WORLD

Hurricane Otis caused at least 27 deaths and major damage as it lashed Mexico's resort city of Acapulco as a scale-topping category 5 storm, officials said Thursday.

It's just before sunrise on Saturday October 7, and hundreds of Hamas militants are creeping towards Gaza's border with Israel.

Fighting in the war-torn Gaza Strip raged for a 20th day Thursday after Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel, killing at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.

Residents of Mexico's hurricane-stricken resort city of Acapulco emptied shelves of looted supermarkets on Thursday and appealed for government help as they searched desperately for food and water.

Former Chinese premier Li Keqiang, a reform-minded bureaucrat once tipped as the country's future leader only to be eclipsed by President Xi Jinping, died Friday.

The UN warned Friday that "many more will die" in Gaza from catastrophic shortages after nearly three weeks of bombardment by Israel in response to Hamas staging the deadliest attack in its history.

The US auto workers union reached a tentative agreement with Ford late Wednesday, a breakthrough in a 41-day stoppage on Detroit's "Big Three" car manufacturers.

The UN Security Council on Wednesday failed again to take action on the Israel-Hamas war, with Russia and China vetoing a US-led draft resolution and a text led by Moscow drawing insufficient support.

China's top diplomat opens talks Thursday in Washington as he readies a potential summit between Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, who ahead of talks vowed to defend Asian allies.

EU leaders will on Thursday debate calling for a "humanitarian pause" in Israel's war with Hamas, as the bloc grapples with another conflict on its fringes alongside Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will mark Turkey's centenary Sunday by honouring the post-Ottoman republic's revered founder, while chipping away at the foundation of his secular state.

In a sandy ravine outside Kyiv, a group of soldiers in camouflage were learning the basics of warfare -- in Russian.

Ukrainian explosives expert Valeriy Onul lost his lower right leg after stepping on a landmine, but it hasn't stopped him returning to his job clearing mines.

EU leaders will on Thursday debate calling for humanitarian "pauses" in Israel's war with Hamas, as the bloc weighs how to respond to another conflict as fighting rages in Ukraine.

South Korea, Japan and the United States "strongly condemn" North Korea supplying arms to Moscow, the allies said in a joint statement Thursday, adding that "several" such deliveries have been made by Pyongyang.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Thursday that governments must be "honest" about the risks posed by artificial intelligence, as he prepares to host a global summit on the issue in Britain next week.

Republicans on Tuesday made their fourth pick in just two weeks to replace the ousted speaker of the US House of Representatives, underlining the chaos engulfing the fragmented party after three previous nominees failed to win the gavel.

Demonstrators and police clashed Tuesday in Panama as protests over a copper mine spilled into their fifth day, with President Laurentino Cortizo vowing he would prosecute acts of "vandalism."

Hong Kong leader John Lee said Wednesday the semi-autonomous city would create its own national security law in 2024, four years after Beijing imposed sweeping legislation aimed at silencing dissent.

Kenya's central bank chief has said that the country's currency, currently trading at record lows, has been overvalued for several years.

Hoang Thi Minh Hong had worried for months she could become the next environmental activist swept up in Vietnam's crackdown, so she closed her NGO and began keeping a low profile.

The candidates for next year's Indonesian presidential election were set Wednesday, with septuagenarian former special forces general Prabowo Subianto and his running mate, the president's son, seen as the frontrunners.

The raging war between Israel and Hamas is already battering the economies of nearby countries, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund told a Saudi investor forum on Wednesday.

Five Myanmar nationals asked the Philippines on Wednesday to investigate alleged war crimes committed by 10 serving or former members of Myanmar's military against the mainly Christian Chin minority.

Japan's top court said on Wednesday that obliging transgender people to be sterilised in order to change their legal gender was unconstitutional.

US President Joe Biden hosts Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for a lavish state visit Wednesday where their focus on China risks being overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Russia claimed Wednesday it was exhausting Ukraine's army, 20 months into a conflict in which neither side has made recent significant gains.

The main UN aid agency in besieged Gaza warned it will have to stop operations by the end of Wednesday because it is running out of fuel, as Hamas said overnight Israeli strikes killed at least 80 people.

Iran and Russia on Monday denounced European and US interference in tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan at a meeting in Tehran aimed at finding a solution without the West.