WORLD

Helicopter pilot Tim Thomas has fought dozens of wildfires all over the world, but nothing prepared him for the scale and the challenge of the devastating blazes that ripped through Los Angeles.

Father Bashar Basiel moved freely in and out of his parish in the occupied West Bank until Israeli troops installed gates at the entrance of his village Taybeh overnight, just hours after a ceasefire began in Gaza.

Extreme weather disrupted the schooling of about 242 million children in 85 countries last year -- roughly one in seven students, the UN children's agency reported Thursday, deploring an "overlooked" aspect of the climate crisis.

US President Donald Trump said Thursday he would seek to bring interest rates lower by unleashing energy production, and would speak to the Federal Reserve if needed.

For years, as disputes over names on the map riled up nationalist passions in several parts of the world, US policymakers have watched warily, trying to stay out or to quietly encourage peace.

An explosive new wildfire erupted north of Los Angeles on Wednesday, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and setting nerves jangling in an area still reeling from two deadly blazes.

The Kremlin said Thursday it saw nothing new in US President Donald Trump's calls for Russia to end its military offensive in Ukraine, and that Moscow was ready for "mutually respectful" dialogue with him.

Negligence played a role in the deaths of 78 people who perished when a huge fire gutted a luxury ski resort hotel in northern Turkey this week, an expert said. There were safety failures on multiple levels at the Grand Kartal Hotel in the ski resort of Kartalkaya, the head of the Ankara Chamber of Architects said late on Wednesday.

Donald Trump is back in the White House, promising to use the United States's vast economic weight to hit back at China for its alleged unfair trade practices and role in the deadly American fentanyl crisis.

The United States' new top diplomat Marco Rubio reaffirmed the country's "unwavering support" for Israel, days into a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a large-scale raid in the occupied West Bank.

Air pollution forced nearly 200 schools in Bangkok to close on Thursday, local authorities said, as officials urged people to work from home and restricted heavy vehicles in the city.

Donald Trump's return to the White House has darkened the mood in Germany a month before elections, as multiple crises shake the foundations on which Europe's biggest economy built its post-war prosperity.

South Korean investigators recommended Thursday that impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol be charged with insurrection and abuse of power, as they handed prosecutors the results of their probe into his ill-fated declaration of martial law.

There will always be border disputes in Asia, and China should not be singled out because of tensions in the South China Sea, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Wednesday.

Turkey was preparing to bury its dead Wednesday a day after a huge fire killed 76 people at a ski resort hotel, as questions grew over safety measures at the luxury establishment.

Masayoshi Son, the Japanese tycoon helming US President Donald Trump's big new AI push, is the son of an immigrant pig farmer with a spectacular but also sketchy investment record.

The top lawyer of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison in February last year, told AFP she regretted not finding the right words to stop him returning to Moscow in 2021.

South Korean authorities said on Wednesday they will change the concrete barriers used for navigation at some airports across the country after the Jeju Air crash that left 179 people dead.

As part of his flurry of first-day actions, US President Donald Trump took aim at electric vehicles, a cornerstone of the Biden administration's climate change agenda.

As he looks at the ruins of his home razed when deadly fires tore through the Los Angeles area, Sebastian Harrison knows it will never be the same again, because he was not insured.

Panama has complained to the United Nations over US President Donald Trump's "worrying" threat to seize the Panama Canal, even as it launched an audit of the Hong Kong-linked operator of two ports on the interoceanic waterway.

Donald Trump's plan to end birthright citizenship could fundamentally reshape America, analysts said Tuesday, overturning a principle that has underpinned the country for more than 150 years.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on his first full day in office Tuesday warned jointly with Japan, India and Australia against coercive actions in Asia, in a veiled but clear warning to China over its actions at sea.

Elon Musk's hand gestures at an inauguration event for US President Donald Trump, which quickly drew comparisons to Nazi salutes, appear to have resonated in some far-right extremist spaces online.

China vowed on Tuesday to continue participating in two cornerstone multinational arrangements -- the World Health Organization and Paris climate accord -- after newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump ordered withdrawals from them.

A landslide triggered by heavy rain on Indonesia's main island of Java has killed at least 16 people with three others missing, disaster officials said Tuesday.

The Taliban government said Tuesday it had released two American citizens from prison in return for an Afghan fighter held in the United States, in a deal brokered by Qatar.

A fire engulfed a hotel at a ski resort in northwestern Turkey on Tuesday, killing 10 people and injuring 32 others, the interior minister said.

The Israel-Hamas ceasefire entered a third day Tuesday, while US President Donald Trump said he doubted the fragile deal would hold.