WORLD

From a distance, it seemed like a relaxing get-together among friends.

Ukraine on Sunday showed journalists fragments of the Russian missile used to strike the city of Dnipro last week, after Moscow said it had tested its new Oreshnik ballistic missile.

Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell called for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war while on a visit to Lebanon on Sunday, as the militant group claimed a wave of cross-border attacks.

US President-elect Donald Trump's top security advisor called on Sunday for an end to the escalation of the war between Ukraine and Russia, and for both parties to come to the negotiating table.

US President-elect Donald Trump tapped Pam Bondi, a staunch ally who helped defend the ex-leader against impeachment, as US attorney general on Thursday following firebrand Matt Gaetz's withdrawal from the running.

Iran said Friday it would launch a series of "new and advanced" centrifuges in response to a resolution adopted by the UN nuclear watchdog that censures Tehran for what the agency called lack of cooperation.

A staggering 281 aid workers have been killed around the world so far this year, making 2024 the deadliest year for humanitarians, the UN aid chief said Friday.

Russia said on Friday it had scuppered Kyiv's military objectives for 2025 just after President Vladimir Putin issued a warning to the West by test-firing a new intermediate-range missile at Ukraine.

Inflation appears well contained in the near term, South Africa's Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago told reporters.

South Sudan security forces were investigating Friday a shootout at the home of the troubled nation's powerful former spy chief Akol Koor, who was sacked almost two months ago amid rumours of a coup plot.

The US decision to send landmines to Ukraine is "not justifiable", aid groups have told AFP, highlighting the long-term impact on civilians of the internationally banned weapons supposed to help slow Russia's advance.

The UN climate summit is scheduled to conclude on Friday but the latest draft deal released by hosts Azerbaijan was spurned by rich and poor countries alike.

One strike on a residential area near the Kamal Adwan hospital in the territory left "dozens of people" dead or missing, the facility's director Hossam Abu Safiya told AFP.

Since July, North Korea has been broadcasting the noises for huge chunks of almost every day from loudspeakers along the border.

Russia on Wednesday accused the US of prolonging the "war in Ukraine" by stepping up weapons deliveries to Kyiv ahead of Donald Trump's return to the White House.

Xi has said he would seek to "further enhance" ties with Brasilia when he meets counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, host of the G20 summit that closed in Rio Tuesday.

The latest draft of the resolution demands "an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire" in the war between Israel and Hamas and "the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages."

The efforts are led by a commission established under the Ministry of Information and Culture soon after the Taliban swept to power in 2021 and implemented their strict interpretation of Islamic law, or sharia.

Winnie Byanyima, head of UNAIDS, demanded on X on Tuesday that the government of Uganda "release my husband Dr. Kizza Besigye from where he is being held immediately".

The move comes ahead of the second White House stint for Donald Trump, who has promised to levy massive tariffs on China and to raise import duties for others.

Kim met Monday with Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology Alexander Kozlov, who is leading a delegation focused on "cooperation in trade, economy, science and technology," the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

G20 leaders met in Rio de Janeiro on Monday for talks on climate change, ongoing wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Lebanon, and more, at a forum that highlighted differences between world powers but also delivered some successes.

Africa accounted for about 95 percent of the 249 million malaria cases and 608,000 deaths worldwide in 2022, according to the most recent data from the World Health Organization (WHO).

China has witnessed a spate of deadly incidents in recent months -- from mass stabbings to car rammings -- in a rare development for a country with a proud reputation for public security.

International condemnation was swift, with Western countries and rights groups slamming the sentencing as evidence of the erosion of political freedoms in the city since Beijing imposed a security law in 2020.

The French government is leading resistance against ratification of the trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay that would create the world's largest free-trade zone.

The grim anniversary opened with an overnight Russian strike in the eastern Ukrainian region of Sumy that gutted a Soviet-era resident building and killed at least nine people, including a child.

Farming businesses previously qualified for 100-percent relief on inheritance tax on agricultural and business property, reducing the amounts that farmers and landowners pay when farmland is passed on after a death.

With two months left in office, lame-duck US President Biden made a major policy change that yields to a long-standing request from Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion, now in its third year.