WORLD

On a countryside road in battle-ravaged Sudan, the hum of a passing vehicle turns villagers' blood cold, fearing the arrival of paramilitaries plundering their way south in their war against the army.

Armed groups have killed at least 160 people in central Nigeria in a series of attacks on villages, local government officials said on Monday.

Demonstrators set up roadblocks in the Serbian capital Belgrade Monday, to protest what they say was electoral fraud in Serbia's recent parliamentary and local elections.

Japan's SLIM space probe entered the Moon's orbit on Monday in a major step towards the country's first successful lunar landing, expected next month.

Turkish air strikes killed eight civilians in Syria's Kurdish-held northeast Monday, a war monitor and local media said, as Ankara launched operations in Iraq and Syria following deadly attacks on its soldiers.

World Health Organization staff visited Monday a Gaza hospital receiving casualties from deadly strikes on a refugee camp, hearing distressing stories of entire families killed and seeing dying children.

Sadness over the war in Gaza subdued the holiday cheer in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, when the biblical town would usually be decked out in festive finery.

A joint US-Canadian military monitoring agency continued this year its decades-long Christmas tradition of tracking Santa's whereabouts, helping children around the globe find out when his reindeer-powered, present-filled sleigh would be coming to town.

Austria on Sunday said three people were detained for suspected involvement in an "Islamist network", as Vienna and Cologne step up police controls citing heightened security concerns during Christmas.

At least 13 people were killed and 38 injured in eastern Indonesia on Sunday in an explosion at a Chinese-funded nickel-processing plant, the owner of the industrial park that hosts the facility said.

Israel said its armed forces were increasingly focused on Hamas targets in south Gaza Sunday, as the United States again pressed its ally to do more to protect Palestinian civilians.

The United States on Saturday voiced deepening concern over the fate of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has not been heard from since early December.

Nearly three years after President Joe Biden took office vowing "America is back," the country's international image is taking a beating as his administration backs Israel in its war with Hamas.

Ukrainian Orthodox Christians attended services on Sunday as the country for the first time celebrated Christmas on December 25, after the government changed the date from January 7, when most Orthodox believers celebrate, as a snub to Russia.

A deal has been reached to end an hours-long strike by ground staff at Geneva airport, which had caused numerous flight delays and cancellations during the holiday rush.

Top US military officer General Charles "CQ" Brown spoke with China's General Liu Zhenli on Thursday, a spokesman said, after a more than year-long halt to high-level defense talks between the two countries.

Britain and Switzerland unveiled a post-Brexit financial services agreement on Thursday, aimed at making it easier for corporate and wealthy people in both countries to do business together.

The White House said Thursday it was preparing a new proposal to Russia to seek the release of two imprisoned Americans after Moscow rejected an earlier attempt.

Protesting youths and security forces clashed in Guinea's capital Conakry on Thursday as demonstrators demanded petrol be restored at service stations whose supplies were suspended after a deadly explosion at the country's main fuel depot.

Queen Elizabeth II was persuaded to step back from making decisions about her own funeral after mentioning that it would be "more difficult" if she died in Scotland, her daughter told a forthcoming documentary.

The United Nations Security Council was expected to vote Friday on a resolution to boost aid to Gaza, as the world body warned the Israel-Hamas war was pushing the Palestinian territory towards famine.

A Hong Kong court on Friday rejected jailed pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai's bid to throw out a charge of seditious publication in a trial that has attracted international attention.

A 24-year-old student killed 14 people and wounded 25 at a Prague university on Thursday in the Czech Republic's worst shooting in decades, before authorities said the attacker was "eliminated".

Zubaida travelled from the rural outskirts of Khost in eastern Afghanistan to give birth at a maternity hospital specialising in complicated cases, fearing a fate all too common among pregnant Afghan women -- her death or her child's.

Separatist Tuareg forces on Wednesday announced they had set up a blockade of the major roads in northern Mali, where the army has made gains in recent weeks.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced guarded hope Wednesday that the United States would be able to support a new UN Security Council resolution on Gaza, with a sticking point on access for aid.

Among the nations condemning Israel's war in Gaza, one has stood out -- Russia had built a growing friendship with Israel, but that dalliance is over, analysts said, erased by the shifting sands of Middle East geopolitics.

The United States released an ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in exchange for 10 American detainees and a fugitive dubbed "Fat Leonard" in a sweeping prisoner swap deal Wednesday between the rival governments.

France appointed its first woman domestic intelligence chief Wednesday, with top police officer Celine Berthon stepping up to head the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI).