International News

Britain gave the green light on Tuesday to a new £10 billion (AED 47.5 billion) road tunnel for the River Thames in southeast England, in its latest backing for an infrastructure project to help revive a sluggish economy.

Israeli shelling killed four people in southern Syria on Tuesday, Syria's state news agency reported, after the Israeli military said its troops had clashed with militants there who had opened fire on them.

A motorcyclist who had plunged into a 20-metre (65.62 ft) deep sinkhole in South Korea's capital Seoul was found dead on Tuesday, a rescue official said, while the driver of a car had a narrow escape and suffered minor injuries.

Frozen exhaust smoke from Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket left a spiral plume in the night sky, which had stargazers agog. The UK's Met Office confirmed the illuminated swirl had caused a flurry of reports from stunned onlookers.

The United Nations said it is reducing its international staff numbers in Gaza by about a third after Israeli strikes killed hundreds of civilians, including UN personnel.

The Israeli military said its forces had fired on Monday at a building belonging to the Red Cross in Gaza's southern city of Rafah as a result of incorrect identification, after an office belonging to the aid organisation was damaged by an explosive projectile.

A strong 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck off New Zealand's South Island on Tuesday, authorities said, as the country's disaster agency assessed if there were any tsunami threats.

Top Trump administration officials, including US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, mistakenly included a journalist in a messaging group discussing strikes against Yemen's Houthis, according to a firsthand account by The Atlantic magazine.

Egypt made a new proposal last week aimed at restoring the Gaza ceasefire deal, security sources said on Monday. The proposal follows an escalation in violence after Israel resumed air and ground operations against Hamas last Tuesday, effectively ending a two-month period of relative calm.

Russia and the United States will discuss resuming a deal to ensure the safety of merchant shipping in the Black Sea, the Kremlin said on Monday, noting that what Moscow saw as key parts of an earlier agreement on the subject were never implemented.

One man was killed and another wounded in a suspected attack on Sunday in northern Israel when a man rammed his vehicle into a bus stop, then stabbed another man and fired shots at passing motorists, emergency services said.

An airstrike at Nasser Hospital in Gaza's Khan Younis on Sunday killed five people, including a Hamas political leader, as Israel launched an all-out air and ground campaign against Hamas.

South Korea's Constitutional Court reinstated Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to the post of acting president on Monday, striking down his impeachment as he pledged to focus on steering Asia's fourth-biggest economy through a US "trade war".

New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday called a snap election for April 28, saying he needed a strong mandate to deal with the threat posed by US President Donald Trump, who "wants to break us so America can own us".

Pope Francis left Rome's Gemelli hospital on Sunday following a five-week stay to be treated for pneumonia, making his first public appearance since February 14 by waving to well-wishers from a balcony moments before he was discharged.

A Turkish court jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on Sunday pending trial on graft charges, state media and other broadcasters said, in a move likely to stoke the country's biggest protests against President Tayyip Erdogan's government in more than a decade.

An Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza killed Hamas political leader Salah al-Bardaweel on Sunday, officials of the group said, as residents reported an escalation in Israel's six-day-old military campaign.

Ukrainian and U.S. officials are expected to meet in Saudi Arabia late on Sunday to discuss a possible partial ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, part of an escalating diplomatic push by U.S. President Donald Trump to end three years of war.

Parisians vote in a referendum on Sunday to decide whether an extra 500 of the city's streets should be pedestrianised and greened, in a new push by the French capital's left-leaning town hall to curb car usage and improve air quality.

London's Heathrow Airport resumed full operations on Saturday, a day after a fire knocked out its power supply and shut Europe's busiest airport, causing global travel chaos.

Israeli artillery and airstrikes hit south Lebanon on Saturday after Israel said it had intercepted rockets fired from across the border, a clash endangering a shaky truce that ended a year-long war between Israel and Hezbollah.

US President Donald Trump on Friday took away security clearances for former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others in his latest move against his Democratic opponents.

Two firefighters were found dead in South Korea and two were missing as more than 20 wildfires flared across the nation on Saturday, including the deadly one in the southeast of the Korean Peninsula.

Britain's Heathrow airport said some flights would resume later on Friday after a fire knocked out its power supply and shut Europe's busiest airport for the day, stranding thousands of passengers and causing travel turmoil worldwide.

An explosion rocked an oil depot in Russia's Krasnodar region where firefighters are trying to extinguish a blaze that broke out after a Ukrainian drone attack earlier this week, regional authorities said on Friday.

Britain's Heathrow Airport said it would be closed all of Friday after a huge fire at a nearby electrical substation wiped out power, disrupting flight schedules around the world.

The Israeli cabinet voted early on Friday to dismiss the head of the Israeli domestic intelligence service effective April 10, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said, after three days of protests against the move.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test-firing of the country's latest anti-aircraft missile system on Thursday, state media KCNA reported, as some experts said Pyongyang was probably getting technical help from Russiato perfect such systems.

Flanked by students and educators, US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order intended to essentially dismantle the federal Department of Education, making good on a longstanding campaign promise to conservatives.

At least 91 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in airstrikes across Gaza on Thursday after Israel resumed bombing and ground operations, the enclave's health ministry said, effectively ditching a two-month-old ceasefire.

US President Donald Trump will sign a long-anticipated executive order on Thursday that aims to shut down the Department of Education, acting on a key campaign pledge, according to a White House summary seen by Reuters.

The Israeli military said on Wednesday its forces resumed ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip, as a second day of airstrikes killed at least 48 Palestinians, according to local health workers.

US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed on Wednesday to work together to end Russia's war with Ukraine, in what the White House described as a "fantastic" one-hour phone call.

Serbia's parliament formally accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic on Wednesday, triggering a 30-day deadline for the formation of a new government or the calling of a snap election.

Six migrants have died and 40 are missing after a shipwreck off the Italian island of Lampedusa late on Tuesday, Italy's main news agency ANSA reported on Wednesday.

Israeli airstrikes pounded Gaza and killed more than 400 people on Tuesday, Palestinian health authorities said, shattering nearly two months of relative calm since a ceasefire began, as Israel warned the onslaught was "just the beginning."

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have returned to Earth in a SpaceX capsule with a soft splashdown off Florida's coast, nine months after their faulty Boeing Starliner craft upended what was to be a week-long stay on the International Space Station (ISS).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had effectively rejected a US proposal for a full ceasefire on Tuesday, and urged the world to block any attempts by Moscow to drag out its war against Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to a proposal by US President Donald Trump that Russia and Ukraine cease attacking each other's energy infrastructure for 30 days, the Kremlin said following a lengthy phone discussion between the leaders.

Russia sees big prospects to work with the United States, including in the space sector, and expects to hold talks with Elon Musk soon about flying to Mars, President Vladimir Putin's international cooperation envoy said on Tuesday.

Israeli airstrikes pounded Gaza, killing 400 people, Palestinian health authorities said on Tuesday, collapsing a two-month ceasefire with Hamas as Israel vowed to use force to free its remaining hostages in the strip.

US President Donald Trump on Monday said many elements of a final deal on Ukraine had been agreed to but much remained, ahead of a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, two veteran NASA astronauts who have been stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) for nine months, are scheduled to begin their return to Earth on Tuesday morning on a long-awaited flight home to cap an unusual mission.

A plane crashed just off the Caribbean coast of Honduras on Monday night minutes after taking off from Roatan Island, killing seven people, while 10 others were pulled out from the wreckage alive, authorities said.

The Trump administration has deported alleged members of a Venezuelan gang from the US despite a court order forbidding it from doing so, saying in an extraordinary statement that a judge did not have the authority to block its actions.

Russia will seek "ironclad" guarantees in any peace deal on Ukraine that NATO nations will exclude Kyiv from membership and that Ukraine will remain neutral, a Russian deputy foreign minister said in remarks published on Monday.

The interim government in Damascus will take part on Monday in an annual international conference to gather aid pledges for Syria, facing dire humanitarian problems and an uncertain political transition after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

A SpaceX capsule delivered four astronauts to the International Space Station early on Sunday in a NASA crew-swap mission that will allow a pair of stuck astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, to return home after nine months on the orbiting lab.

59 people were killed and more than 100 injured when a fire broke out in a nightclub early on Sunday in the North Macedonian town of Kocani, Interior Minister Pance Toskovski confirmed, saying the fire was caused by "pyrotechnic devices" used during a concert.

US President Donald Trump launched large-scale military strikes against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Saturday over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping, killing at least 31 people at the start of a campaign expected to last many days.

At least nine Palestinians including three local journalists were killed on Saturday in an Israeli air strike on Gaza's northern Beit Lahiya town, the local health ministry said, as Hamas leaders held ceasefire talks with mediators in Cairo.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday he had urged Kyiv's Western allies to give "a clear position" on security guarantees including about a potential foreign troop contingent on Ukrainian soil with a US backstop.

At least 10 people were killed in Missouri as a series of tornadoes hit the US Midwest and Southeast overnight, raking a path of destruction that was still being assessed early on Saturday, police said.

At least nine Palestinians were killed, including two local journalists, and others wounded on Saturday in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza's northern Beit Lahiya town, the health ministry said, as Hamas' leaders hold Gaza ceasefire talks with mediators in Cairo.

The Trump administration is considering issuing sweeping travel restrictions for the citizens of 41 countries as part of a new ban, according to sources familiar with the matter and an internal memo seen by Reuters.

NASA and SpaceX on Friday launched a long-awaited crew to the International Space Station that opens the door to bringing home US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been stuck on the orbital lab for nine months.

Somalia and its breakaway region of Somaliland have not received any proposal from the United States or Israel to resettle Palestinians from Gaza, their foreign ministers said on Friday, with Mogadishu saying it categorically rejected any such move.

Ex-central banker Mark Carney was formally sworn in as prime minister of Canada on Friday, putting him in a position to fight tariffs from US President Donald Trump.

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to free an American-Israeli dual national if Israel begins a phase of ceasefire talks towards a permanent end to the war, but Israel dismissed the offer as "psychological warfare".

The U.S. and Israel have contacted officials of three East African countries to discuss using their territories for resettling Palestinians from Gaza, the Associated Press reported on Friday, citing U.S. and Israeli officials.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte makes his first appearance at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Friday, where he faces murder allegations stemming from his "war on drugs".

NASA and SpaceX on Friday will count down to a long-awaited crewed rocket launch that will allow them to bring home US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been stuck on the International Space Station for nine months.

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has signed into force a constitutional declaration regulating its five-year transitional period and laying out rights for women and freedom of expression.

An American Airlines jet's engine caught fire after it diverted to land in Denver on Thursday, forcing the evacuation of passengers using the plane's slides, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Scores of demonstrators led by a Jewish organisation poured into the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City on Thursday to protest the arrest and detention of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, whom the Trump administration aims to deport over his pro-Palestinian activism.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia supported a US proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine in principle, but that any truce would have to address the root causes of the conflict and that many crucial details needed to be sorted out.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday he would scrap a body overseeing the state-funded health system in England in a bid to save hundreds of millions of pounds and cut waiting lists and bureaucracy.

Russia says there is no doubt that its troops would soon complete the task of clearing out Ukrainian forces from Russia's Kursk region where they have held a pocket of territory for more than seven months.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia was ready to talk to the United States about a peace initiative discussed between the US and Ukraine, and contacts could take place on Thursday.

Australia's interior minister said on Thursday his department was reviewing the visa status of a American influencer who uploaded a video of her grabbing a baby wombat in an incident that has caused outrage in the country.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he takes full responsibility for his administration's "war on drugs", in a video message posted on his Facebook account, as he braces for a legal battle at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Officials from the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and Palestine agreed to continue consultations on their Gaza reconstruction plan with US Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, it was announced after a meeting in Qatar on Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin donned military fatigues for a surprise visit to troops in Russia's western Kursk region on Wednesday, where he ordered them to press their lightning advance and swiftly retake the rest of the area from Ukrainian forces.

NASA and SpaceX have delayed the launch of a replacement crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station that would have set in motion the long-awaited homecoming of US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

Pakistan's military said it had ended a standoff on Wednesday with separatist fighters who had hijacked a passenger train in the country's southwestern Balochistan province and taken hundreds of people hostage.

Hijackers being seated next to some of the scores of passengers taken hostage after insurgents took control of a train in southwest Pakistan, has complicating rescue efforts, security sources said on Wednesday.

The captain of a ship, who has been arrested in connection with a crash into a US flagged tanker off the coast of England is a Russian national, the German company which owns the vessel said on Wednesday.

A Russian missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih killed a 47-year-old woman and wounded at least nine other people, Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhiy Lysak said on Wednesday.

Yemen's Houthis said on Tuesday they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden, ending a period of relative calm starting in January with the Gaza ceasefire.

US President Donald Trump's increased tariffs on all US steel and aluminum imports took effect on Wednesday, stepping up a campaign to reorder global trade norms in favour of the US that drew swift retaliation from Europe.

Al Shabaab gunmen killed at least seven people in an attack on Tuesday at a hotel in a central Somali town where local elders and government officials were meeting to discuss how to act against the group.

Israel said on Tuesday it had agreed to hold talks to demarcate its border with Lebanon, adding it would release five Lebanese held by the Israeli military in what it called a "gesture to the Lebanese president".

Ukraine agreed to accept an immediate 30-day ceasefire in the conflict with Russia during talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia, the countries said in a joint statement.

At least 35 passengers have been taken hostage by a separatist group that attacked a train in southwestern Pakistan, and nearly 350 other passengers are believed to be safe, local police said on Tuesday.

Spain's government approved a bill on Tuesday imposing massive fines on companies that use content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) without properly labelling it as such, in a bid to curb the use of so-called "deepfakes".

Ukraine targeted Moscow early on Tuesday in what seemed its biggest drone attack of the war on the Russian capital, killing at least three people, sparking fires and suspending air and train transport in the region, authorities said.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was served an Interpol arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) on his arrival at Manila's main airport on Tuesday, the government said.

The Kurdish-led and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which controls much of Syria's oil-rich northeast, signed a deal with the Damascus government on Monday to join Syria's new state institutions, the Syrian presidency said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ahead of talks between Ukrainian and US officials that Washington hopes will deliver substantial progress towards ending Russia's war with Ukraine.

The Arab Parliament has condemned Israel’s decision to cut off electricity to the Gaza Strip, saying the move is considered a war crime. 

The Trump administration rolled out a new app on Monday that will allow immigrants in the United States illegally to "self deport" rather than face possible arrest and detention, building on President Donald Trump's deportation push.

A tanker carrying jet fuel for the US military was hit by a container ship off northeast England on Monday, with the collision igniting a blaze on both vessels, causing multiple explosions and forcing both crews to abandon ship.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is travelling to Saudi Arabia to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, ahead of talks between Ukrainian and US officials on ending the war with Russia at an increasingly precarious moment for Kyiv.

Nearly 300 flights were cancelled at Hamburg airport on Sunday as ground handlers walked out ahead of wider strikes planned across Germany on Monday.

Syria's leader vowed to hunt down the perpetrators of violent clashes pitting loyalists of deposed President Bashar al-Assad against the country's new rulers, as a war monitoring group said over 1,000 people had been killed.

Israel ordered an immediate halt to Gaza's electricity supply on Sunday in an effort to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages, even as it prepared for fresh talks on the future of its truce with the Palestinian group.

Former central banker Mark Carney has won the race to become leader of Canada's ruling Liberal Party and will succeed Justin Trudeau as prime minister, official results showed on Sunday.

Hundreds of thousands of people in Australia's Queensland state were without power on Sunday after Alfred, a downgraded tropical cyclone, brought damaging winds and heavy rains, sparking flood warnings.

An Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, medical sources said, as mediators pushed ahead with talks to extend a shaky 42-day ceasefire agreed in January between Israel and Hamas.

Toronto Police said early on Saturday they were searching for three male suspects in a shooting that injured at least 12 people at a pub in the Canadian city.

Ex-tropical cyclone Alfred lingered off the south-east Australian coast on Saturday and forecasters said Brisbane is likely to miss the worst of the storm, a relief for millions of residents in the region who have been staying indoors.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol walked out of a detention centre in Seoul on Saturday after prosecutors decided not to appeal a court decision to cancel the impeached leader's arrest warrant on insurrection charges.

At least 14 people were killed and 37 wounded, including five children, in Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine's eastern city of Dobropillia overnight, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said on Saturday.

Australia ordered thousands of people in its eastern regions to evacuate before Tropical Cyclone Alfred hits land on Saturday, as the storm brought heavy rain, huge waves and strong winds that cut off power, swamped beaches and shut airports.

The discovery of an unexploded bomb dating back to World War Two has disrupted morning traffic to and from Paris' bustling Gare du Nord train station, the French national railway company said on Friday.

European leaders on Thursday backed plans to spend more on defence and continue to stand by Ukraine in a world upended by Donald Trump's reversal of US policies.

The number of people injured after South Korean fighter jets accidentally dropped bombs on a civilian area on Thursday increased to 15 civilians and 14 soldiers, the country's defence ministry said.

A South Korean court cancelled impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol's arrest warrant, paving the way for his release from jail after he was arrested in mid-January on insurrection charges over his brief imposition of martial law.

SpaceX's massive Starship spacecraft exploded in space on Thursday minutes after lifting off from Texas, prompting the FAA to halt air traffic in parts of Florida, in the second straight failure this year for Elon Musk's Mars rocket program.

Fighters linked to Syria's ousted leader Bashar al-Assad mounted a deadly attack on government forces on Thursday, authorities said, in some of the worst violence against the government since rebels seized power.

European leaders on Thursday said they would stand by Ukraine and spend more on defence in a world upended by Donald Trump's reversal of US policies.

A Russian missile struck a hotel in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih late on Wednesday, killing four people and injuring 31, with rescuers still searching on Thursday morning for anyone trapped in the rubble, officials said.

The United States broke a long-standing diplomatic taboo by holding secret talks with Hamas on securing the release of US hostages held in Gaza, sources told Reuters on Wednesday, while US President Donald Trump warned of "hell to pay" should the Palestinian group not comply.

The US has paused intelligence sharing with Ukraine, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said on Wednesday, piling pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to cooperate with US President Donald Trump in convening peace talks with Russia.

New footage shows the moment Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost has became the first ever successful commercial moon landing, following touchdown on Mare Crisium, a basin in the north-east quadrant of the Moon.

At least 15 people were hurt on Thursday after a shell was dropped on a civilian district, damaging houses and a church during live-fire military exercises in Pocheon, South Korea, a fire official said.

US President Donald Trump took a victory lap in an address to Congress on Tuesday, drawing catcalls and interruptions from some Democratic lawmakers who held up signs and walked out mid-speech in protest in the longest presidential speech to Congress.

Arab leaders adopted an Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza on Tuesday that would cost $53 billion (AED 194 billion) and avoid displacing Palestinians from the enclave, in contrast to US President Donald Trump's "Middle East Riviera" vision.

Serbian opposition lawmakers threw smoke grenades and tear gas inside parliament on Tuesday to protest against the government and support demonstrating students, with one legislator suffering a stroke during the chaos.

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.