A massive Israeli air strike on central Beirut has killed at least 20 people, Lebanese officials say, in the latest attack on the capital amid an escalation of Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah. The strike happened without warning at about 04:00 (02:00 GMT) on Saturday, and was

Richer countries have pledged to give a record $300bn (£238bn) to the developing world to help them prepare for and prevent climate change. The talks at the UN climate summit COP29 in Azerbaijan ran 33 hours late, and came within inches of collapse. The head of the UN climate

At least 32 people were killed and 47 wounded in sectarian clashes in northwest Pakistan, an official told AFP on Saturday, two days after attacks on Shia passengers convoys killed 43. Sporadic fighting between Sunni and Shia Muslims in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province

Congress-led UDF candidate Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is marking her political debut from Kerala’s Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, won by a margin of 410,931 votes on Saturday, the Election Commission data showed.   In June Wayanad Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi had won by a margin of

Fierce bargaining at UN climate talks in Azerbaijan dragged into Saturday after a $250 billion a year offer from rich nations was flatly refused by developing countries hardest hit by Earth's rapid warming. Negotiators from nearly 200 nations spent another harried and sleepless

Russia has a stock of powerful new missiles "ready to be used", President Vladimir Putin has said, a day after his country fired a new ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. In an unscheduled TV address, the Russian leader said the Oreshnik missile could not be

An Australian teenager has become the sixth foreign tourist to die in a suspected mass methanol poisoning in Laos, as a growing list of countries warned of the potentially fatal consequences of drinking tainted alcohol in the Southeast Asian country. A British woman, another Australian

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces arrest if he travels to the UK, after an international arrest warrant was issued for him, Downing Street has indicated. A No 10 spokesman refused to comment on the specific case but said the government would fulfil its "legal

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the conflict in Ukraine had characteristics of a “global” war and did not rule out strikes on Western countries. The Kremlin strongman spoke out after a day of frayed nerves, with Russia test-firing a new generation

Heavy gunfire erupted in South Sudan's capital Juba on Thursday evening after security forces moved to arrest the former head of the intelligence service, according to Reuters reporters and an alert sent to United Nations staff. The gunfire began around 7 p.m. and continued

Gunmen opened fire on passenger vehicles carrying Shiite Muslim civilians in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 50 people, and injuring 20 others. The attack is one of the deadliest in the region in recent years, according to police, news agency PTI reported. The

Britain’s former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has died following a battle with Alzheimer’s, his family announced. Prescott, an ex-merchant seaman who became a key figure in Tony Blair’s New Labour government, died “peacefully” in a care home at the

Chinese leader Xi Jinping urged “more voices” to end the Ukraine war and a ceasefire in Gaza, as he conducted a state visit to Brazil’s capital, Chinese state media said. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva echoed those points as he met with Xi in a

Unicef has said more than 200 children have been killed and 1,100 injured in Lebanon in just two months, as US special envoy Amos Hochstein met officials in Beirut on Tuesday to discuss a truce plan with claims that an end to the war is “now within our grasp”. Unicef

Hong Kong’s High Court on Tuesday sentenced 45 pro-democracy activists to jail terms of up to 10 years in a landmark national security trial that has damaged the city’s once feisty democracy movement and drawn international condemnation. A total of 47 pro-democracy

Sri Lanka’s Marxist-leaning President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has reappointed educationist Harini Amarasuriya as the country’s prime minister after sweeping the snap parliamentary elections last week. Dissanayake on Monday picked a 21-member cabinet, retaining the key

An Israeli air strike on a five-storey residential block in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza has killed at least 34 people, the local civil defence agency says. The agency, quoted by AFP, said many of the dead were women and children, with dozens stilled feared to be under the rubble. Seven

Hezbollah's media chief Mohammed Afif has been killed in an Israeli strike in central Beirut, the Lebanese militant group has confirmed. A strike hit the headquarters of the Baath political party in the densely populated Ras al-Naba neighbourhood on Sunday, according to

Indian security forces have killed five Maoist rebels in jungle clashes, an officer said Sunday, as security forces seek to quash the decades-long insurgency in the resource-rich central regions. Gun battles took place in the Abujhmad forests of Chhattisgarh state on Saturday, taking

The situation remains calm but tense in Manipur's Imphal Valley, where an indefinite curfew has been imposed and internet services suspended following violent protests on Sunday.  The demonstrations started after the discovery of the bodies of women and children allegedly