WORLD

As European capitals prepare to implement long-awaited sanctions on Russia's diamond exports, Belgian traders are bracing for new scrutiny of their industry.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi failed to show up Tuesday for a summit in Ankara that Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier announced to reporters, but which Tehran itself never officially confirmed.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has ordered greater protection for international firms' rights and intellectual property, state media reported Tuesday, as Beijing works to lure in foreign companies spooked by a crackdown and an ailing economy.

Organisers will on Tuesday announce the host of the 2030 World Expo, with Rome in Italy, the Saudi capital Riyadh and South Korea's Busan contending to welcome the showpiece event held every five years.

Hundreds of athletes as young as seven are undergoing military training in Shanghai designed to instill discipline and "good fighting ability", the Chinese city said.

Many Gazans were hostile to Hamas ahead of the group's brutal October 7 attack on Israel, with some describing its rule as a second occupation, according to rare polling data analyzed by a US-Palestinian researcher.

Israel said Monday that 11 more hostages released in the Gaza Strip had arrived safely, hours after the announcement that a truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza will be extended by two days, opening the way for further releases.

The truce between Israel and Hamas entered its final 24 hours Monday, with the militant group saying it was willing to extend the pause after it freed more hostages, including a four-year-old orphaned by its attack.

New Zealand's incoming conservative government will jettison world-leading measures to stub out smoking, new Prime Minister Christopher Luxon confirmed Monday, in a move described by health campaigners as a "huge win for the tobacco industry".

Relatives of dozens of Chinese passengers who died when a Malaysia Airlines plane disappeared almost 10 years ago called Monday for a new investigation, as a Beijing court began hearing their fresh appeal for compensation.

Unlike her fellow Hong Kong urbanites toting plastic or paper cups filled with coffee, pet groomer Lucine Mo takes her caffeine hit in a thermal mug with a QR code.

Bangladesh has launched a sweeping and violent crackdown on opposition parties to "eliminate competition" ahead of general elections, including arresting almost 10,000 activists, Human Rights Watch said Monday.

A four-year-old American girl is safely in Israel after being released Sunday from captivity in Gaza, US President Joe Biden said as he urged the pause in Israel-Hamas fighting be extended to allow for more hostage releases.

Thousands of demonstrators, some waving Israeli and British flags, marched against anti-Semitism through central London on Sunday.

Indian military engineers were preparing to dig by hand Monday to reach 41 workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for 16 days, a rescue operation hit by repeated setbacks.

Six teenagers go on trial in Paris on Monday for their role in the 2020 beheading of teacher Samuel Paty, the first of two trials in a case that horrified France.

He has used science to underpin his moral missives on climate change. - 'Change of direction' - Two years after picking a papal name in honour of the patron saint of ecology, Francis in 2015 published a landmark thesis called "Laudato Si" (Praise Be To You) which lambasted manmade climate change and -- in an unprecedented move for a religious leader -- used science to do so.

President Joe Biden will miss the latest UN climate summit in Dubai, after two years of attending the talks in hopes of highlighting US leadership, a US official said Sunday.

"I am here to take you home. From a manual for trauma care to medical support, even the first words the soldiers escorting them home will say have been carefully scripted, with experts warning many could face a long road to recovery.

Venice announced on Thursday that it would introduce a fee for day tourists to enter the city's overcrowded historic centre on 29 days next year as it seeks to come to grips with overtourism.

A gas-guzzling fossil fuel exporter trying to spearhead more ambitious climate action, the United Arab Emirates remains heavily dependent on hydrocarbons for its prosperity.

US Department of Defense officials will visit Guyana next week, the South American country's vice president said Thursday, as he pledged that "all options" are on the table in its row with neighboring Venezuela.

Just a few metres of rock and earth separate Indian rescue teams from 41 workers who have been trapped inside a collapsed road tunnel for nearly two weeks, officials said Friday, saying they were optimistic of success within hours.

The emirate of Qatar has further boosted its status as a specialist power in resolving delicate hostage situations by using its influence to help secure the release of hostages by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The head of the United Nations children's agency on Wednesday called the besieged Gaza Strip "the most dangerous place in the world to be a child," and said that the hard-won truce deal between Israel and Hamas was not enough to save their lives.

A car erupted into a fireball at a US-Canada checkpoint near Niagara Falls on Wednesday, killing the two occupants, triggering border closures and sparking a massive security alert on the eve of a major holiday.

Ambulances were on standby Thursday morning as Indian rescuers dug through the final metres of debris separating them from 41 workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel for nearly two weeks.

A newly-released mass of security footage from the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol has reignited a host of long-debunked conspiracy theories -- with conservative lawmakers and media personalities getting in on the act.

Oil extended losses Thursday after OPEC announced the shock delay of a key policy meeting, suggesting fresh upheaval in the bloc, while equities struggled after two US reports dented recent euphoria over the future of interest rates.