WORLD

The US government believes China's Defense Minister Li Shangfu is the subject of an investigation by Beijing and has been relieved of his duties, The Financial Times reported Thursday citing American officials.

Thousands fleeing war in Sudan have taken refuge in the Egyptian city of Aswan on the Nile, where families are helping keep the tourism industry afloat far from the horrors they left behind.

Emergency teams on Friday kept up their search for the thousands still posted as missing from the tsunami-sized flash flood that swept the Libyan port city of Derna, killing at least 4,000 people.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived at a Russian industrial city to visit a military aviation factory on Friday, Russian agencies reported, following his summit with President Vladimir Putin.

Kusal Mendis' 91 and an unbeaten 49 by Charith Asalanka helped Sri Lanka edge out Pakistan by two wickets in a last-ball thriller of the Asia Cup to set up a final clash with India.

Ireland will hope to beat Tonga and come through injury-free on Saturday in their Pool B match giving themselves the perfect boost ahead of their Rugby World Cup meeting with defending champions South Africa.

Five days after resigning as Spain's football chief, Luis Rubiales is due in court Friday on sexual assault charges over forcibly kissing women's World Cup player Jenni Hermoso.

Mexico said Thursday that it expected to open dozens of new air routes to the United States after regulators in Washington restored its top aviation safety rating.

A Bahraini activist fears she may spend years in prison after she returns this week to support her father, a jailed pro-democracy protest leader who she says is on hunger strike.

Firing a rifle, stripping down a Kalashnikov or learning how to pilot a drone: it is all in a day's training a year and seven months into a war which is only too real for a dozen-strong group of teens in Lviv, western Ukraine.

Brazil's Supreme Court announced a 17-year jail term Thursday for the first defendant tried and convicted over the storming of the seats of power by supporters of far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro.

The UN's cultural organisation said on Thursday it had stopped short of placing Venice, one of the world's top tourist destinations, on its world heritage in danger list.

China is targeting top British officials to access secrets, the government in London said on Thursday, as it responded to criticisms about its policies towards the Asian superpower.

US President Joe Biden on Thursday tapped Penny Pritzker, a billionaire businesswoman who served as commerce secretary, to encourage investment in Ukraine, which is expected to need hundreds of billions of dollars to recover from Russia's invasion.

NASA on Thursday officially joined the search for UFOs -- but reflecting the stigma attached to the field, the US space agency wouldn't identify the director of the new program tasked with tracking mystery flying objects.

The tiny Italian island of Lampedusa struggled Thursday to cope with a surge in migrant boats from North Africa after numbers peaked at 7,000 people -- equivalent to the entire local population.

Just months before the death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, Julio Pacheco Yepes says he was arrested and tortured by police for belonging to a left-wing underground movement that opposed the regime.

She has not seen her children for eight years, has spent most of her recent life in prison and acknowledges there is no immediate prospect of release.

To enter Russia from occupied Ukraine, all Tatiana has to do is arrive at the edge of the war-battered Donetsk region, show guards her Russian passport, say "thank you" and cross.

Myanmar's junta is endangering the life of jailed democracy figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi, her political party said on Thursday, accusing the military of depriving her of medical care and food.

Vietnam on Thursday ordered nationwide checks on small apartment buildings after a fire tore through a block in Hanoi, killing 56 people in the country's deadliest blaze in two decades.

A global effort to assist stricken Libya gathered pace Thursday after a tsunami-like flood killed nearly 4,000 people and left thousands missing.

Iran's government has warned it will not tolerate any signs of "instability" as the first anniversary nears of the death of Mahsa Amini and the months-long protests it sparked.

Vladimir Putin has accepted an invitation to visit North Korea, Pyongyang state media said Thursday, as he and Kim Jong Un toasted "cooperation and friendship between our countries" during a meeting in Russia.

Argentina recorded an inflation rate of 12.4 percent in August, the highest monthly change in over two decades in a country dogged by chronic economic instability, its statistics agency said Wednesday.

An air raid on Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region killed at least 40 civilians Wednesday, according to a medical source, as the head of the UN mission to the country resigned.

Brazil's high court opened the first trials Wednesday over the January 8 riots in Brasilia by supporters of far-right ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, who were demanding the ouster of his successor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The British-Pakistani father of a 10-year-old girl found dead at her home in England last month was on a plane back to the UK with his partner and brother, Pakistan police said Wednesday, after the trio went on the run for weeks.

Brussels will investigate Chinese state subsidies for electric cars, the EU chief said Wednesday, vowing to defend Europe's industry from unfair competition.