WORLD

The Republican-led US House of Representatives voted Thursday to force President Joe Biden to end his hold on high-payload bombs approved for Israel but blocked over concerns about their use in Gaza.

Lured by the promise of a Pacific paradise, hundreds of visitors to France's island territory of New Caledonia have found themselves trapped in a land teeming with troops trying to put down riots.

The massive coral bleaching episode signaled by US authorities last month is expanding and deepening in reefs around the globe, scientists warned Thursday.

Taiwan's president-elect Lai Ching-te, a staunch defender of the island's democracy, will be sworn into office Monday as Beijing ratchets up military and diplomatic pressure on Taipei.

US President Joe Biden's administration formally proposed on Thursday reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, a historic shift that would bring federal policy more in line with public opinion.

China cut the minimum down payment rate for first-time homebuyers on Friday and suggested the government could buy up commercial real estate, in some of Beijing's most ambitious moves yet to lift the ailing housing market out of an unprecedented debt crisis.

The sharp drop in prices for minerals critical to the green energy transition is masking a looming shortage due to inadequate investment, the International Energy Agency said Friday.

The EU on Thursday opened a formal investigation into Facebook and Instagram on suspicion the platforms owned by Meta are causing addictive behaviour in children.

US troops early Thursday anchored a long-awaited temporary pier, meant to boost aid deliveries into war-ravaged Gaza, to a beach in the besieged Palestinian territory, the US military said.

The newly agreed Dutch coalition government on Thursday proposed what it called the "strictest ever" asylum policy, including an opt-out from European Union rules, and vowed to examine moving its Israel embassy to Jerusalem.

US President Joe Biden unveiled steep tariff hikes on Chinese green tech this week, hitting imports like electric vehicles, chips and solar cells -- and adding stress to US-China ties.

Arab leaders are gathering Thursday in Bahrain for a summit dominated by the Israel-Hamas war which has been raging in the Gaza Strip without a ceasefire in sight.

Since announcing plans in late March to replace CEO Dave Calhoun at the end of 2024, Boeing's problems have seemingly gone from bad to worse, complicating an already daunting executive search.

It's crunch time for Donald Trump's defense team as they take another stab Thursday at Michael Cohen, the key witness in the criminal trial in which the former president is accused of fraudulently covering up his affair with a porn star to influence his first presidential bid.

US President Joe Biden and Donald Trump agreed Wednesday to hold election debates in June and September, with the rivals trading barbs about their first on-stage meetings in nearly four years.

Tens of thousands of civilians fled heavy fighting in Gaza as Palestinians on Wednesday marked 76 years since their mass displacement during Israel's wartime creation which they call the Nakba or "catastrophe".

Qatar expects to sign more long-term natural gas supply deals this year to meet growing international demand, Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi said on Wednesday.

The EU on Wednesday predicted eurozone inflation to fall faster in 2024 but warned the single-currency area's economy still faced risks from geopolitical tensions including wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

Ukraine on Wednesday said it had pulled back troops near several villages in the northeastern Kharkiv region where Russian forces have been advancing and pounding settlements in a new offensive along the border.

Once confined to jail over the killings of hundreds under his watch, former Colombian general Henry Torres now spends his days planting trees and otherwise free.

The US Justice Department on Tuesday said Boeing can be prosecuted for two subsequent 737 Max crashes that killed 346 people approximately five years ago.

Singapore will swear in Lawrence Wong on Wednesday as the city-state's new prime minister, as Lee Hsien Loong steps down after two decades in office.

Six months after Geert Wilders swept to a stunning election win in the Netherlands, top politicians have until Wednesday to form a government -- without the far-right firebrand as prime minister.

Israeli troops fought Hamas militants in multiple battles across the Gaza Strip, forcing new waves of Palestinian mass displacement, as Israel marked a sombre Independence Day on Tuesday.

UK MPs arrested on suspicion of serious sexual or violent offences could be barred from attending parliament after lawmakers changed the rules in a narrow vote late on Monday.

Armenia on Tuesday detained dozens of demonstrators in the capital Yerevan as large protests continue against government plans to concede land to the country's historic foe, Azerbaijan.

Cheering crowds greeted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday as he submitted his candidacy for a Hindu holy city's parliamentary seat in a general election his party is strongly favoured to win.

American military aid for Ukraine is "on its way", US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Kyiv on Tuesday, as Russia pressed on with a new offensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

Demolition experts used explosives Monday to remove part of a collapsed bridge in Baltimore and free a cargo ship that has been trapped since it rammed into the structure in March.