WORLD

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday told Turkey it was "imperative" to work against a resurgence of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

UK postal operator Royal Mail has been fined GBP10.5 million ($13.3 million) for delays in delivering mail for the 2023/2024 financial year, Britain's communications regulator Ofcom said Friday.

China's foreign minister Wang Yi told his Egyptian counterpart on Friday that Beijing is "deeply concerned" about the situation in Syria, as the two top diplomats met in the Chinese capital.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Thursday said he discussed with French President Emmanuel Macron the possibility of stationing foreign troops in Ukraine in case of a ceasefire, but that Warsaw was not currently "planning any such actions".

French President Emmanuel Macron was expected Thursday to name a new prime minister a week after MPs toppled the government, with politicians across the spectrum holding their breath while he conducts a day visit to Poland.

A rash of unexplained drone sightings in the skies above New Jersey has left locals rattled and sent US officials scrambling for answers.

Australia will force Meta and Google to pay for news shared on their platforms under a new scheme unveiled Thursday, threatening to tax them if they refuse to strike deals with local media.

US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday appointed election denier Kari Lake to be the new director of Voice of America, the state-funded international media organization.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday urged businesses to invest in war-torn Ukraine and stressed a commitment to smooth Kyiv's path to European Union accession.

Gaza's civil defence agency reported that Israeli air strikes on Thursday killed at least 33 people, including 12 guards securing aid trucks in southern parts of the Palestinian territory.

Israel has been accused of carrying out a "massacre" of journalists in Gaza in two separate reports from media freedom organisations this week that analysed the deaths of reporters worldwide this year.

In the small town of Dedovsk, just outside Moscow, pensioner Zinaida Kudriavtseva is struggling to pay the bills.

Waving colourful glow sticks, singing parody songs and sporting elaborate outfits, demonstrators in Seoul this week calling for President Yoon Suk Yeol's departure have highlighted South Korea's unique and creative protest culture.

Rescuers were working Wednesday to find people under the rubble of a building destroyed in a Russian attack the day before that killed eight people, Ukrainian officials said.

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte partied with journalists Wednesday as she thumbed her nose at an official inquiry into allegations she plotted to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos, her estranged ally.

Malaria mortality has fallen back to levels seen before the Covid-19 crisis, the WHO said Wednesday, but called for faster progress against the disease that killed nearly some 597,000 people last year.

Argentine President Javier Milei promised Tuesday that inflation will soon be "little more than a bad memory" and vowed to pursue a free trade deal with the United States next year.

South Korean police said Wednesday that security guards were blocking a raid on President Yoon Suk Yeol's offices to investigate his brief imposition of martial law, with the opposition party accusing the presidential staff of illegally protecting an insurrectionist.

China has expanded military drills around Taiwan aimed at drawing "a red line" for the next US president, Taipei authorities said on Wednesday, branding Beijing a "troublemaker".

Outgoing US President Joe Biden on Tuesday branded his successor Donald Trump's economic plans a "disaster," in a speech hailing his own legacy.

A ferocious fire tore through Malibu on Tuesday, destroying at least seven homes in one of California's most desirable areas, and forcing thousands to evacuate.

China's "coercive behaviour" threatens regional stability, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday, after Taiwan said Beijing was carrying out its biggest maritime mobilisation around the self-ruled island in years.

A war monitor said on Tuesday that Israel had conducted 300 strikes on Syria since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad, adding that the raids had "destroyed the most important military sites" in the country.

French party leaders will gather at President Emmanuel Macron's Elysee Palace office Tuesday afternoon in a bid to chart a route towards a new government, days after Prime Minister Michel Barnier was toppled in a confidence vote.

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned Tuesday that there would be "no winners" in a trade war with the United States and vowed the country would hit its growth goals for the year.

China is deploying dozens of ships in its biggest maritime mobilisation around Taiwan in years, Taipei said Tuesday, after Beijing voiced fury at President Lai Ching-te's recent visit to the United States.

South Korean authorities banned more top officials from leaving the country Tuesday, in the wake of President Yoon Suk Yeol's bungled attempt to impose martial law.

Rupert Murdoch's audacious bid to cement his eldest son's control over one of the world's most influential media empires has failed, a US report said Monday.

Donald Trump does not take office until January 20, but on the world stage he is already acting as if he is US president.