WORLD

Billionaire Elon Musk once compared his work for US President Donald Trump to a 2,500-year-old religion.

Russia on Thursday said it was still waiting for Ukraine to commit to new talks in Istanbul on Monday, after Kyiv demanded Moscow send its peace terms before pledging to attend the meeting.

At least four of the studies cited in a flagship White House report on children's health do not exist, authors listed in the document told AFP Thursday, casting doubt on the paper outlining US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s agenda.

An Argentine court on Thursday nullified the trial of late football legend Diego Maradona's medical team after a judge stepped down over her role in an unauthorized documentary about the case.

Palestinian militant group Hamas on Thursday said it was examining a new deal proposed by a US envoy, as rescuers said at least 44 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip.

Harvard began its annual graduation ceremony Thursday as a federal judge considers the legality of punitive measures taken against the university by US President Donald Trump that threaten to overshadow festivities.

At least 44 people were killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, rescuers said, a day after a World Food Programme warehouse in the centre of the territory was looted by desperate Palestinians.

Chinese students lamented Washington's latest tirade against them on Thursday, accusing the Trump administration of acting "recklessly" and tarnishing their once-sparkling image of an American higher education.

French President Emmanuel Macron bestowed Indonesia's leader with France's top award on Thursday, before announcing a new cultural partnership with Jakarta on a visit to the world's largest Buddhist temple.

Israel announced on Thursday the creation of 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, risking further strain on relations with the international community already taxed by the war in Gaza.

Harvard University has been flooded with requests from foreign students to transfer to other institutions as US President Donald Trump's administration seeks to ban it from hosting international scholars, a staff member said Wednesday.

Yan Gang speaks for many Manchester United fans when he says: "We've been numbed by performances over the past few seasons."

In a field of paprika plants in the heart of Zimbabwe, fourth-generation farmer Daniel Burger and relative newcomer Miriam Mupambawashe discuss the quality of the crop.

Thousands of desperate Palestinians stormed a United Nations warehouse in central Gaza on Wednesday, with the World Food Programme reporting two possible deaths in the tumult as Israel and the UN traded blame over the deepening hunger crisis.

Lawsuits, scandals, armed troops and a knife-wielding attacker all failed to deter Lee Jae-myung's ascendancy from sweatshop worker to the cusp of South Korea's presidency.

Portugal's far-right Chega party won second place in snap elections last week, according to final results published Wednesday, making it the official opposition party in the country just six years after its creation.

Early voting in South Korea's presidential elections kicked off on Thursday, with both main candidates set to cast ballots in a poll triggered by ex-leader Yoon Suk Yeol's ill-fated effort to suspend civilian rule last year.

Israel accused the United Nations Wednesday of seeking to "block" Gaza aid distribution, as the global body said it was doing its utmost to gather the limited assistance greenlighted by Israel's authorities.

Donald Trump's expanding crackdown on elite universities is prompting some international students to abandon applications to campuses in the United States and spreading stress and anxiety among those already enrolled.

US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off from striking Iran as he voiced optimism about nuclear talks his administration is holding with Tehran.

Palestinians living in Gaza "deserve more than survival," the United Nations envoy for the Middle East told the Security Council on Wednesday, as Israel's war there enters its 600th day.

Roman Martyniuk, his sister Tamara and brother Stanislav all studied together at the same school in Korostyshiv, a quiet riverside town in central Ukraine.

A French court on Wednesday gave the maximum 20-year jail term to a surgeon who admitted sexually abusing hundreds of patients, most of them children, during more than two decades.

A French court is to give its verdict Wednesday in the trial of a surgeon who admitted to sexually abusing hundreds of patients over more than two decades, in one of the country's largest child sex abuse cases.

The UN on Wednesday condemned a US-backed aid system in Gaza after 47 people were injured during a chaotic food distribution that saw shots fired by the Israeli military.

Leaders of ECOWAS are gathering on Wednesday to celebrate 50 years since its formation and are expected to address regional security challenges as the continent also seeks answers in the face of US trade tariffs and aid cuts.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for a three-way summit with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin as he seeks to force Moscow to halt its three-year-long invasion.

With its sun-drenched beaches and vibrant nightlife, Spain has long been a top destination -- not just for tourists, but also for criminals looking to vanish.

Alix Popham, one of hundreds of former rugby players to bring a lawsuit against the sport's authorities for head injuries, told AFP he wants his day in court so he can look in the face some of the officials "who are part of the reason why we are in the mess we are in."