WORLD

On a barge on Rome's River Tiber, a stone's throw from the Vatican, Loan Rocher was "ordained" in a secret ceremony in defiance of the Catholic Church's ban on women deacons and priests.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday faced accusations of seeking to reduce the media to merely reproducing press releases after blaming journalists, ministers and commentators for the furore over comments attributed to him on Israel.

The billboard showing an elegant young woman wrapped around a man on a motorcycle, pistol in hand, looks more like a perfume ad than a military campaign.

Kenyan President William Ruto on Friday nominated his interior minister as deputy to replace Rigathi Gachagua who was sacked in a historic impeachment.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will lead dueling rallies Friday in Michigan, a crucial battleground state where Arab American voters angered by US support for Israel may hold the key to a deadlocked race.

Israel conducted raids on Gaza Friday, pressing its year-long war to crush Hamas after dealing it a massive blow with the killing of its leader, Yahya Sinwar.

King Charles III touched down in Australia Friday, embarking on the most strenuous foreign trip since his life-changing cancer diagnosis eight months ago.

Elon Musk warned Thursday that the "fate of Western civilization" depends on Donald Trump returning to office as the tech billionaire launched five nights of campaign events for the White House candidate in the key swing state of Pennsylvania.

The Israeli military on Thursday told how Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in a firefight after being tracked "going from home to home" desperately seeking to avoid detection in southern Gaza.

President Joe Biden urged NATO allies to keep backing Ukraine in its war against Russia as he kicked off a farewell visit to Germany Friday just weeks before US elections.

White House candidate Donald Trump on Thursday blamed US ally Ukraine for Russia's invasion, arguing that President Volodymyr Zelensky had failed in his duty to halt hostilities before they started.

An independent panel called on Thursday for a sweeping shake-up of the US Secret Service following its "historic" failure to prevent the July assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami warned Thursday of further retaliation against Israel if it attacks Iranian targets, which Israel has vowed to do after Iran's missile attack on October 1.

President Volodymyr Zelensky was headed to Brussels Thursday to defend his "victory plan" for Ukraine to both EU leaders and NATO defence ministers, with the outlook on the battlefield bleak in Kyiv's battle to repel the Russian invasion.

Israel bombed a target in a Syrian coastal city on Thursday and the United States conducted strikes in Yemen nearly a month into Israel's war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

More than one billion people are living in acute poverty across the globe, a UN Development Program report said Thursday, with children accounting for over half of those affected.

China has reacted more robustly to Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's rhetoric defending the island's sovereignty than his predecessor's, with fiery threats and war games analysts say will likely intensify.

Mexico's former top security official Genaro Garcia Luna was sentenced to more than 38 years in a US prison on Wednesday for aiding the very drug cartels he was tasked with dismantling.

US President Joe Biden will be in Germany on Friday on a whirlwind trip, with Western backing for Ukraine set to be high on the agenda at talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other NATO leaders.

Italian lawmakers on Wednesday extended the country's ban on surrogacy to couples who seek it abroad, despite warnings the move would damage children's rights.

Donald Trump sought to present himself as the "father of IVF" on Wednesday, as he told an all-female audience at an election campaign event he supported a fertility treatment that Democrats say he has put under threat.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday urged Israel to ensure the necessary conditions to finish the job of vaccinating Gaza's children against polio, after reaching more than 150,000 with the required second dose.

A combative Kamala Harris pledged a clean break from Joe Biden's presidency Wednesday in an interview with right-wing Fox News aimed at reaching Republican voters wary of Donald Trump.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk's X platform will not face the EU's stringent competition rules aimed at keeping digital markets open, the European Commission said on Wednesday.

Israel conducted strikes on Wednesday targeting Hezbollah's main bastion and a city in southern Lebanon where it holds sway, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed calls for a ceasefire.

Gulf leaders including Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gather with EU heads of state and government in Brussels Wednesday for a summit aimed at averting a "general conflagration" in the Middle East.

Myanmar and China have the world's worst internet freedom, with declines reported in a number of other countries led by Kyrgyzstan, a study said Wednesday.

Kenya's Senate on Wednesday began debating the impeachment of Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua after the embattled politician lost yet another court bid to stop the process.

A record number of women are running in Japan's general election this month, although they still account for less than a quarter of candidates, local media said Wednesday.