WORLD

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.

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.

From Italy's ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi to rock queen Tina Turner and Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, here are some of 2023's most notable deaths.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will address parliament Tuesday about an escalating budget crisis triggered by a bombshell court ruling that his government breached constitutional debt limits.

The widow of a French serial killer known as the "ogre of the Ardennes" goes on trial from Tuesday over her role in three murders dating back several decades, including the killing of a British woman whose body was found in a river in 1990.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi makes his first official visit to Turkey on Tuesday, hoping to paper over past differences and forge a forceful joint response to Israel's actions in Gaza.

In an age where forces from AI to Donald Trump have left Americans doubting the truth, US dictionary Merriam-Webster says that 2023's most looked-up word was "authentic."

Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is the clear front-runner to become NATO's next chief, even though a shock far-right win at elections in his homeland risks tarnishing his legacy.

The Paris metro has launched an instant translation app ahead of next year's Olympic Games to help hapless foreign visitors navigate the French capital's urban transport system.

It's Day 53 of the Israel-Hamas conflict, and 10 more hostages are expected to be freed Tuesday after the warring parties agreed on a two-day extension to their ceasefire agreement.

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.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Monday she was quitting Elon Musk's social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, which she described as a "global sewer" and a tool to disrupt democracy.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his "displeasure" Monday over UK counterpart Rishi Sunak's last minute cancellation of a bilateral meeting set to discuss their long-running dispute over the Parthenon Marbles.

The White House said on Monday a "robust" US delegation would attend a key UN climate summit in Dubai despite the fact that President Joe Biden is planning to miss it.

Israel's president told Elon Musk on Monday that the tech mogul has "a huge role to play" to combat anti-Semitism, which his social media platform is accused of spreading.

Memoranda of understanding have been signed, greenwashing claims have been made. Quite a bit is at stake in the coming weeks in Dubai.

North Korea told the UN Security Council on Monday that its launch of a spy satellite was legitimate self-defense, rejecting denunciations led by the United States.

Ancient Crimean gold treasures returned to Kyiv Monday after being stuck in a Dutch museum for nine years, where they were on show when Russia seized the Black Sea peninsula in 2014.

Israel and Hamas will agree to prolong a truce in Gaza that had been due to expire on Tuesday, mediator Qatar said, as hostage and prisoner exchanges were set to continue.

More than 60,000 containers are stuck at sea waiting to be offloaded at South Africa's biggest port amid gridlock blamed on bad weather and equipment failures that is damaging the poor economy, according to business and political groups.

Clashes that shook Sierra Leone's capital Freetown on Sunday left 13 dead in the ranks of the army loyal to the government, and were orchestrated by active and retired soldiers, the army spokesperson said Monday.

Injured by Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, ten-year-old Mira can no longer speak or walk, a condition her sister hopes will improve with advanced treatment in a UAE hospital.

The Oslo Accords, which aimed to bring "peaceful coexistence" to Israel and the Palestinians, are now dead, one of the deal's architects, Norwegian peace worker Jan Egeland told AFP. The agreement produced the now iconic image of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin shaking hands September 13, 1993 on the White House lawn as president Bill Clinton watched.

In Palestinian cities in the occupied West Bank, long the turf of president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, the green flag of Islamist rival Hamas is flying ever higher thanks to prisoner-hostage exchanges.

A high-level meeting between Italian and Saudi officials took place Monday ahead of this week's landmark international climate conference.

From Lebanon, Palestinian Fatima al-Ashwah has been praying for relatives in Gaza, but received grim news that Israeli bombing killed around 12 of them days before a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas.

EU chief Charles Michel met Prime Minister Viktor Orban Monday in a bid to ease rising tensions, with the increasingly belligerent Hungarian leader threatening to block key decisions on Ukraine.

International pressure mounted on Monday for Hamas and Israel to extend their truce, as the clock ticked on a pause in fighting that has allowed for the release of scores of hostages and prisoners.

Almost two million people in Russia and occupied Ukraine were left without power on Monday, after hurricane force winds and heavy rains cut electricity lines and caused widespread flooding.