Oleksandr deserted from the front line in eastern Ukraine after watching his fellow servicemen being pulverised by Russian bombardments for six months.
From tiny and impoverished Mayotte to oil-rich behemoth Saudi Arabia, prosperous European cities to overcrowded slums in Africa, nowhere was spared the devastating impact of supercharged climate disasters in 2024.
India announced seven days of state mourning on Friday after the death of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, one of the architects of the country's economic liberalisation in the early 1990s.
Japan's government on Friday approved a record budget for the next fiscal year, ramping up spending on social welfare, as the population ages, and defense to tackle regional threats.
South Korean lawmakers impeached acting president Han Duck-soo on Friday, sinking the country even deeper into political crisis two weeks after his predecessor was suspended over a martial law declaration that shocked the world.
Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino on Thursday ruled out negotiations with US President-elect Donald Trump over control of the Panama Canal, denying that China was interfering in its operation.
A "terrorist act" sank the cargo ship that went down in international waters in the Mediterranean this week, the Russian state-owned company that owns the vessel said Wednesday.
South Korea's opposition said Thursday it filed an impeachment motion against acting president Han Duck-soo, after he refused to appoint Constitutional Court judges to complete the process of removing his predecessor from office.
The quiet resumption of operations at a desalination plant in the Gaza Strip last month marked a small but significant step toward restoring public services in the Palestinian territory ravaged by more than 14 months of war.
More than 1,500 prisoners escaped from a Maputo prison Wednesday, taking advantage of the third day of unrest triggered by the controversial confirmation of the long-ruling Frelimo party as the winner of recent elections.
Tearful mourners prayed on Thursday as ceremonies were held across Asia to remember the 220,000 people who were killed two decades ago when a tsunami hit coastlines around the Indian Ocean in one of the world's worst natural disasters.
Desi Bouterse, the former dictator and later elected president of Suriname, who became a fugitive of justice for the killing of political opponents, has died at 79, the government said Wednesday.
Angry protests broke out Wednesday in Syria over a video showing an attack on an Alawite shrine, with a war monitor saying one demonstrator was killed in Homs city.
Azerbaijan held a national day of mourning Thursday after a passenger jet from the flag carrier crashed in Kazakhstan killing 38 people, as experts pointed to apparent shrapnel damage on the wreckage as evidence of a possible missile explosion.
Beside India's holy rivers, a makeshift city is being built for a Hindu religious festival expected to be so vast it will be seen from space, the largest gathering in history.
Christmas revellers around the world donned red and white Santa hats, offered meals to the homeless and lit candles on Wednesday, as Pope Francis launched observation of the global holiday with a sombre mass in the Vatican.
Japanese foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya met counterpart Wang Yi and other top officials in Beijing on Wednesday, with the two sides agreeing to try to increase cooperation despite acknowledging challenges, reports said.
Santa Claus has no need to worry about recent mystery drone sightings over New Jersey, a US Air Force general said Tuesday, as an annual tradition of "tracking" Saint Nick swung into action.
A leading US government agency that tracks foreign disinformation has terminated its operations, the State Department said Tuesday, after Congress failed to extend its funding following years of Republican criticism.
Protesters in Panama on Tuesday burned an image of US President-elect Donald Trump following his threat to demand control of the country's interoceanic canal be returned to Washington.
A rift between Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa and his deputy deepened on Tuesday as his ally-turned-adversary accused the leader of the South American nation of trying to banish her to Turkey.
Jailed former leaders of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiyah militant group are being considered for parole, a senior counter-terror official said Tuesday, after the network disbanded and members pledged allegiance to the country.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Tuesday that the days of France's new government are already numbered, predicting an early presidential election in a few months.
The status of the Panama Canal is non-negotiable, President Jose Raul Mulino said in a statement Monday signed alongside former leaders of the country, after Donald Trump's recent threats to reclaim the man-made waterway.
Hong Kong police announced bounties on Tuesday of HK$1 million (around $130,000) for information leading to the arrest of six democracy advocates based overseas and accused of national security crimes.
South Korea's opposition said Tuesday it would hold back a decision to impeach acting president Han Duck-soo until later in the week.
One of the world's most active volcanoes sprang into life again Monday, spewing columns of lava 80 meters (260 feet) above Hawaii, US vulcanologists said.
President-elect Donald Trump's repeated support for TikTok has sparked speculation about potential solutions to prevent the app's impending ban in the United States, though the path forward remains unclear.
Nearly 50,000 people in Canada died of an apparent opioid overdose from January 2016 to June 2024, with fentanyl playing an increasingly prominent role in fatalities, the national health agency said Monday.
A massacre of more than 200 people in Haiti this month followed a gang-ordered manhunt that saw victims, many of them elderly, pulled from their homes and shot or killed with machetes, the UN said Monday.
