WORLD

North Korea has sent some 10,000 troops to train in Russia, Washington said Monday tripling its estimate and prompting NATO as well as EU warnings of a dangerous expansion of the Ukraine war.

The mayor of an Austrian city is dead after a gunman shot him and another person then fled in a Volkswagen.

Georgia's pro-European president Salome Zurabishvili in an interview with AFP Monday alleged that parliamentary polls -- whose results have been rejected by the opposition -- were marred by widespread voting fraud bearing the hallmarks of Russia's influence.

The Western European hedgehog -- the prickly, nocturnal critter people love to encounter in the garden -- is in decline, mowed down by cars as its shrinking habitat forces it to move ever closer to humans.

'We drew upon only some of our abilities,' Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi said during a videotaped meeting with his top brass. 'We have the ability to do much more.'

Nearly 1,000 wheels of cheddar cheese were stolen by a culprit posing as a French buyer.

An attack by jihadist group Boko Haram killed around 40 Chadian troops overnight near the Nigerian border, prompting an army operation to hunt down the militants, the government and local sources said on Monday.

Manchester United sacked manager Erik ten Hag on Monday after a disastrous start to the season with former Red Devils striker Ruud van Nistelrooy named interim boss.

A UK judge on Monday jailed notorious far-right agitator Tommy Robinson for 18 months after he admitted committing contempt of court over a long-running libel case involving a Syrian refugee.

Manchester United have sacked manager Erik ten Hag following the club's lacklustre start to the season, the fallen Premier League giants announced Monday.

Scientists want to harness the extreme power below a volcanic region in Iceland to create biothermal energy that they hope one day will replace fossil fuel.

Lithuania's centre-left party said on Monday it would start forming a new coalition after winning the election, as its leader Vilija Blinkeviciute has cast doubts on whether she would lead the government.

Flagrant violations of the laws of war in the escalating conflict in the Middle East are setting a dangerous precedent, aid workers in the region warn.

A ship carrying hundreds of tonnes of possibly toxic industrial waste returned to Albania's largest seaport of Durres on Monday, months after setting sail to dispose of the material in Thailand.

Afghanistan's morality ministry is gradually introducing a ban on images of living beings in media, with multiple provinces announcing restrictions and some Taliban officials refusing to be photographed or filmed, journalists across the country told AFP. Since mid-October the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (PVPV) has held meetings with journalists in one province after another.

Israeli forces launched deadly strikes on Lebanon and Gaza on Monday, pressing their offensive against militants after Egypt's president proposed a two-day truce in the Israel-Hamas war.

Actor Gerard Depardieu's Paris trial for allegedly sexually assaulting two women during a film shoot begins Monday, with numerous further complaints and a possible second court case already lying in wait.

The elite of world football will gather in Paris on Monday for the Ballon d'Or ceremony, with Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior the leading candidate for the men's award and Barcelona's Aitana Bonmati the hot favourite to win her second-successive crown.

Hundreds died in the student-led revolution that toppled Bangladesh's autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina, but those impacted in the violent aftermath fear the new authorities' promise of justice will exclude them.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday proposed a two-day truce in Gaza and limited hostage exchange aimed at securing "a complete ceasefire" after more than a year of war between Israel and Hamas.

North Korean state media said Monday that an investigation had "proved" South Korea's military sent a drone over Pyongyang to drop propaganda leaflets, calling it an infringement of sovereignty.

The Philippines raised a fresh weather alert on Monday, days more than 100 people were killed by the worst storm of the year.

"It barely exists anymore," said the mayor of Vovchansk, an industrial town razed by a Russian onslaught shocking even for the killing fields of eastern Ukraine.

A leftist history teacher and a center-right veterinarian will go head-to-head for the presidency of South America's most stable democracy, Uruguay, after a first round of voting on Sunday.

'Australia's national interest is best served when Candace Owens is somewhere else,' Immigration Minister Tony Burke said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was on thin ice on Monday after his ruling coalition was projected to have lost its parliamentary majority in disastrous snap elections.

Mohamed Salah's equaliser salvaged Liverpool a 2-2 draw at Premier League title rivals Arsenal on Sunday, while Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag suffered another damaging defeat at West Ham.

Four people are under house arrest in the case involving a private intelligence company that allegedly obtained financial and law enforcement information.

The airstrikes Saturday were retaliation for the barrage of about 200 missiles that Iran launched against Israel on October 1