WORLD

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday touted the creation of a new "multipolar world order" at the BRICS summit, a gathering of world leaders he hopes will show that Western attempts to isolate Moscow over its Ukraine offensive have failed.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday played down allegations made by Donald Trump's team of "blatant foreign interference" by his Labour Party in the US election, saying it was normal for its volunteers to campaign.

The World Health Organization said Wednesday that "intense bombardment" and "escalating violence" in northern Gaza had forced it to postpone the final phase of a child polio vaccination drive.

With the summit, the biggest such meeting in Russia since it ordered troops into Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin is seeking to show Western attempts to isolate Moscow over the two-and-a-half-year offensive have failed.

China's Communist Party has never ruled the island, but it claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has said it will not renounce the use of force to bring it under its control.

Former SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum told AFP Monday he had received around 100 calls after announcing on social media platform X that he would give $100,000 in cash or bitcoin to "anyone who delivers from Gaza a living Israeli prisoner".

While Democratic candidate Kamala Harris's campaign has not commented on the contest, Josh Shapiro, the Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania, said on NBC's Meet the Press: "I think it's something that law enforcement should take a look at."

South Korea's spy agency said Friday that Pyongyang sent a "large-scale" troop deployment to help its ally, claiming that 1,500 special forces were already training in Russia's Far East and ready to head soon for the frontlines of the Ukraine war.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel Tuesday to push for a ceasefire in Gaza after his administration called for an end to the war in Lebanon "as soon as possible".

Emergency services are still distributing food and water in the worst-affected parts of the state almost a month after Helene slammed into the southeastern United States, leaving more than 240 dead in its wake, according to an AFP tally.

Israel, which is besieging the war-devastated Palestinian territory, "is committed to 1,000 more medical evacuations within the next months to the European Union," Hans Kluge said in an interview with AFP.

About 1,500 North Korean special forces soldiers are already in Russia acclimatizing and likely to head to the front lines after, Seoul's spy agency said Friday, with additional troops set to depart soon, Pyongyang's first such deployment overseas.

Carrefour told AFP that an internal probe had not confirmed most allegations but was planning on conducting an external review.

US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who was accused by Ankara of organising a failed 2016 coup, has died in exile in the United States aged 83, his movement and the Turkish government said Monday.

Two dozen world leaders will meet in Russia next week for a summit of the BRICS group, an alliance of emerging economies that the Kremlin hopes will challenge Western "hegemony".

Israel began bombing Lebanese branches of an association accused of financing the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, Lebanese state media reported late Sunday, a further escalation of Israel's nearly month-long war against the militants.

Iraq's Kurdistan voted on Sunday to elect a new parliament for the autonomous oil-rich region, where voters expressed concern over economic struggles and disenchantment with the political elite.

A residential building collapsed in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Sunday, leaving several people feared trapped, county officials and emergency responders said.

The world's biggest nature protection conference opens in Colombia Monday with the United Nations chief calling for countries to "convert words into action" and fatten a fund seeking to address biodiversity loss.

A US and a Canadian warship have passed through waters separating Taiwan and China, a week after Beijing held large-scale military drills in the sensitive passage.

Kithuri Kindiki, a 52-year-old academic turned political heavyweight, was among front-runners for the post floated by Kenyan media after the Senate voted to remove Gachagua late Thursday after a day of high drama.

The comments -- made in an interview with a podcast supportive of him -- sparked an immediate backlash as critics accused the 78-year-old Republican former president of being a "traitor" and an "idiot."

The killing of Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar drew optimism from Vice President Harris for a Gaza ceasefire, but Israel quickly said his death is not the end of over a year of war.

Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are now looking to outgun each other with announcements on atomic energy, which they hope will power a technology that is consuming electricity at an alarming rate.

US President Joe Biden and European leaders meeting during his farewell visit to Germany on Friday were expected to renew calls for a Gaza ceasefire after Israel said it killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

The advocacy group Global Witness submitted eight ads containing false election claims to the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok, the Meta-owned Facebook, and Google-owned YouTube to test their ad systems in the final stretch of the November 5 election.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has emerged as a major voice in US politics but is accused of turning the social media platform Twitter, now known as X, into a megaphone for right-wing conspiracy theories since acquiring it in 2022.

An Indian intelligence official has been indicted for his role in a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader in the United States, the Justice Department said Thursday.

The Israeli military said that after a lengthy hunt, troops had on Wednesday "eliminated Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas terrorist organization, in an operation in the southern Gaza Strip".