WORLD

Asian stocks rallied with Wall Street on Wednesday after Donald Trump said he had "no intention" of firing the head of the Federal Reserve and that eye-watering tariffs on China would be slashed drastically.

On a mountain near Sudan's border, journalists climb rugged slopes, phones held high, hoping to catch a faint signal from neighbouring Chad to send stories amid the war's two-year communications blackout.

Britain hosts a new round of talks on Wednesday involving the United States, Ukraine, and European nations amid a new US effort to end Russia's war in Ukraine.

Gripping paintbrush and crayon, the artist known as Thumbelina splodges and splats with merry abandon, the one-year-old star of a Tokyo exhibition that goes on way past her bedtime.

In Silicon Valley, they talk about "moving fast and breaking things." One of his first and splashiest moves was to send emails to 2.3 million civil servants, offering buyouts -- and making clear their futures now hang by a thread.

From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine football plans a slew of tributes to its late "Captain" Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi hosted the opening meeting of an "anti-Christian bias" task force Tuesday, as the government pressed federal workers to inform on work colleagues engaging in discriminatory behavior.

Pep Guardiola admitted his wild celebration of Matheus Nunes's stoppage-time winner against Aston Villa felt strange because Manchester City don't score as many late goals as their Premier League rivals.

A US jury found Tuesday that The New York Times did not libel former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in a 2017 editorial she claimed damaged her reputation, the paper said.

An Ivory Coast court on Tuesday struck main opposition leader Tidjane Thiam off the nation's electoral list, closing the door on him running in a presidential election in October.

President Donald Trump's top diplomat Marco Rubio on Tuesday unveiled a restructuring of the US State Department that will cut positions and scale back human rights offices, saying the "bloated" organization was ideologically out of sync with the administration.

As Catholics filed into Myanmar's grandest cathedral to mourn Pope Francis on Tuesday, a wartime power cut plunged the worship hall into a murky gloom.

In the chapel of the Vatican's Santa Marta residence, where Pope Francis lived and died, a nun prayed Tuesday with tears in her eyes before the pontiff's wooden coffin.

Men were methodically targeted on Tuesday in Indian-administered Kashmir when gunmen opened fire on tourists, an eyewitness told AFP, in the worst attack on civilians in years.

President Donald Trump's top diplomat Marco Rubio on Tuesday unveiled a restructuring of the US State Department that will cut positions and scale back human rights offices, saying the organization had become "bloated" and ineffective.

Several world leaders have announced they will travel to Rome for Pope Francis's funeral on Saturday, which is likely to also draw a huge crowd in the square in front of St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.

Just months after Pope Francis visited Catholic-majority East Timor, residents on Tuesday mourned his death with flags at half-mast, candle-lit vigils and emotional ceremonies with his trip fresh in their memory.

Fourteen months after the deadliest storm in Philippine history, Pope Francis stood on a rain-swept stage to deliver a message of hope to the battered town of Tacloban.

At least 24 people were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir when gunmen opened fire on tourists on Tuesday, a senior police officer told AFP, with authorities calling it the worst attack on civilians in years.

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday slashed its forecast for global growth this year, citing the effect of US President Donald Trump's new tariff policies on the world economy.

Policymakers should find a way to reduce the uncertainty over trade policy kicked up by Donald Trump's tariff plans in order to boost global growth, the International Monetary Fund's chief economist said in an interview.

US Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday that "good progress" had been made towards a trade deal with India after meeting with "tough negotiator" Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

The Kremlin on Tuesday warned against rushing Ukraine peace talks, pushing back on US President Donald Trump's hopes for a speedy deal the day before Ukraine's allies are set to meet in London.

More than 100 US universities and colleges, including Ivy League institutions Princeton and Brown, issued a joint letter on Tuesday condemning President Donald Trump's "political interference" in the education system.

A Hamas delegation departed for Cairo to discuss "new ideas" aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza, an official from the group said, as Israeli air strikes killed 26 people across the territory Tuesday.

A Myanmar ethnic minority armed group is preparing to hand a captured city back to the military in a Beijing-brokered deal, China's foreign ministry said Tuesday, as residents reported junta troops already returning.

A populist party in New Zealand's governing coalition on Tuesday proposed a law to enforce a biological definition of men and women, condemning the existing "woke ideology" of "cancerous social engineering".

Around the time the Vatican announced the death of Pope Francis, music floated out from a church in a Kosovo valley where dozens of Muslims were participating in an unusual ceremony: they were converting to Catholicism.

Latin American migrants paid tribute on Monday to Pope Francis as a staunch defender of their rights who gave them much-needed encouragement on their long and dangerous journeys fleeing poverty and violence.