WORLD

How do you defend the indefensible? "I decided to defend Dominique Pelicot because he asked me to," said Zavarro.

Soon after sunrise on the Thai island of Phuket, a swordsman chants an incantation and slowly slides the first of three blades through the right cheek of the woman sitting calmly below him.

India's government has asked the country's top court not to toughen criminal penalties against marital rape during an ongoing case brought by campaigners seeking to outlaw it.

Portugal, the world's leading cork producer, is finding new uses for the material, from footwear to furniture, as demand for wine bottle stoppers wanes.

Japan's new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba warned in his first policy speech Friday that "today's Ukraine could be tomorrow's East Asia" while also dubbing the country's low birth rate a "quiet emergency".

Israel bombarded south Beirut at least 10 times late Thursday, Lebanese sources said, after it launched its deadliest strike on the occupied West Bank in decades.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country would use nuclear weapons "without hesitation" if attacked by the South and ally the United States, state media reported Friday.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is set to lead Friday prayers and deliver a public sermon that could shed light on the Islamic republic's plans after a massive missile attack on enemy Israel.

An EU court will on Friday deliver its verdict in the case of former French footballer Lassana Diarra against FIFA, a potentially landmark decision which could shake up the football transfer system.

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag desperately needs a reversal in his side's Premier League fortunes on Sunday against an Aston Villa team on a high after beating Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

A source close to Hezbollah said Israel had conducted 11 consecutive strikes on the group's south Beirut stronghold late Thursday, in one of the most violent raids since Israel intensified its bombardment campaign last week.

World football's governing body FIFA on Thursday gave no verdict either way on a Palestinian request to suspend Israel, but instead launched an investigation into allegations of discrimination.

President Joe Biden said he was discussing possible Israeli strikes on Iranian oil facilities, in comments that sent oil prices spiking Thursday just a month before the US presidential election.

A French jihadist close to the brothers behind the 2015 massacre at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment.

A decade after finding refuge in Lebanon from civil war in his native Syria, Ahmad Mustafa fled in the other direction this week from a new conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

A year of conflict between Israel and Hamas has resulted in a "devastating impact on the economy" in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, the IMF said Thursday, including a nearly 90 percent drop in Gaza's GDP. "Preliminary official estimates indicate an 86 percent decline in GDP in the first half of 2024" in Gaza, said International Monetary Fund communications chief Julie Kozack.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum pledged Thursday that soldiers who opened fire and killed six migrants, apparently mistaken for criminals, would face justice.

Sri Lanka's new president Thursday urged the IMF to consider "alternative means" to continue with a $2.9 billion bailout that aided his country in the wake of a sovereign default but imposed painful austerity.

But the president appeared open to Israel targeting Iran's oil reserves in retaliation for Tuesday's missile attack

She had been held for a decade before her rescue.

Israel's military said Thursday it had hit Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters in the Lebanese capital, as troops battled militants near the border and warplanes bombarded their strongholds around the country.

Outside one of the Lebanese capital's most exclusive venues, a large sign advises clubbers to dress "smart casual".

Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will propose a new happiness index during his first parliamentary policy speech on Friday, local media have reported.

The farms in Costa Rica and Guatemala will work to mitigate the effects of climate change on coffee production.

UK armed forces "played their part in attempts to prevent further escalation" after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel, the British government said Wednesday.

The man said he had struggled to settle in South Korea.

The 14-year-old victim remains hospitalized with 'life-altering' injuries.

The military said the troops were fighting Hezbollah when they died.

Three five-year-old boys wounded in a stabbing attack on a group of children in Zurich are no longer in mortal danger, prosecutors said Wednesday.