WORLD

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday approved a fresh $4.7 billion for Argentina, praising the new administration of President Javier Milei as he enacts "bold" cost-cutting to bring the country's ailing economy back on track.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele's war on gangs is credited with slashing homicide rates and restoring security and dignity to citizens of what was once one of the world's most dangerous countries.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday vehemently rejected claims that drug traffickers helped to fund his first presidential campaign in 2006, describing the allegations as "completely false."

A judge has ordered another suspension of bullfighting in Mexico City, days after the controversial tradition resumed amid protests from animal rights activists.

Cuba's government on Wednesday delayed a planned 500 percent surge in the fuel price after a "cybersecurity incident," an economy ministry official said.

EU leaders will grapple with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban at a crunch summit meeting Thursday to try to overcome his veto on 50 billion euros in financial aid for Ukraine.

Myanmar on Thursday enters its fourth year since a coup snuffed out a short-lived dance with democracy, with the embattled junta warning it will do "whatever it takes" to crush opposition to its rule.

Armenia on Thursday formally joined the International Criminal Court (ICC), officials said, in a move that traditional ally Moscow has denounced as "unfriendly".

Just arrived back from war-torn Gaza, the head of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) for the Palestinian territories told AFP of the dire situation, labelling it a "massacre" and lamenting the charity's limited ability to help.

The United Kingdom government on Wednesday outlined its proposals to get the Northern Ireland assembly back up and running after a political deadlock of nearly two years caused by divisions over post-Brexit trade rules.

American forces destroyed a missile belonging to Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Wednesday that posed an "imminent threat" to US aircraft, the military said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called his organization's Palestinian refugee agency the "backbone" of Gaza aid on Wednesday after several countries suspended funding over Israeli claims 12 UNRWA staffers participated in Hamas' October 7 attacks.

Pioneering groups of humans braved icy conditions to settle in northern Europe more than 45,000 years ago, a "huge surprise" that means they could have lived there alongside Neanderthals, scientists said Wednesday.

The number of people uprooted by the war between rival generals in Sudan is around eight million, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Russia and Ukraine traded hundreds of prisoners of war on Wednesday, just a week after Moscow said Kyiv had shot down a plane carrying captured Ukrainian soldiers to an exchange.

When President Nayib Bukele announced plans to create the world's first "Bitcoin City," a futuristic metropolis financed by cryptocurrency bonds, American Corbin Keegan packed up his life in Chicago and headed for El Salvador.

Scotland's former first minister Nicola Sturgeon fought back tears on Wednesday as she defended her leadership style and record during the Covid pandemic at a highly anticipated public inquiry appearance.

The French government announced Wednesday that it had slashed the crowd size for the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics this July amid security and other organisational worries.

Holocaust survivor Eva Szepesi on Wednesday welcomed mass German protests against the resurgent far right but said stronger action was crucial to stand up to rising anti-Semitism.

Major donors, including Israel's top ally the United States and Germany, have suspended funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, over accusations that several staff members were involved in the October 7 attack that sparked the war.

While most of the world treats Afghanistan's Taliban government as a pariah, China is growing diplomatic and economic links -- and Kabul is happy for the attention.

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and his wife were sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in jail after being found guilty of graft in a case involving gifts he received while premier.

Israel's army has begun flooding Hamas's network of tunnels as intense fighting rages in Gaza, with the UN warning of the potential "collapse of the humanitarian system" in the territory after a funding row hit its Palestinian aid agency.

One morning last October as the dawn light touched the cold hills of northern Myanmar a barrage of rockets and drones streaked through the sky and slammed into dugouts and bases housing military troops.

The prosecutor general of Maldives who was appointed by the former government was reportedly stabbed Wednesday morning local time.

Four Pakistan servicemen and two civilians were among 15 killed in an hours-long gun battle with Balochistan militants in the southwest of the country, the military said.

Malaysia installed an outspoken motorcycle-riding king on Wednesday in an elaborate ceremony steeped in centuries of tradition, with the billionaire determined to play a key role in ensuring political stability.

At a fertility clinic in Tunis, Bintou Yunoussa hopes doctors can finally help her conceive -- one of more than two million foreigners who travel to Tunisia annually for medical procedures.

On Day 117 of the Gaza war, and tensions in the Middle East continue to reach perturbing highs as Iranian-backed militias fire rockets toward Israel and attack U.S. military assets in the region.