailand escalated along their contested border on Tuesday, as the Southeast Asian neighbours both said they would not back down in defending their sovereignty.

India has ordered IndiGo to cut 10 per cent of its planned flights after the airline scrapped at least 2,000 services last week because of poor pilot roster planning, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded.

Australia at midnight (1300 GMT) on Wednesday became the first country in the world to ban social media for children under 16, blocking them from platforms including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.

Pope Leo stressed the need to continue with dialogue aiming at a "just and lasting peace" during a meeting on Tuesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Vatican said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar have signed a High-Speed Electric Rail Link agreement that will connect Riyadh and Doha.

A fire broke out at a seven-storey building in Indonesia's capital Jakarta on Tuesday, local broadcaster Kompas TV reported, with 13 people confirmed dead and some still trapped inside.

Gunmen stormed a security checkpoint in Pakistan's northwest near the Afghan border, killing six soldiers, three police and security sources said on Tuesday.

Japanese authorities have lifted tsunami warnings on Tuesday hours after a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake shook northeastern regions, injuring at least 30 people and forcing about 90,000 residents to evacuate their homes.

More than 100 people, including dozens of children, were killed in attacks on a kindergarten in Sudan that continued even as parents and caretakers rushed the wounded to a nearby hospital, the World Health Organization said on Monday.

The United Nations appealed on Monday for a 2026 aid budget only half the size of what it had hoped for this year, acknowledging a plunge in donor funding at a time when humanitarian needs have never been greater.

The leaders of France, Germany and Britain staged a strong show of support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in London on Monday at what they described as a "crucial time" for Kyiv, under US pressure to agree a proposed peace deal with Russia.

A powerful magnitude 7.6 earthquake shook Japan's northeast region late on Monday, prompting tsunami warnings and orders for residents to evacuate.

Israeli police raided the headquarters of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency in East Jerusalem on Monday and raised Israel's flag, in what the agency called a challenge to international law.

Thailand said it launched airstrikes into Cambodia on Monday as fighting broke out in multiple areas along their disputed border, after both countries accused the other of breaching a ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump.

India's IndiGo is battling growing passenger fury over delays in finding and delivering thousands of stranded bags, with social media flooded with photos of luggage piling up at airports after last week's large-scale flight disruptions.

Norwegian police said on Monday they had arrested a suspected shooter after receiving reports of gunfire at Oslo's largest shopping centre.

Nigeria's government has secured the release of 100 students who were abducted last month in Niger state in one of the country's worst mass kidnappings to date, local broadcaster Channels Television reported on Sunday.

An Australian firefighter was killed overnight after he was struck by a tree while trying to control a bushfire that had destroyed homes and burnt large swathes of bushland north of Sydney, authorities said on Monday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he will meet President Donald Trump later this month, saying a second phase of the US president's Gaza plan was close.

US President Donald Trump's outgoing Ukraine envoy said a deal to end the Ukraine war was "really close" and now depended on resolving two main outstanding issues: the future of Ukraine's Donbas region and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Benin's interior minister said on Sunday armed forces had foiled a coup attempt after a group of soldiers in the West African nation claimed on national television to have seized power.

Fourteen people were killed and 34 injured when a passenger bus overturned on a national highway in southern Algeria.

At least 25 people, including tourists, were killed in a fire at a popular entertainment facility in India’s Goa state, the state’s chief minister said on Sunday.

India capped airfares on Saturday as hundreds of passengers gathered outside Bengaluru and Mumbai airports after IndiGo cancelled 385 flights on the fifth day of a crisis at the country's biggest airline that has crippled air travel.

Pakistan and Afghanistan exchanged heavy fire along their border late on Friday, officials from both countries said, killing at least five people amid heightened tensions following failed peace talks last weekend.

Negotiations on consolidating the US-backed truce in the war in Gaza are at a "critical" moment, Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said on Saturday.

Residents in the Indonesian region of Aceh Tamiang climbed over slippery logs and walked for about an hour on Saturday to get aid, as the death toll from floods and landslides that hit Sumatra island this month rose to more than 900 people.

A railway hub near Kyiv was attacked during a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack that damaged the depot and railway carriages, Ukrainian state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said on Saturday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi began summit talks in New Delhi on Friday, as New Delhi rolled out the red carpet for the Russian leader.

Air travel across India was in turmoil for a fourth day after IndiGo cancelled around 500 flights on Friday, including all from the capital New Delhi, after failing to plan for new pilot flying time regulations.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said on Friday that ceasefire talks with Israel are primarily aimed at stopping Israeli hostilities on Lebanese territory, after the Israeli prime minister's office said it seeks economic cooperation.

The US has announced plans to expand the number of countries covered by its travel ban to more than 30, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi on Thursday to start a two-day state visit, and India and Russia both said they want to boost mutual trade and expand the variety of items in transactions.

Hong Kong authorities rushed on Thursday to remove mesh netting on all buildings undergoing renovation across the city after the material was blamed for fanning a blaze last week that has killed at least 159 people.

Residents of Kithulbadde village in central Sri Lanka say they have been left in the lurch after last week's deadly cyclone and many are stuck in relief centres as damaged infrastructure has made them wary of returning home.

Australia's internet regulator said a teen social media ban would be the first domino to fall in a global push to rein in Big Tech, as Meta's Instagram, Facebook and Threads began locking out hundreds of thousands of accounts ahead of a deadline next week.

The Trump administration has announced on Wednesday the increased vetting of applicants for H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, with an internal State Department memo saying that anyone involved in "censorship" of free speech be considered for rejection.

Indonesia will revoke mining permits if companies are found to have violated rules on flood-ravaged Sumatra island, the energy minister said as questions intensified about the role of deforestation in worsening the deadly disaster.

The US has joined 90 other countries at the UN on Wednesday to demand Russia "ensure the immediate, safe and unconditional return of all Ukrainian children who have been forcibly transferred or deported" and urge Moscow to stop the practice.

Hamas said it would hand over a hostage body on Wednesday, after Israeli forensic services concluded that remains returned a day earlier were not from one of two final deceased hostages.

The death toll in Hong Kong's deadliest fire in decades hit 159 on Wednesday, with police revealing that victims included an infant and a 97-year-old as they continued their search for remains in the scorched apartment complex.

Villagers in Sri Lanka used spades on Wednesday to clear away mud as they searched for the bodies of relatives and friends days after 13 homes were flattened by a landslide in the dead of night caused by a cyclone that killed 474 people.

The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will resume on December 30, Malaysia's transport ministry said on Wednesday, more than a decade after the Beijing-bound flight disappeared in one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.

The Indian government scrapped an order to smartphone makers on Wednesday to preload a state-run cybersecurity app on all new devices after an outcry from politicians, privacy advocates and global tech companies over surveillance fears.

Authorities battling floods on Indonesia's island of Sumatra that killed 804 people this week have appealed for more central government help to tackle shortages of funds, food and fuel in relief efforts.

The Trump administration has said it paused all immigration applications on Tuesday, including green card and US citizenship processing, filed by immigrants from 19 non-European countries, citing concerns over national security and public safety.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday a deal with Syria is possible and he expects Syrian authorities to establish a demilitarised buffer zone from Damascus to Mount Hermon and other areas.

Palestinian group Hamas said it was handing over the remains of one of the two last hostage bodies still in Gaza on Tuesday, and Israel said it was preparing to receive "findings".

Dr. Badr Abdel Ati, Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Migration, has emphasised the need to move immediately to the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan regarding Gaza, after the near completion of the first phase.

Hong Kong's leader said on Tuesday a judge-led committee will investigate the cause of the city's deadliest fire in decades and review oversight of building renovations blamed for fanning an inferno that killed at least 156 people.

Pope Leo made a fervent appeal to Lebanon's diverse communities to unite to solve the crisis-hit country's myriad problems at a Mass on Tuesday attended by tens of thousands which wrapped up his first overseas trip as Catholic leader.

US President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner were due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday for talks on a possible way to end the war in Ukraine.

Search operations continue across South and Southeast Asia after deadly storms swept across large parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand left hundreds dead.

A teenager suing the Australian government to overturn a ban on social media for under-16s says the measure would make the internet more dangerous for young people and be widely circumvented.

Donald Trump has invited Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House in the "near future," the prime minister's office said on Monday, shortly after the US President said Israel should maintain a strong and true dialogue with Syria.

A son of imprisoned Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on Monday pleaded guilty in a US drug trafficking case, months after his brother struck a similar deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in court on Monday for the first time since asking the country's president for a pardon in his long-running corruption trial, a move backed by close ally US President Donald Trump.

Hong Kong authorities said on Monday they had arrested 13 people for suspected manslaughter in a probe into the city's deadliest fire in decades, pointing to substandard renovation materials for fuelling a blaze that has claimed at least 151 lives.

A Bangladesh court sentenced British lawmaker and former minister Tulip Siddiq in absentia to two years in jail on Monday in a corruption case involving the alleged illegal allocation of a plot of land, prosecutors said.

Rescue teams in western Indonesia were battling on Monday to clear roads cut off by cyclone-induced landslides and floods, as improved weather revealed more of the scale of a disaster that has killed close to 700 people in Southeast Asia.

US President Donald Trump has confirmed that he had spoken with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, but did not provide details on what the two leaders discussed.

The sons of Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Imran Khan fear authorities are concealing "something irreversible" about his condition after more than three weeks with no evidence that he is still alive, one of them said.

Rescuers in Sri Lanka were scrambling on Monday to clear roads and deliver aid to more than half a million people hit by a cyclone last week, as the death toll climbed to 355, with 366 missing, official figures showed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the country's president on Sunday for a pardon in his years-long corruption trial, arguing that criminal proceedings were hindering his ability to govern and a pardon would be good for Israel.

Pope Leo arrived in Lebanon on Sunday, where he is expected to appeal for peace in a country that is a continued target of Israeli air strikes, on the second and final leg of his first overseas trip as leader of the Catholic Church.

The death toll mounted to over 600 from floods and landslides caused by torrential rains across three countries in Southeast Asia, officials said on Sunday, as relief efforts for tens of thousands of displaced people continued over the weekend.

Sri Lanka's death toll from Cyclone Ditwah climbed to 212 with 218 missing, officials said on Sunday, as flood waters breached a dam and rescue operations continued into a fourth day.

More than a thousand people turned out on Sunday to pay tribute to the victims of Hong Kong's deadliest fire in more than 75 years, as Beijing warned it would use a national security law to crack down on any "anti-China" protest in the wake of the fire.

Four people died after 14 people were shot at a family gathering in Stockton in northern California on Saturday night, police said.

Ukrainian naval drones hit two sanctioned tankers in the Black Sea as they headed to a Russian port to load up with oil destined for foreign markets, an official said on Saturday, as Kyiv tries to pile pressure on Russia's vast oil industry.

The number of people confirmed killed in Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip has passed the 70,000 mark, the enclave's health ministry said on Saturday..

Global airlines scrambled on Saturday to fix a software glitch on their Airbus A320 jets as a recall by the European planemaker temporarily grounded aircraft in Asia and Europe and threatened travel in the US during the busiest weekend of the year.

A vast Russian overnight attack on Ukraine killed two people and wounded two dozen, Ukraine's foreign minister said on Saturday, adding that Moscow continued to "kill and destroy" while the world was discussing peace plans for the conflict.

Sir Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, will be boarding Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity and blasting off to space on Sunday.

Singapore is reviewing penalties for violent offences following an outcry over a 12-day prison sentence for a student who strangled his girlfriend until she blacked out.