WORLD

Israel said it was tightening the "stranglehold" around Hamas in Gaza City as the military operation on Wednesday aimed at smashing the Palestinian militants gathered pace despite ceasefire calls.

When Jessica Martinez moved away from home in 2020, a temporary contract brought her to New Jersey as a nurse on the frontlines of the pandemic.

The EU's executive was expected Wednesday to recommend opening formal membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova, nudging them further along the long road to joining.

The US state of Ohio voted Tuesday to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution, while the Democratic governor of Kentucky won reelection, in results that boosted President Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 White House race.

Israel's campaign to destroy Hamas pushed into its second month Wednesday as its forces battled the Palestinian militants in Gaza City, despite mounting calls for a ceasefire.

China's red carpet treatment for "handsome boy" Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered an intriguing blueprint for Beijing's shifting approach to international diplomacy.

The "extreme" drought gripping Iraq, Syria and Iran would not have occurred without climate change caused primarily by burning fossil fuels, scientists said Wednesday, warning that punishing dry spells will become more intense as the world warms.

Among the glittering chandeliers and wooden benches of a stately and solemn New York City courtroom, Donald Trump took the stand Monday, raising his right hand and swearing his testimony would be truthful.

Several dozen owners of transport companies on Monday blocked three major Polish border crossings with Ukraine to protest what they say is unfair competition from the neighbouring country's businesses.

The head of Russia's navy met Myanmar's junta chief ahead of joint naval exercises due to begin Tuesday, according to Myanmar state media, the first combined drills by the two countries at loggerheads with the West.

Israel's deadliest ever war in Gaza, sparked by the October 7 Hamas attacks, entered its second month Tuesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed there would be no ceasefire until the militant group releases its 240 hostages.

The conservative US Supreme Court has an opportunity on Tuesday to clarify its latest case law on the right to bear arms, which has caused confusion in American courts -- though it remains to be seen whether it will seize it.

China is owed more than a trillion dollars through its Belt and Road project, making it the biggest debt collector in the world, a report said this week, with an estimated 80 percent of the loans supporting countries in financial distress.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Tuesday on the G7 to speak "in a clear voice" about the Israel-Hamas war as he kicked off talks with fellow foreign ministers from the grouping in Japan.

A top Swiss museum has run into trouble showing an art collection acquired in questionable circumstances during World War II, with some saying its attempt to put it "in context" does not focus enough on the fate of the art's former Jewish owners.

Workers at four Swedish ports blocked the loading and unloading of Tesla cars Tuesday in a growing strike movement over the US company's refusal to sign a collective wage agreement with mechanics.

It was just before 8am on October 7 when Orit Meir's cellphone beeped with a terrifying voice message from her son Almog who was at a music festival in southern Israel.

Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, minister in the presidency of South Africa, said the cabinet is "disappointed by the refusal of the Israeli government to respect international law and its continued undermining of the United Nations resolutions for the implementation of a ceasefire with impunity."

European ministers are meeting in the Spanish city of Seville on Monday and Tuesday to decide on the continent's future in space, including potential exploration missions and an ongoing rocket launcher crisis.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi has begun a hunger strike in her Iranian prison in protest at limits on medical care for her and other inmates, as well as the obligation for women to wear the hijab in the Islamic republic, her family said on Monday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said he was "not ready" for talks with Russia unless its invading troops withdraw, as Kyiv investigated a deadly strike on its soldiers.

France has recorded more than a thousand anti-Semitic acts since the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas gunmen on Israel, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Sunday.

Former president Donald Trump is expected to testify Monday in the New York civil case threatening to upend his real estate empire and deal him a damaging financial blow as he seeks to retake the White House next year.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held tough talks in Turkey on Monday aimed at soothing the anger of one of Washington's most strategic but difficult allies about the bloodshed in Gaza.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Beijing on Monday, state media reported, a high-water mark in their nations' ties following years of tensions that cut billions of dollars in trade.

Nestled in the mountains of northern Lebanon, a museum dedicated to Kahlil Gibran in his hometown of Bsharre has been celebrating the centennial of "The Prophet", the renowned author's most famous work.

As the clock ticks down on a high-stakes vote in the US state of Ohio, activists are out in force urging voters to decide whether to explicitly enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution.

Israeli forces pushed on with intense strikes targeting Palestinian militants in Gaza on Monday as the war neared one month and the Hamas-run health ministry's death toll approached 10,000 inside the besieged territory.

Russian strikes overnight in the southern Ukrainian region of Odesa left eight people wounded and damaged a historic art museum, Ukrainian officials said on Monday, in the latest barrage of drones and missiles.