WORLD

The US Supreme Court hears a challenge on Tuesday to federal regulation of "ghost guns" -- firearms sold in easy-to-assemble kits.

China said on Tuesday it was "fully confident" of hitting its growth target this year but held off more stimulus, disappointing markets and fuelling concern about a lack of detail on a raft of measures unveiled last month.

Elon Musk is ramping up his public support of Donald Trump, telling Tucker Carlson in a conversation streamed Monday that he is "all in" on the Republican presidential candidate.

The head of the United Nations refugee agency arrived in Lebanon on Saturday on a "solidarity" visit for the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese affected by Israeli bombardment and needing international support.

The Philippines and South Korea committed Monday to deepening maritime cooperation, their presidents said, in the face of China's assertion of its claims over the South China Sea.

The mayor of a city in southern Mexico has been murdered less than a week after taking office, authorities said Sunday, the latest in a series of attacks on politicians in the violence-plagued Latin American country.

Israel marks on Monday the one-year anniversary of Hamas's deadly October 7 attack, the worst in its history and one that sparked a devastating war in Gaza that has since expanded into Lebanon.

Kazakhs looked Sunday to have voted in favour of building the first nuclear power plant in the Central Asian country, the world's largest producer of uranium but lacking electricity, in a referendum.

Kamala Harris slammed her White House rival Donald Trump's "lies" over reproductive rights Sunday, as both candidates sought an edge in the final month of a deadlocked US presidential election.

The southern French city of Marseille was shaken this week by two apparently drug-related killings, including the murder of a 15-year-old boy who was "stabbed 50 times" and burned alive, prosecutors said on Sunday.

Malaysian hotel tycoon Ong Beng Seng was hit with two charges on Friday, both connected to Singapore's jailed ex-transport minister S. Iswaran.

Iran's supreme leader vowed in a rare address on Friday that his allies around the region would keep fighting Israel, as he defended his country's missile strike on its arch-foe.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country would use nuclear weapons "without hesitation" if attacked by the South and ally the United States, state media reported Friday.

As a bitterly contested US election campaign enters its final stretch, misinformation researchers have raised the alarm over threats posed by AI and foreign influence -- but voters appear more concerned about falsehoods from a more familiar source: politicians.

More than 210 people are now confirmed dead after Hurricane Helene carved a path of destruction through several US states, officials said Thursday, making it the second deadliest storm to hit the US mainland in more than half a century.

Sri Lanka's new president Thursday urged the IMF to consider "alternative means" to continue with a $2.9 billion bailout that aided his country in the wake of a sovereign default but imposed painful austerity.

UK armed forces "played their part in attempts to prevent further escalation" after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel, the British government said Wednesday.

In southwest Georgia, the hamlet of Plains is synonymous with former US president Jimmy Carter, a Democrat who grew up on a nearby peanut farm.

Ukraine's army said Wednesday that it had withdrawn from the eastern town of Vugledar, handing Russia one of its most significant territorial gains in weeks.

Spain welcomed a record 21.8 million international visitors this summer, official data showed on Wednesday, an influx of tourism that has triggered some protests in the country.

Police in Denmark and Sweden said on Wednesday they were probing explosions and gunfire around Israeli embassies in their capitals which took place amid spiralling Middle East tensions.

Afghan journalists have reported hundreds of cases of abuses by government officials, including torture and arbitrary detention, as well as tightening censorship since the Taliban authorities returned to power.

On the streets of Tehran, a small crowd celebrated Iran's missile attack on Israel while others are worried about the consequences of the Islamic Republic's boldest move yet in a year of escalating Middle East conflict.

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will on Wednesday visit areas devastated by Hurricane Helene, after Harris's election rival Donald Trump turned their handling of the disaster into a political football.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday told Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin he was ready to "expand" cooperation, as the two leaders exchanged congratulations on the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, state media said.

US vice presidential contenders J.D. Vance and Tim Walz faced off in a surprisingly civil debate Tuesday, despite tense moments on the hot topics of migration, abortion and the threat of war in the Middle East.

The two candidates for US president offer starkly different visions of the world, with November's election carrying the potential to dramatically change policy toward Ukraine and other partners.

A Russian strike on a southern Ukraine market killed six people on Tuesday as the nation held a moment of silence to mark a major public holiday honouring troops, authorities said.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said on Tuesday he was released after years of incarceration only because he pleaded guilty to doing "journalism", warning freedom of expression was now at a "dark crossroads".