International from Friday, May 29th, 2026

Hamas said on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's declaration that his country would expand its area of control in Gaza was a dangerous escalation, as European states and residents of the Palestinian territory also voiced alarm at the plan.

US President Donald Trump said he would make a final decision on Friday over a deal with Iran to extend their ceasefire that would need to include opening the Strait of Hormuz and dismantling Tehran's capacity to make a nuclear weapon.

NATO accused Moscow on Friday of reckless behaviour and pledged to "defend every inch of Allied territory" after Romania said a Russian drone had crashed into an apartment block in the alliance member state during an attack on neighbouring Ukraine.

Kenyan authorities have arrested eight students on suspicion of arson over a fire at a girls' boarding school that killed 16 students, police said on Friday.

A team of specialist divers said they pulled one man from a flooded cave in central Laos on Friday, as four more people remained trapped with two others still missing.

France has asked for the public prosecutor to investigate the treatment of French nationals who were part of a recent activist flotilla heading for Gaza, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Friday.

An uncrewed Blue Origin New Glenn rocket has exploded on a Florida launchpad during a test on Thursday, in a major setback for Jeff Bezos’ space venture as it seeks to narrow the gap with Elon Musk's IPO-bound SpaceX.

One person has been killed and two injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Volgograd region, governor Andrey Bocharov said on Friday.

At least 52 guerrilla fighters were killed in clashes between two rival armed groups vying for control of a strategic cocaine production and trafficking region in Colombia, a faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) involved in the fighting said in a statement on Thursday.

US Vice President JD Vance has told reporters on Thursday that Washington was "not there yet" with Iran on an agreement but that the parties were close, adding that the US was in a position where it could substantially set back Tehran's nuclear program.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated he had directed Israel's military to "take more of Gaza" on Thursday, initially by seizing 70 per cent of the Palestinian territory, where the population is already penned into a tiny strip of land along the coast.

A Kenyan high court has ordered the temporary suspension of plans for the United States to set up an Ebola quarantine facility in the country.