International

Well-wishers laid flowers on Friday at the site in the French mountain town of Annecy where an attacker stabbed four toddlers, as a shocked nation paid tribute to a backpack-wearing student who tried to stop the assault.

Russia unleashed a new air strike on Ukraine overnight, killing at least one person in a combined assault of cruise missiles and attack drones, Ukrainian authorities said.

The shroud of polluted air emanating from Canadian wildfires pushed further down the Atlantic Seaboard, blanketing Washington DC, in an unhealthy haze and prompting many residents of the nation's capital to stay indoors.

Thousands of people were evacuated from several high-rise apartment buildings in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin in recent days after land collapses created large cracks on nearby streets, according to state media and the local government.

Allies around the world have promised to increase their help to Canada in its fight against hundreds of blazes that have swept through the country in its worst-ever start to wildfire season.

Former US President Donald Trump has been indicted by a federal grand jury for retaining classified government documents and obstruction of justice, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Four children and an adult were wounded in a knife attack in a French park on Thursday, police said, leaving some of the victims critically ill in hospital.

An explosion took place inside a mosque in northern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing at least eleven people during the funeral of the Taliban's provincial deputy governor who died in an attack earlier this week, officials said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the flooded southern region of Kherson on Thursday to discuss emergency operations after flooding caused by the destruction of a huge dam.

Ousted Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan was on Thursday due to appeal to several courts for bail on a growing list of charges against him in a bid to avert his arrest, which could risk a repeat of violent protests by his supporters.

India's top wrestlers said they had decided to suspend protests after the country's sports minister promised a swift probe of their federation chief who they accused six months ago of sexually harassing female athletes.

Pope Francis underwent a three-hour operation in a Rome hospital on Wednesday to repair a hernia, which doctors said was successful enough that he should have no limitations on his travels and other activities after he recovers.

The World Bank will support Ukraine by conducting a rapid assessment of damage and needs after Tuesday's destruction of a huge hydroelectric dam on the front lines between Russian and Ukrainian forces, a top bank official said on Wednesday.

Britain will host a global summit on artificial intelligence safety later this year and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden will discuss the technology at their Thursday meeting, the UK government said.

Air India said on Thursday that its replacement flight has taken off from Russia's Magadan for San Francisco, carrying all passengers and crew.

Hundreds of uncontrolled forest fires blazed across Canada on Wednesday, threatening critical infrastructure, forcing evacuations and sending a blanket of smoky air wafting over US cities.

Former US Vice President Mike Pence formally challenged his former boss, Donald Trump, for the Republican presidential nomination on Wednesday.

Air India sent an aircraft on Wednesday to pick up passengers whose Delhi to San Francisco flight was diverted to Russia's Far East after their Boeing plane developed engine trouble, India's aviation minister said.

Pope Francis will have surgery on his abdomen on Wednesday afternoon at Rome's Gemelli hospital, the Vatican said in a statement, adding that the 86-year-old was expected to spend several days in hospital.

Floodwaters in southern Ukraine were expected to crest on Wednesday, with tens of thousands of civilians fleeing in peril from the destruction of a vast dam that both sides called an act of wartime sabotage.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the early hours of Wednesday and discussed a wide range of bilateral issues, in an "open, candid" conversation, a US official said.

Two people were shot dead and several wounded by gunfire that erupted in a park in Richmond, Virginia, on Tuesday as high school graduates and their families emerged from a theatre where commencement exercises had just concluded, police said.

Indian authorities made fervent appeals to families on Tuesday to help identify over 100 unclaimed bodies kept in hospitals and mortuaries after 275 people were killed in the country's deadliest rail crash in over two decades.

Blasts at a Soviet-era dam in the Russian-controlled part of southern Ukraine on Tuesday unleashed floodwaters across the war zone, according to both Ukrainian and Russian forces who blamed each other for blowing-up the dam.

Russia said on Tuesday it had thwarted another major Ukrainian offensive in Donetsk, inflicting heavy losses, while Ukraine hailed progress in fighting in the east, although it was unclear if it marked the start of a long-anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Former US Vice President Mike Pence will seek the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, according to a filing on Monday with the Federal Election Commission.

Around 60 Afghan girls were hospitalised after being poisoned at their school in northern Afghanistan, police said on Monday.

Shelling hit western areas of Sudan's capital on Monday morning after rival military factions fought through the night, residents said, with reports of deepening lawlessness in Khartoum and in the western region of Darfur.

India's official investigation into its deadliest rail crash in over two decades began on Monday, after preliminary findings pointed to signal failure as the likely cause for a collision that killed at least 275 people and injured 1,200.

The US Navy has released a video of what it called an "unsafe interaction" in the Taiwan Strait, in which a Chinese warship crossed in front of a US destroyer in the sensitive waterway that separates democratically governed Taiwan from China.

Russia said on Monday that its forces had thwarted a major Ukrainian offensive at five points along the front in the southern Ukrainian region of Donetsk and killed hundreds of pro-Kyiv troops.

The United States scrambled F-16 fighter jets in a supersonic chase of a light aircraft with an unresponsive pilot that violated airspace in the Washington D.C. area and later crashed into the mountains of Virginia, officials said.

Indian rescue workers completed operations on Sunday after the country's deadliest rail crash in more than two decades, with signal failure emerging as the likely cause of an accident that killed at least 275 people.

A landslide at a mine in China's southwestern Sichuan province on Sunday killed 19 people, Chinese state media outlet CCTV reported.

Residents of Sudan's capital Khartoum reported a sharp escalation of clashes in several areas of the capital on Sunday after the expiry of a ceasefire deal between rival military factions brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Pakistan's embattled former Prime Minister Imran Khan has accused the powerful military and its intelligence agency of openly trying to destroy his political party, saying he had "no doubt" he would be tried in a military court and thrown in jail.

Russia launched a fresh wave of air strikes against Ukraine early on Sunday, striking an airfield in a central region but failing to hit the capital Kyiv.

Hong Kong police said on Sunday they had detained eight people near a park, four of them for "seditious intention and disorderly conduct", as authorities tightened security on the 34th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Journalists from "unfriendly countries" would not be allowed into the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, which President Vladimir Putin has used to showcase the Russian economy to global investors.

Indonesia's defence minister, Prabowo Subianto, proposed a peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, calling for a demilitarised zone and a United Nations referendum in what he called disputed territory.

Russia will come back to full compliance with the New START treaty if Washington abandons its "hostile stance" toward Moscow, Russian news agencies reported, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

South Korea's defence minister said that some countries were "ignoring North Korea's unlawful behaviour", which he said threatens to weaken UN sanctions against its missile and nuclear programmes.

Ukraine is ready to launch its long-awaited counteroffensive to recapture Russian-occupied territory, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview published on Saturday.

At least 261 people have died in India's worst rail accident in over two decades, officials said on Saturday, after a passenger train went off the tracks and hit another one in the east of the country.

US President Joe Biden declared a "crisis averted" on Friday in his first address from the White House's Oval Office, touting the passage of a bill to suspend the US debt ceiling and avoid economic catastrophe.

At least 300 people were injured and many were feared dead after a passenger train derailed after crashing into a goods train in India's Odisha state on Friday.

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that certain "ill-wishers" were stepping up efforts to destabilise Russia and urged members of his cabinet not to allow this "under any circumstances".

Sudan's warring parties clashed in the capital overnight and into Friday morning after talks aimed at maintaining a ceasefire and alleviating a humanitarian crisis collapsed, prompting the US to issue sanctions.

Tanzania has declared the end of its first-ever outbreak of Marburg, a deadly Ebola-like virus with a fatality rate of up to 88 per cent, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.

Ukrainian forces in Kyiv said on Friday they shot down 36 Russian missiles and drones in and around the capital overnight, with two people injured by falling debris before authorities lifted air raid alerts across most of the country.

President Joe Biden tripped and fell after handing out the last diploma at a graduation ceremony at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado on Thursday.

Having sweltered through May, southern and eastern China face more weeks of unrelenting heatwaves, putting power grids under strain as demand for air-conditioning soars in mega-cities like Shanghai.

Parts of Japan were slammed by torrential rain on Friday as Typhoon Mawar neared, bringing winds and heavy rain to a wide swathe of the country and prompting authorities to advise tens of thousands to evacuate.

Three people were taken to hospital after an attack in the Swedish town of Eskilstuna on Thursday in what appeared to be an assault with a weapon, local police said.

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Kyiv had not fixed a date for a summit that would set parameters to end the war because Kyiv was working to bring as many nations as possible to the table.

German prosecutors said on Thursday they had secured some items during a search of a reservoir in Portugal in the 16-year-old hunt for missing British girl Madeleine McCann which they would evaluate in the coming days and weeks.

A senior US official said violations of a ceasefire in Sudan have led Washington to "seriously question" commitments by warring parties to allow access for humanitarian aid as clashes continued on Thursday in the capital Khartoum.

Another night-time attack on eastern districts of Kyiv on Thursday killed three people and injured several, city officials said.

North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, leader Kim Jong Un's sister, said her country would soon put a military spy satellite into orbit and promised Pyongyang would increase its military surveillance capabilities, state media KCNA reported on Thursday.

A divided U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to suspend the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling on Wednesday, with majority support from both Democrats and Republicans to overcome opposition from hardline conservatives and avoid a catastrophic default.

Sudan's army suspended talks with a rival paramilitary force on Wednesday over a ceasefire and about enabling humanitarian access, a Sudanese diplomatic source said, raising fears of fresh bloodshed in the more than six-week-old conflict.

The bail for Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been extended until June 19 in the Al Qadir Trust graft case, his lawyer said on Wednesday.

A peculiar sight greeted residents and visitors in Venice earlier this week as waters in the city's main canal turned fluorescent green.

German authorities have arrested seven suspected supporters of the IS terror group as part of an investigation into terrorist financing, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Ukrainian shelling killed five people in a village in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, Moscow-installed officials said on Wednesday, while a drone attack caused a fire at an oil refinery in southern Russia.

An astronaut team of two Saudis and two Americans, including the first Arab woman sent into orbit, splashed down safely off Florida on Tuesday night, capping an eight-day research mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

A North Korean satellite launch on Wednesday ended in failure, sending the booster and payload plunging into the sea, North Korean state media said, and the South's military said it had recovered parts of the launch vehicle.

A Chinese fighter jet carried out an "unnecessarily aggressive" maneuver near a US military plane over the South China Sea in international airspace, the United States said on Tuesday.

India's top wrestlers were talked out of their plans to toss their medals into the river Ganges on Tuesday as part of their ongoing demand to arrest their federation chief over sexual harassment allegations.

Ukraine launched its biggest-ever drone attack on Moscow on Tuesday but air defences destroyed all eight of the drones, Russia said, bringing the 15-month war in Ukraine to the heart of the capital.

Pakistani former prime minister Imran Khan was on Tuesday granted bail on a new charge of abetting violence against the military by his protesting supporters after he was arrested and detained on May 9 in a corruption case, his lawyer said.

Saudi astronaut Rayyanah Barnawi has bid an emotional farewell to the International Space Station and its crew. 

North Korea will launch its first military reconnaissance satellite in June for monitoring US activities, state media KCNA reported on Tuesday, drawing criticism over its potential use of banned missile technology.

Clashes subsided in Sudan's capital on Tuesday though fighting could be heard in some areas, residents said, after military factions battling for more than six weeks agreed to extend a ceasefire aimed at allowing aid to reach civilians.

Russia on Monday said US Senator Lindsey Graham should say publicly if he believes his words were taken out of context by a Ukrainian state video edit of his comments about the war that provoked widespread condemnation in Moscow.

Russia launched another wave of attacks on Kyiv in the early hours of Tuesday and the city's air defence systems were shooting down incoming missiles, while air raid sirens blared in several other regions.

A 15-year-old girl who is accused of having started a fire at a school dormitory in Guyana last week was charged with 19 murders on Monday.

President Tayyip Erdogan extended his two decades in power in elections on Sunday, winning a mandate to pursue increasingly authoritarian policies which have polarised Turkey and strengthened its position as a regional military power.

Heavy and sustained clashes could be heard on Monday in parts of Sudan's capital, residents said, hours before the expiry of a shaky ceasefire deal that had brought some respite from a six-week-old conflict but little humanitarian access.

The waters in Venice's main canal turned fluorescent green on Sunday in the area near the Rialto bridge and authorities are seeking to trace the cause, Italy's fire department said.

Russia launched a new wave of air attacks on Kyiv in early hours on Monday using drones and cruise missiles, with the military administration of the Ukrainian capital saying defence forces shot down more than 40 targets.

US President Joe Biden on Sunday finalized a budget agreement with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to suspend the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling until January 1, 2025, and said the deal was ready to move to Congress for a vote.

Saudi Arabia and the United States called on Sunday for the extension of a ceasefire deal that has brought some let-up in a six-week war between military factions but little humanitarian relief for civilians.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India's new parliament building on Sunday, a modern complex which is part of his government's grand plan to give a makeover to the British colonial-era architecture in the nation's capital.

Russia unleashed waves of air strikes on Kyiv overnight in what officials said appeared to be the largest drone attack on the city since the start of the war, as the Ukrainian capital prepared to celebrate the anniversary of its founding on Sunday.

Turks began voting on Sunday in a presidential run-off that could see Tayyip Erdogan extend his rule into a third decade.

China's cyberspace regulator said 1.4 million social media posts had been deleted following a two-month probe into alleged misinformation, illegal profiteering, and impersonation of state officials, among other "pronounced problems".

A passenger on an Asiana Airlines flight told police he opened a door on the plane minutes before it landed in Daegu, South Korea, on Friday because he was "uncomfortable".

Ukraine struck oil pipeline installations deep inside Russia on Saturday with a series of drone attacks, including on a station serving the vast Druzhba oil pipeline that sends Western Siberian crude to Europe.

A man arrested after a car collision into the gates of Downing Street, the site of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's office and residence, has since been released pending further investigation.

One of Hong Kong's biggest democratic parties said on Saturday it would disband after a vote by its party members, dealing another blow to the city's already beleaguered democratic opposition under pressure from China.

Tehran has accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of anti-Iranian propaganda in his call for Iran to halt the supply of drones to Russia, saying his comments were designed to attract more arms and financial aid from the West.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Saturday he was willing to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try and resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted in the 1960s and 1970s, media reported.

Rebels in Indonesia's Papua region threatened to shoot a New Zealand pilot they took hostage in February if countries do not comply with their demand to start independence talks within two months,

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has appealed for immediate talks with state officials, as pressure increased on him amidst a crackdown on his supporters that has seen thousands arrested as well as many leaving his party.

South Korean police on Friday detained a man who opened a door of an Asiana Airlines plane minutes before it was due to land in the city of Daegu, causing panic among the passengers, officials said.

Pakistan's civilian authorities have handed over 33 suspects to be tried in military courts following the attacks on army installations during violent protests in support of former prime minister Imran Khan, the interior minister said on Friday.

A 31-year-old man was arrested on Friday in rural Japan for suspected murder after four people were killed in a rare shooting and stabbing incident involving a 12-hour stand-off with police, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Ukraine shot down 10 missiles and over 20 drones launched by Russia in overnight attacks on the capital Kyiv, the city of Dnipro and eastern regions, Ukrainian officials said on Friday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a new parliament complex on Sunday, the centrepiece of a $2.4 billion project that aims to reconstruct British colonial-era buildings in the capital's centre and give it a distinct Indian identity.

Elon Musk's brain-implant company Neuralink said on Thursday it had received a green light from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to kickstart its first-in-human clinical study, a critical milestone after earlier struggles to gain approval.

A car has collided with the front gates of Downing Street in London, where British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's office and residence is based.

Sporadic clashes between the Sudanese army and a powerful paramilitary force spilled over into Thursday, puncturing the relative calm in the capital of Khartoum and raising the risk that a week-long internationally-brokered truce would crumble.

One woman was killed and two people were unconscious after a shooting and stabbing incident in rural Japan on Thursday, with the perpetrator having barricaded himself inside a building, media reported.

Russia has replaced Wagner private military units with regular troops in the outskirts of Bakhmut but the group's fighters remain inside the devastated city, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Thursday.

A massive blaze gutted an abandoned hat factory in central Sydney and forced emergency services to evacuate people from nearby apartment buildings before firefighters brought the inferno under control, without any casualties reported.

Twitter crashed repeatedly on Wednesday during a highly anticipated live audio chat between Elon Musk, Twitter's owner, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, hampering the politician's announcement he is running for the Republican presidential nomination.

Indian opposition political parties said they would boycott the inauguration ceremony for the new parliament building to be conducted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sidelining the country's president.

Clashes between rival military factions could be heard overnight in parts of Sudan's capital, residents said on Wednesday, the second full day of a week-long ceasefire designed to allow for the delivery of aid and lay the ground for a more lasting truce.

Greece's president will appoint a caretaker prime minister on Wednesday to form a government that will lead the country to a repeat election on June 25, after last weekend's inconclusive vote.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) assembly passed a motion on Wednesday condemning Russia's aggression against Ukraine, including attacks on healthcare facilities.

Pakistan is considering banning former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party for attacking the state, the defence minister said on Wednesday, a decision likely to enrage his supporters and exacerbate his confrontation with the military establishment.

Britain's Boris Johnson has been referred to police over further potential breaches of lockdown rules during the COVID-19 pandemic, a charge the former prime minister's office portrayed as "yet another politically motivated stitch up".

Donald Trump will face a criminal trial in New York on March 25, 2024, a judge said on Tuesday, meaning the former US President will be on trial as his campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination is in full swing.

Cathay Pacific Airways said it fired three flight attendants after a passenger accused them of bias against non-English speakers, prompting criticism on Chinese state media and Hong Kong's leader to vow it wouldn't happen again.

Portuguese authorities assisted by German police on Tuesday began searching a reservoir near the area where British girl Madeleine McCann disappeared in 2007 when she was three years old.

Thousands of overseas Indians cheered Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally in one of Sydney's biggest sporting arenas on Tuesday, a rare mass showing for a foreign leader in Australia.

Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday was questioned by an anti-graft agency on corruption charges, his lawyer said, less than a week after he rejected a summons to appear and denounced the allegations against him.

India will make tests mandatory for cough syrups before they are exported, a government notice showed on Tuesday, after Indian-made cough syrups were linked to the deaths of dozens of children in Gambia and Uzbekistan.

A Nepali sherpa reached the summit of Mount Everest for a record 28th time on Tuesday, an official said, completing his second ascent in just a week, as the toll in this year's climbing season reached 11.

Artillery fire could be heard in parts of Khartoum, armoured vehicles were patrolling and warplanes flew overhead, residents said, putting in jeopardy a one-week ceasefire that raised the most hope to date that Sudan's warring factions would halt fighting.

Turkey's third-place election candidate endorsed President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, boosting the incumbent and intensifying the challenges for opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu in a Sunday runoff vote.

At least 19 children died after a fire gutted a secondary school dormitory in Guyana overnight, emergency services and the government said on Monday.

Sudan's army conducted air strikes in the capital Khartoum on Monday, residents said, seeking to win ground against its paramilitary rivals hours before a week-long ceasefire aimed at allowing delivery of aid was due to take effect.

India's Delhi High Court issued a summons to British broadcaster BBC on Monday in a defamation case over its documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi that questioned his leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots, according to reports in Indian media.

At least eight people were wounded and scores of buildings were damaged in a Russian air attack overnight on the Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine said on Monday, adding that air defence systems destroyed 20 drones and four cruise missiles.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged support for the Pacific Islands at a summit in Papua New Guinea on Monday, with the US Secretary of State scheduled to also meet Pacific leaders and sign a defence agreement with Papua New Guinea.

Saudi Arabia made history on Monday when two of its citizens blasted off to the International Space Station (ISS) on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Greece's ruling New Democracy party stormed to a crushing victory in a parliamentary election on Sunday but fell just short of the threshold needed to form a government on its own, making a runoff election in a month more likely.

US President Joe Biden and House Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy will meet to discuss the debt ceiling on Monday, after a "productive" phone call as the president headed back to Washington, the two sides said on Sunday.

Ukraine said on Sunday that it was still fighting for control of the eastern city of Bakhmut, after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had said earlier that the city remained "only in our hearts".

China has issued warnings and other punishments to 62 officials after the collapse of a housing block in Changsha city in Hunan province killed 54 people last month, state news agency Xinhua said on Sunday.

The Group of Seven (G7) rich nations signalled to Russia their readiness to stand by Ukraine for the long haul while giving President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a chance to win over countries such as Brazil and India on the last day of a summit in Japan.

US President Joe Biden on Sunday said he had received a "flat assurance" from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that he would not use Western-provided F-16 fighter jets to go into Russian territory.

Sporadic fighting between Sudan's warring factions could be heard in the capital Khartoum on Sunday, residents said, after a Saudi and US-brokered deal for a week-long ceasefire raised hopes of a pause in the five-week conflict.

At least 12 people died and an unspecified number were injured in a stampede at a football stadium in El Salvador, the Central American government tweeted.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had invited India to join Ukraine's peace formula during his talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Group of Seven (G7) summit on Saturday in Japan.

The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on Saturday, claimed complete control of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the focus of the longest and bloodiest battle of the war.

Air strikes hit outer areas of the Sudanese capital Khartoum overnight and on Saturday morning as fighting that has trapped civilians in a humanitarian crisis and displaced more than a million entered its sixth week.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in the Japanese city of Hiroshima to meet leaders of the world's wealthiest democracies and drum up support for the defence against Russia's invasion of his country.

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.