Israel’s hardline coalition government has approved plans for thousands of new housing units in the occupied West Bank and given the far-right finance minister sweeping powers to expedite the construction of illegal settlements, bypassing measures that have been in place for 27

United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has met China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in Beijing as the two countries take steps to repair their strained relationship. The duo posed for a photo on Monday at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse before heading into diplomatic

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Beijing for two days of meetings with Chinese officials. The trip marks the first visit by an American diplomat to China in almost five years. US officials say the main goal of the talks is to stabilise a relationship that has

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa – who is in Russia as part of a peace-seeking delegation – told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that the war in Ukraine must stop. Ramaphosa laid out the 10 points of the African peace initiative that is seeking agreement on a

Warplanes struck residential districts of the capital on Saturday, killing 17 civilians, including five children, health officials said. The airstrike, the deadliest in the clashes in urban areas of Khartoum and elsewhere in Sudan, came a day after a top army general threatened to step

Three people, including two military officials, were killed on Saturday when their light aircraft crashed in a hilly region in the south of France, the army and regional prosecutor said. An investigation has been opened to determine the cause of the crash close to the village of

As many as 13 people were killed and another 25 injured when a Lahore-bound passenger bus turned turtle in the salt range on Lahore- Islamabad Motorway on Saturday. As per the Police, the bus overturned as the driver lost control after the failure of brakes on a sharp turn on the

United Nations agencies have called for “urgent and decisive action” to be taken by the Europe Union to prevent further deaths in the Mediterranean following the presumed drowning of hundreds of people this week off the coast of Greece. The International Organization for

Mali's foreign minister has called on the UN to withdraw its peacekeeping force from his country "without delay". Abdoulaye Diop accused the force, Minusma, of having "become a part of the problem in fuelling intercommunal tensions". He was addressing the UN

Russia has already stationed a first batch of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Vladimir Putin says. Russia's president told a forum they would only be used if Russia's territory or state was threatened. The US government says there is no indication the Kremlin plans to

At least 25 people have been killed at a school in western Uganda by rebels linked to the Islamic State group. A further eight people remain in a critical condition after the attack on Lhubiriha secondary school in Mpondwe. Police say the attack on Friday was carried out by the

Lawmakers in Japan on Friday changed legislation to raise the age of consent from 13 — the lowest among developed nations — to 16. Under the stricter sex crime laws, lawmakers also broadened the definition of rape from "forcible sexual intercourse" to

The US Senate has confirmed the former American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attorney Nusrat Jahan Choudhury as the first Muslim woman to serve as a federal judge on Thursday. Choudhury, 46, is also the first Bangladeshi American to serve in this lifetime position. She will serve as a

A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the Pacific island nation of Tonga on Friday, but no tsunami warning was issued, US monitoring agencies said. The earthquake struck shortly after 7:00 am (1800 GMT Thursday) at a depth of 167 kilometers (103 miles) some 290 kilometers

French President Emmanuel Macron will welcome Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to a one-on-one luncheon meeting at the Elysee Palace on Friday. This visit is expected to be longer and the talks more multifaceted than during the crown prince’s previous trip to

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, will visit Tehran on Saturday, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said on Thursday. He is set to meet with Iranian officials, Tasnim said. Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed in March, in a deal brokered by China,

A 21-year-old woman has died after she was attacked and thrown from a hill at the historic Neuschwanstein Castle in southern Germany on Wednesday. Prosecutors said the woman - who has not been named - died overnight after she was shoved 50 metres into a gorge. Her friend, a 22-year

At least 15 people have been killed in central Canada after a truck collided with a small bus carrying a group of mostly elderly people in one of the most deadly road accidents in years. The crash occurred at the junction of two major roads near the town of Carberry in southwestern

Survivors from a fishing boat that sank off southern Greece in one of Europe's worst migrant disasters say up to 100 children may have been on board. At least 78 people have already been confirmed dead in the disaster. But scores more could still be missing at sea, with reports

An earthquake of magnitude 6.5 struck Mindoro island in the northern Philippines on Thursday, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said. The quake was at a depth of 10 kilometres (6.21 miles), GFZ said. The tremors were felt in the capital Manila, according to Reuters