President Joe Biden pledged "rock solid" support for Israel on Saturday in the face of what he described as "terrorist assaults" by Palestinian militant group Hamas, with an announcement on US military assistance expected imminently.
Desperate rescuers scrabbled through the night searching for survivors of an earthquake that flattened homes in western Afghanistan, with the death toll of 120 expected to rise Sunday as the extent of the disaster becomes clear.
The United States on Saturday condemned the attacks by "Hamas terrorists" against Israel and vowed to ensure the key US ally has the means to defend itself.
Rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi "celebrated" her Nobel Peace Prize with fellow detainees in their Tehran prison cell, her family told AFP on Saturday.
Palestinian militants had begun a "war" against Israel which they infiltrated by air, sea and land from the blockaded Gaza Strip on Saturday, Israeli officials said, a major escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer accused Chinese firms of "fuelling" a drug addiction crisis in the United States, as he met with officials in Shanghai on the first leg of a visit to the country.
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit western Afghanistan on Saturday killing 14 and injuring 78, an official said, with predictions the toll could rise after reports of landslides and victims trapped under collapsed buildings.
Barrages of rockets were fired at Israel from the blockaded Gaza Strip at dawn on Saturday as militants from the Palestinian enclave infiltrated Israel, with at least one person killed, the army and medics said.
The superheavyweight giants wrap up the Asian Games weightlifting on Saturday but it was the North Koreans' stunning return after four years that raised eyebrows in Hangzhou.
Dozens of rockets were fired from the blockaded Gaza Strip towards Israel on Saturday, an AFP journalist in the Palestinian territory said, as sirens warning of incoming fire blared in Israel.
Six suspects in the August assassination of Ecuador presidential candidate and anti-corruption crusader Fernando Villavicencio were killed in prison on Friday, officials said.
A former US Army sergeant was arrested on Friday for seeking to provide classified information to China, the Justice Department said.
A bus carrying migrants overturned in southern Mexico on Friday, leaving at least 18 passengers dead and 27 injured, authorities said -- the latest fatal road crash involving US-bound migrants.
Kenyan President William Ruto will ask China for a $1-billion loan and a restructured debt payment plan, his deputy said Friday, despite having criticised his predecessor's heavy borrowing from Beijing.
Galina Yudina, from the tiny Ukrainian village of Groza, is still reeling from the shock of Russia's missile strike that killed more than 50 people just a few dozen metres from her.
Azerbaijan's offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh last month has upended the life of Larisa who like thousands of other children is facing up to exile and the trauma of war.
Socialist leader Paulette Lenert could become Luxembourg's first woman prime minister following Sunday's elections in the country wedged between Belgium, France and Germany.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called India a "powerful country" growing under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and slammed the West for branding anyone who doesn't abide by their norms an "enemy."
A UK judge on Friday ruled that the former lover of Spain's former king Juan Carlos I cannot bring a claim of harassment against him in the courts in London.
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was on Friday charged as part of an investigation into possible witness tampering, adding to his long list of legal woes, including over illegal campaign financing.
The family of a 14-year-old boy who shot two people dead at a mall in Bangkok apologised Friday for their son's actions, in a statement released by the Thai government.
Rights campaigner and 2023 Nobel Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi said in a September interview with AFP that she retained hope for change in Iran, despite having no prospect of release from prison and enduring the pain of separation from her family.
Following Thursday's devastating strike on a village wake in Ukraine, here are the five deadliest known attacks on civilian targets since the start of the war, in chronological order:
- Mariupol theatre -
Within days of the war starting in February 2022 Russia is accused of war crimes after its forces bomb a theatre in the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol on March 16, 2022 where scores of civilians had taken refuge.
Britain's main opposition Labour party on Friday welcomed a big local election win in Scotland as a sign its electoral fortunes were changing head of a UK general election.
Russian missiles smashed into residential buildings in east Ukraine's Kharkiv on Friday, killing a 10-year-old boy, just hours after a strike killed more than 50 people attending a wake in a nearby village.
Iranian campaigner Narges Mohammadi has for decades campaigned on the most sensitive issues in the Islamic republic, opposing pillars of the clerical system including capital punishment and the obligatory hijab, and defiantly refusing to give up her campaigning even behind bars.
Relatives and officials gathered in the central Syrian city of Homs on Friday morning for the first funerals of dozens of people killed in a drone attack on a military academy.
Afghanistan's foreign minister told his Chinese counterpart Thursday that any threats against China would be taken seriously amid reports of terror attacks targeting Chinese nationals in the country.
South Korean writer Eun Seo-ran was happily single, until a medical emergency made her want family around to help.
With its manicured lawns and ancient cross-stones, the church of Saint Gregory in Goris is a haven of peace in the chaos of a city full of Armenians fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh.
