Chinese leader Xi Jinping yesterday pledged more than $50 billion in financing for Africa over the next three years, promising to deepen cooperation in infrastructure and trade with the continent as he addressed Beijing’s biggest summit since the Covid pandemic.

The death toll from a Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s city of Poltava rose to 55 with over 300 wounded, Ukrainian officials said yesterday.

Fine particle air pollution declined in Europe and China last year as emissions linked to human activity dropped, the United Nations said in a report published on Thursday.

A 14-year-old boy killed four people, including two students, and wounded nine more when he opened fire at a high school in the US state of Georgia yesterday, law enforcement said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said his main aim in Ukraine after 30 months of fighting was to capture the eastern Donbas area -- and claimed that Ukraine’s Kursk counter-offensive had made that easier.

Hamas yesterday accused Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to “thwart” a Gaza truce deal, after the Israeli premier said the Palestinian militant group has “rejected everything” in negotiations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday said he supported Kamala Harris in November’s US presidential election, an apparent wry remark that led to a renewed call from Washington for the Kremlin to “stop interfering”.

Indian defence minister asks country’s top military leadership to analyse current situation in Bangladesh, in conflict hotshots

The shooter -- also a student at the school -- was taken into custody. He will be charged with murder and tried as an adult, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said

The United States yesterday said it was time to “finalise” a deal between Israel and Hamas to end the Gaza war, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to bow to pressure.

At least 81 people died and several were missing after an attack by suspected Boko Haram jihadists in Nigeria’s northeastern Yobe State, local officials told AFP on Tuesday.

Donald Trump said Tuesday he has plans that are “guaranteed” to end the deadly war in Ukraine, but will only reveal them if he wins the US presidential election in November.

The Kremlin yesterday said that Russia was adjusting its nuclear doctrine because the United States and its Western allies were threatening Russia by escalating the war in Ukraine and riding roughshod over Moscow’s legitimate security interests.

China’s state security agency yesterday warned students with access to sensitive information against falling for “handsome men” or “beautiful women” that might entice them to spy for foreign powers.

Russia struck the city of Lviv in western Ukraine yesterday, killing seven people and damaging historical buildings in a rare attack hundreds of kilometres from the frontline.

Catholics represent fewer than three percent of the population of Indonesia -- about eight million people, compared with the 87 percent, or 242 million, who are Muslim.

Like millions of Russians, Natalia and Igor spent their summer break at home this year, as Western sanctions and travel restrictions shut the country off from most European tourism destinations.

Rivers have dried up, crops have withered and drinking water has been rationed in a part of Italy where agriculture and tourism are crucial, prompting both Sicily and Sardinia to declare a state of emergency.

"This is god's own land," the 92-year-old said, resting at the near-end of a long and hard life.

It blamed Venezuelan authorities and pro-government armed groups known as "colectivos" for killings, arbitrary detentions and harassment of critics following the disputed vote.