WORLD

The express train from Prague with more than 300 passengers on board was due to travel overnight from Wednesday to Thursday to the Ukrainian town of Chop when it collided with the freight train, which was carrying calcium carbide, a caustic and flammable chemical.

Macron said he would offer Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when the two meet for talks at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Friday that the pilots be trained from this summer.

The incident happened last month during the medical evacuation of a soldier who was stationed on a grounded Philippine Navy vessel on Second Thomas Shoal in the disputed South China Sea.

The visit comes amid mounting pressure for the US ally and Hamas militants to agree to a permanent ceasefire as Israel faces growing diplomatic isolation over the rising death toll in Gaza.

Biden, Britain's King Charles III, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute Thursday to the tens of thousands of Allied troops who stormed the beaches of Normandy in northern France on June 6, 1944.

Ireland's 37-year-old prime minister Simon Harris voted near his home in the village of Delgany south of Dublin just after polls opened at 7:00 am (0600 GMT), before a whistlestop tour to canvass for both local and European Parliament elections.

Brazil has been battered by a series of extreme weather events, most recently once-in-a-century flooding in the state of Rio Grande do Sul that left 172 people dead.

In an electoral system in which money is the ultimate kingmaker, Donald Trump has been courting the country's billionaires -- and they have their checkbooks ready.

Hamas's media office said the strike killed at least 27 people and wounded dozens more, calling it a "horrific massacre... that shames humanity".

Mount Ibu, located on the island of Halmahera in North Maluku province, erupted Thursday morning shortly after 1:00 am (1600 GMT Wednesday) and then again at 7:46 am and 8:11 am, the agency said.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, and last month launched drills around the self-ruled island days after the inauguration of new President Lai Ching-te.

It follows the construction last month of a black screen in another nearby town to block an Instagram-famous view of the snow-capped volcano rising from behind a convenience store.

The next-generation Ariane 6 rocket, a crucial programme for Europe's space ambitions, is due to lift off on July 9 following years of delays, the European Space Agency said Wednesday.

Israel's military pounded central Gaza with heavy air strikes on Wednesday as US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators planned to resume talks on a truce and hostage release deal.

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday began a state visit to France marking 80 years since the World War II D-Day landings, with a new war shadowing Europe as Ukraine battles Russian invasion.

Donald Trump faced Republican voters for the first time as a convicted felon on Tuesday during the final state primaries for the 2024 presidential nomination, where he continued to sweep up votes.

Claudia Sheinbaum's election as Mexico's first woman president has shored up the left's dominance of Latin America, a region more used to sometimes-dramatic political shifts in recent years.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party was in talks with key allies to form a government Wednesday, after failing to secure an outright majority for the first time since sweeping to power a decade ago.

Australia's online watchdog on Wednesday dropped a legal effort to force Elon Musk's X to remove posts depicting the violent stabbing of a Sydney priest.

The world has never had so many rich people and their investments in soaring stock markets have made them wealthier than ever recorded, according to a study published on Wednesday.

Nigerian union leaders on Tuesday held talks over a government offer to increase the minimum wage on the second day of a nationwide strike that has disrupted flights and closed down public offices.

Conille was appointed by the transitional presidential council running the country following the resignation in April of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, as gang violence surged.

Netanyahu's office told Israeli media the date of his speech to Congress had "not been finalized", but it would not be on June 13 because it interferes with a Jewish holiday.

Biden, 81, is set to sign a long-awaited executive order that would allow officials at certain times to deport migrants who cross the border illegally without processing their asylum claims first, US media reported.

Taiwan's new President Lai Ching-te said Tuesday that the memory of Beijing's deadly crackdown at Tiananmen Square "will not disappear in the torrent of history", in a post marking the event's 35th anniversary.

In the besieged Palestinian territory, Israeli strikes continued early Tuesday, particularly in Bureij in central Gaza where local hospital sources reported several deaths.

Seoul is hosting delegations from 48 African countries for a major summit this week, which Yoon had told AFP would aim to secure deals on everything from critical minerals to infrastructure projects.

Washington's relationship with the Southeast Asian nation has been deteriorating for years, with China pouring in billions of dollars in infrastructure investments under Cambodia's former leader Hun Sen.

Hunter Biden, 54, the only surviving son of President Joe Biden, is charged with lying about his illegal drug use when buying a handgun in 2018, a felony.