WORLD

Israel pressed its blistering assault in the Gaza Strip on Saturday as fears grew of a push into Rafah, the southern city teeming with civilians uprooted by the nearly four-month war.

As Hindus began prayers at a mosque in one of India's holiest cities, the building's elderly custodian Syed Mohammad Yaseen wondered how much longer he would be permitted to worship there.

Cansu Gol lost her baby in the rubble of Turkey's massive earthquake a year ago.

Chilean firefighters were battling rapidly expanding wildfires Saturday that officials fear have claimed around 10 lives and are threatening hundreds of homes, prompting the president to declare a state of emergency.

Deadly strikes were reported early Saturday in the overcrowded Gaza border town of Rafah -- dubbed a "pressure cooker of despair" by the UN -- as international mediators readied a new push to seal a tentative truce deal between Israel and Hamas.

Michelle O'Neill on Saturday becomes the first nationalist leader of Northern Ireland's government, when the assembly returns after the end of a two-year boycott by the biggest pro-UK party.

There is an unfamiliar air of serenity in El Salvador's capital, where voters head to the polls Sunday without the specter of gang violence and intimidation hanging over them for the first time in years.

A global anti-tobacco meeting opens in Panama on Monday to halt the harmful consequences of smoking, as tobacco companies endeavor to hook more users -- including children -- with addictive products.

Argentine lawmakers took a first step Friday toward approving President Javier Milei's sweeping economic, social and political reform package, which has sparked angry opposition protests.

The US Federal Reserve is on the right track in its inflation fight, but "not yet" at the point where it should begin cutting interest rates, a senior official said Friday.

North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles Friday, Seoul's military said, continuing a fresh streak of weapons testing as Kim Jong Un's regime ramps up what it calls "war preparations".

French maritime transporter CMA CGM has again suspended the transit by its vessels of the Red Sea, where Iran-backed Yemeni rebels have targeted numerous ships, a source told AFP on Friday.

The U.S. government attributes the drone attack to Iran-backed militants and accuses Iran of financing and arming these groups.

Turkey's central bank chief Hafize Gaye Erkan said Friday she was resigning after less than a year in the job over a media scandal involving her family.

Some grassroots loyalists in a unionist area of Northern Ireland have been left dismayed by this week's deal struck between the main pro-UK party and the British government, venting their anger at a recent gathering.

President Joe Biden on Friday joined the intensely emotional military ritual at a Delaware air base for the return of three US soldiers killed in Jordan by a drone attack blamed on an Iran-backed militia.

The United States has seen important action by China on curbing fentanyl, a senior official said Friday after talks in Beijing, but he acknowledged the risk that friction between the two powers would "blow up" progress.

UK police urged a man wanted for attacking a woman and her two daughters with a corrosive substance in London to turn himself, as he spent a third day on the run Friday.

France's government was on the defensive on Friday after environmental campaigners and opposition politicians accused it of having scrapped a key green policy to appease protesting farmers.

The United Nations' top court said Friday it had jurisdiction to rule in most parts of a case brought by Ukraine over Russia's brutal 2022 invasion, with Kyiv urging reparations.

In a Pakistan paediatric ward, a chorus of infant coughs and straining lungs is the toll of a frigid winter, compounded by choking smog and lagging vaccination rates.

Parking hefty vehicles in Paris could soon come with a matching price tag if a Sunday referendum to triple the cost for SUVs is passed, in a vote that has raised the hackles of some drivers in the French capital.

The deadly gas explosion that engulfed a Nairobi estate was a disaster waiting to happen, shaken residents told AFP on Friday as they raged against the government.

France's agriculture minister said Friday that the worst of a crisis that saw farmers block roads nationwide was over, as protesters began lifting roadblocks following government promises of cash and eased regulation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is engaged in intense political manoeuvring as pressure grows at home and abroad to release hostages held in Gaza and bring fighting to a halt.

China's economic slowdown is likely to persist in the coming years as the Asian giant struggles with sagging productivity and a rapidly aging population, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Friday.

In recent weeks, Kim has declared South Korea his country's "principal enemy", jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and outreach, and threatened war over "even 0.001 mm" of territorial infringement.

If the main opposition Labor party wins the next UK general election as opinion polls indicate, then a familiar sight will appear outside the prime minister's official residence the next day: removal vans.

At least three people were killed and more than 270 injured in a massive fire when a truck laden with gas exploded in the Kenyan capital, police said Friday.