WORLD

Moldovan President Maia Sandu on Sunday said she would seek a second term next year as she looks to steer the former Soviet republic to EU membership.

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.

Palestinians said they felt "no joy" this Christmas as Israel bombed the besieged Palestinian territory on Monday, with no end in sight to the war that Hamas says has claimed more than 20,000 lives.

Pope Francis has kicked off global Christmas celebrations with a call for peace, as Israel's war on Hamas and Russia's invasion of Ukraine cast a shadow over one of the world's favourite holidays.

It's Day 80 of the war in Gaza. The Israeli army said it has eliminated a Hamas commander in the Khan Yunis area. Yemen's Houthi rebel army made good on its promise to continue targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea with two attacks against vessels over the weekend.

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.

Police in London said on Sunday that officers had arrested a second man on suspicion of theft and criminal damage, after a Banksy artwork was removed from a south London street corner within hours of appearing.

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

Pope Francis on Sunday kicked off global Christmas celebrations with a call for peace, as Israel's war on Hamas and Russia's invasion of Ukraine cast a shadow over one of the world's favourite holidays.

Israel pushed on Sunday with its military campaign to destroy Hamas over the October 7 attacks, as the focus of the deadly combat shifted to southern Gaza where most displaced Palestinians are trapped.

Four French judges on Sunday began questioning more than 300 Indians travelling on a plane detained near Paris over suspicions of human trafficking.

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.

At least 12 people were killed and 39 injured in eastern Indonesia on Sunday after an explosion at a Chinese-funded nickel-processing plant, an industrial park official said.

A relentless Israeli military campaign, in response to deadly Hamas attacks on October 7, has upset the lives of most, if not all, residents of the Gaza Strip.

Many Ukrainians will on Monday celebrate Christmas Day on December 25 for the first time, after the government changed the date from the Orthodox Church observance of January 7 in a snub to Russia.

Palestinians wept and prayed for their dead on Saturday after fresh Israeli strikes followed a UN Security Council resolution that demanded more aid be allowed into Gaza but did not call for an immediate halt to fighting.

Thirteen unaccompanied minors are among the more than 300 Indian passengers of a Nicaragua-bound plane held in France over suspected human trafficking, authorities told AFP on Saturday.

A hunchback with goiter, a child decapitated by a soldier, and a woman with a bloodied face are among the unusual figures in an Ecuador nativity scene that aims to provide a realistic depiction of historical life.

The United States on Friday accused Iran of close involvement in attacks on commercial ships by Yemen's Huthi rebels, stepping up the tone as Washington considers tougher measures including possible force.

The Hamas-run health ministry said more than 410 people had been killed in Israeli bombardment over 48 hours.

Poland's new foreign minister on Friday urged the West to rally around Ukraine, choosing the war-torn country for his first visit abroad in a sign of support as other allies waver on aid.

A measure of inflation favored by the US Federal Reserve weakened in November on lower energy prices, government data showed Friday, providing further reassurance to policymakers keen to rein in price increases.

The mourners huddled in small groups, many tearful or visibly shocked, as they gathered Friday to pay their respects to victims of the shootings at Prague's Charles University.

At a French caviar factory this week, a worker used tiny pliers to carefully line up black sturgeon fish eggs against a ruler.

UK police on Friday said they had launched a criminal probe into the alleged kidnapping of a British teenager who resurfaced in France six years after going missing abroad.

The leader of Armenian separatists, who were ousted from the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan this year, on Friday said his previous decree ordering the dissolution of separatist institutions was not valid.

The Israel-Hamas war is pushing Gaza towards famine, the United Nations warned ahead of an expected Security Council vote Friday on a resolution to boost aid to the Palestinian territory but not call for a ceasefire.

Crunchy guitar riffs reverberate through an apartment block in downtown Skopje -- the sound of the silence on discrimination in North Macedonia being well and truly broken.

French engineer and entrepreneur Gustave Eiffel will forever be remembered for building the much-loved tower that has dominated the Paris skyline for over a century.