WORLD

A businessman offered his contact list, a communications expert his publicity skills and an ex-diplomat negotiating tact: Israelis anguished and angered by the absence of information about the fate of hostages abducted by Hamas gunmen are marshalling their own resources to get their loved ones home.

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake killed two people in western Afghanistan Sunday, with damaged prisons emptied and residents fleeing a region where tremors have claimed at least 1,000 lives this past week.

Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Tesla and Netflix report third-quarter results. The retail sales data will show the strength consumer spending in the U.S.

Six months after tensions between rival Sudanese generals ignited a devastating war, thousands lie dead, millions are displaced, and the once-thriving capital, Khartoum, is a shadow of its past glory.

Convoys of humanitarian aid stacked up near Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday, unable to enter the Palestinian enclave being bombarded by Israel, witnesses told AFP. The Rafah crossing -- the only passage in and out of the Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel -- has been closed since Tuesday, after three Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian border post within 24 hours.

The dry expanses of southeastern Turkey, home to some of humanity's most ancient sites, have yielded fresh discoveries in the form of a stone phallus and a coloured boar.

Israeli forces were Sunday readying for a looming Gaza ground invasion aimed at destroying Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist militant group that unleashed the bloodiest attack in the country's history.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on a crisis tour of the Middle East, sought support Sunday from the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, which has warming ties with Israel but has put normalisation on hold.

When the sirens wail at the Sha'ar HaGolan kibbutz, there is total panic -- and not just from those who live there permanently.

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in the US capital on Saturday, marching past the White House to chants of "Free Palestine" as the death toll continued to climb in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The famously talented winemakers of Mirdita, high in the mountains of northern Albania, have never been so worried.

In idyllic western Austria, Ingo Metzler's goat breeding farm with its striking light wood panelling and big glass facades sets itself apart, aiming to survive in a sector in crisis.

Poland votes on Sunday in parliamentary elections that could greatly affect future ties with the European Union and neighbouring Ukraine, as the ruling populists bid for a third consecutive term in power.

Aboriginal Australians on Sunday voiced anger and sorrow over the rejection of a landmark push for Indigenous rights and recognition, which was spurned by the country's white majority in a binding national referendum.

France on Saturday urged the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia to stay out of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, expressing concern at the situation on the Lebanon-Israel border.

Three-time champions New Zealand inflicted more World Cup heartbreak on Ireland on Saturday, beating them 28-24 to bring a bitterly disappointing end to Irish captain Johnny Sexton's stellar career.

Skygazers across the Americas turned their faces upwards Saturday for a rare celestial event: an annular solar eclipse.

Thousands of people rallied Saturday in central London for a pro-Palestinian protest following police warnings that anyone showing support for the militant group Hamas could face arrest.

India bowled out Pakistan for just 191 in their high-profile World Cup clash on Saturday after their bitter rivals lost their last eight wickets for just 36 runs.

Babar Azam's Pakistan look for their first ever World Cup win over India on Saturday in front of a record crowd expected to number around 120,000 fans who will overwhelmingly be backing Rohit Sharma's home side.

France on Saturday said it will deploy 7,000 soldiers after declaring a top-level alert following the fatal stabbing of a teacher by a Chechen-origin man, who also severely wounded three others at a school.

Hundreds of migrants congregate by the huge wall marking the US-Mexico border in southern California, a tiny glimpse of the crisis unfolding in American cities as new arrivals strain resources to breaking point.

An elderly US man pleaded guilty Friday to the theft nearly 20 years ago of a pair of ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in the classic film "The Wizard of Oz." The sequined shoes -- indelibly associated with the character Dorothy clicking them together and saying repeatedly, "there's no place like home" -- were stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in the actress's hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

In Kibbutz Na'an, near Israel's commercial hub Tel Aviv, Yaakov Godo stood in front of the coffin of his son, Tom, who was shot dead in front of his family by Hamas fighters.

The global response to the bloodshed in Israel and Gaza has revealed deep divisions, with Western countries increasingly isolated on the global stage, a trend that has gathered pace since the outbreak of the Ukraine war.

The World Health Organization said Friday that a mass evacuation of the northern Gaza Strip would be "disastrous" for hospital patients, with hospitals in the south already at full capacity.

Australians are poised to reject greater rights and recognition for Indigenous citizens Saturday, voting in a referendum that has exposed deep fissures between the country's white majority and the descendants of its first inhabitants.

Great Britain and the Philippines are celebrating 77 years of diplomatic relations this year, and the UK's show of support comes as the smaller Southeast Asian nation resists Beijing's pressure in a disputed shoal at the Spratly Islands.

The massive Hamas attack on Israel cannot justify the "limitless destruction" of the Gaza Strip, the Red Cross said Friday, as it called for pauses in the fighting.