WORLD

Pope Francis will on Wednesday open the Synod of Bishops, a key congress that will for the first time include women and laypeople to help chart the future of the Catholic Church.

The future of US aid for Ukraine hangs in the balance after a last-gasp deal to avoid a government shutdown, despite President Joe Biden's attempts to reassure Kyiv it will get what it needs to fight Russia.

The Netherlands halted extraction from Europe's biggest gas field on Sunday, which was resulting in earthquakes that have shaken local residents for decades and threaten to persist.

The president-elect of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, secured the release of his jailed mentor on Sunday, a day after divisive polls that saw the pro-Beijing leader vow to rebalance relations with New Delhi.

At least 13 people were killed in a fire in a Spanish nightclub on Sunday morning, authorities said, with fears the toll could still rise as rescue workers sift through the debris.

A "terrorist attack" took place near Turkey's parliament in Ankara on Sunday leaving two police officers injured, the interior ministry said.

Nigeria's President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Sunday proposed a temporary minimum wage hike for lower-paid workers, cheap gas-powered public transport and more social security for the poor to help offset the impact of his economic reforms.

Azerbaijan denied accusations of ethnic cleansing to clear the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh of its ethnic Armenian population, and told AFP its inhabitants were free to stay or go.

Afghanistan's embassy in India suspended operations on Sunday, more than two years after the Taliban's return to power in Kabul following the collapse of the Western-backed government.

Twenty-year-old Erika Martyniuk only had five days together with her newly-wed husband before he was killed fighting Russian forces in southern Ukraine.

At least nine miners were killed after a shaft in a Zimbabwean gold mine collapsed, an engineer at the site and the miners federation said Saturday.

Since Azerbaijan's army overran the Nagorno Karabakh enclave in a lightning offensive last week, nearly 90 percent of the region's ethnic Armenian population have fled out of fear of the victorious force.

Nearly a week after deadly clashes in Kosovo triggered one of the gravest escalations in the former breakaway province in years, the opportunity for reconciliation between ethnic Albanians and Serbs seemed as distant as ever.

The flood of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh dwindled to a trickle Saturday as Armenia said nearly the entire population of the breakaway territory had already fled since Azerbaijan seized back control.

Billionaire Elon Musk on Saturday waded into German politics at a time of a heated debate on immigration across Europe, saying Berlin-funded migrant rescue operations in the Mediterranean could be seen as an "invasion" of Italy.

Europe got off to another fast start on the second day of the Ryder Cup on Saturday, piling the pressure on the United States in the morning foursomes after racking up a record-equalling overnight lead.

Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was a career politician unexpectedly propelled to the presidency after other contenders were jailed or exiled.

United Nations experts on Friday called on Mexico to crack down on extortion by police and other officials targeting vulnerable migrants in flagrant violation of their human rights.

Israel and Saudi Arabia are moving towards the outline of a historic US-brokered deal to normalize relations after decades of hostility, the White House said on Friday.

The United States called on Belgrade to pull its forces back from the border with Kosovo on Friday after detecting what it called an unprecedented Serbian military build-up.

Turkish civil society leader Osman Kavala on Friday said a decision by the top appeals court that upheld his life sentence disregarded law and human life.

Russian and Belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete at the Paris Paralympics in 2024 under a neutral flag after officials voted on Friday against an outright ban.

General Mark Milley stepped down on Friday after a tumultuous term as the top US military officer that saw him face repeated crises abroad and on the home front, where he served through the chaotic final months of the Trump presidency.

The video on Angelina Agabekyan's phone shows her husband's military uniform and her son's toys burning over a bonfire they had set before fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh.

The wife of Gabon's ousted president Ali Bongo Ondimba has been charged with "money laundering" and other offences, the public prosecutor said Friday, a month after a coup toppled her husband.

Veteran Senator Dianne Feinstein, a titan of US political history who notched a string of legislative achievements during a trailblazing three-decade career in the Senate, has died at 90 years old, US media said Friday.

A Turkish court held another hearing Friday in the trial of sociologist and writer Pinar Selek over a deadly 1998 explosion, as her supporters protested the case against her outside.

The jailed leader of Tunisian opposition party Ennahdha, Rached Ghannouchi, 82, began a hunger strike on Friday to protest his detention and express support for other "political prisoners", his party said.

General Mark Milley steps down on Friday after a tumultuous term as the top US military officer that saw him face repeated crises at home and abroad.