WORLD

The world's second-biggest economy is seeking to deepen political and economic ties in Europe to counterbalance difficult relations with rival Washington.

After months of stop-start negotiations, Hamas has sounded an optimistic tone about the latest hostages-for-ceasefire proposal, raising hopes an agreement may soon be reached -- even as medics in the besieged strip reported fresh strikes on Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah on Friday.

Dozens of people surrounded a bus believed to be taking asylum seekers from a hotel in the Peckham area of the British capital to an accommodation barge moored off the south coast of England.

In the northeastern Kharkiv region bordering Russia, a guided bomb attack killed two civilians, a 38-year-old woman and her father inside a car, the region's governor said.

The deluges in the state of Rio Grande do Sul have displaced some 1,400 people in more than 100 municipalities, most of whom have been moved to shelters.

Mediators have proposed a deal that would halt fighting for 40 days and exchange Israeli hostages for potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners, according to details released earlier by Britain.

Torrential rains in Kenya and other countries in East Africa have caused deadly havoc, with floods and landslides forcing people from their homes, destroying roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

Over 20 vehicles careened into the nearly 18-metre-long (60-foot) gash in the tarmac and plummeted down the steep slope below.

Judge Juan Merchan has already sanctioned the property mogul for defying his order on nine occasions, fining him $9,000 on Tuesday and warning Trump he could face jail for continuing to lash out on social media.

After a marathon session that lasted overnight, the lower house provisionally approved what remains of Milei's flagship "omnibus" reform bill with 142 votes against 106. There were five abstentions.

Protesters and counter-protesters were seen clashing with sticks and tearing down metal barricades, TV images showed. Others were seen launching fireworks or hurling objects at each other in the dark -- lit up with laser pointers and bright flashlights.

Like gunpowder and the atomic bomb, artificial intelligence (AI) has the capacity to revolutionize warfare, analysts say, making human disputes unimaginably different -- and a lot more deadly.

Students here were among the first to embrace the pro-Palestinian campus encampment movement, which has spread to a number of universities across the United States.

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken urged Hamas to accept a truce in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to send troops into its far southern city of Rafah.

Eruptions at a remote Indonesian volcano forced more than half a dozen airports to close with ash spreading as far as Malaysia, officials said Wednesday, while authorities rushed to evacuate thousands due to tsunami fears.

The amount included more than $7 billion already spent on repairs and compensation for about 430,000 affected people, it added.

Musk was seeking to overturn restrictions imposed on him by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) following a 2018 post on Twitter, now X.

Ukrainian forces have been on the defensive for months, while Russia's troops have steadily inched forward along the frontline.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly raised the issue with US President Joe Biden in a call at the weekend.

The figures come days after the scheme aimed at deterring migrant arrivals on small boats from northern Europe became law following months of parliamentary wrangling.

The British head of state and his wife, Queen Camilla, were expected to tour a cancer treatment facility to meet medical specialists and patients.

Built alongside an existing 1,150-kilometer (715-mile) line erected in 1953 that already moves about 300,000 barrels of oil per day, it was meant to increase market access for the world's fourth largest oil exporter and get a better return for Canadian crude.

Egyptian sources told Al-Qahera News, a site linked to Egyptian intelligence services, that the Hamas delegation would "return with a written response".

Trump is the first US former president to face criminal charges, and his required attendance in court is limiting the 77-year-old's time on the campaign trail less than seven months before his likely election rematch with President Joe Biden.

Manila and Beijing have a long history of territorial disputes in the South China Sea, with several collisions involving Philippine and Chinese vessels in recent months, as well as the use of water cannon by the China Coast Guard.

Blinken flew to Amman after talks with Gulf Arab leaders in Riyadh, part of his seventh tour of the region since the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.

Ecuadoran security forces stormed the Mexican embassy in a late night raid on April 5 to arrest former vice president Jorge Glas, who is wanted on corruption charges and had been granted asylum by Mexico.

The country's volcanology agency had warned the threat from the volcano was not over after it erupted more than half a dozen times this month, sparking the evacuation of more than 6,000 people.

Regional support for the Paris-based university includes 1 million euros earmarked for 2024, a member of Pecresse's team told AFP.