The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification Initiative, a coalition of monitors tasked by the UN to warn of impending crises, stopped short of declaring a state of famine, but made clear the situation is critical.

Gaza City, Palestinian Territories -- Truckloads of food reached hungry Gazans on Monday after Israel promised to open secure aid routes, but humanitarian agencies warned vast amounts more were needed to stave off starvation. With Gaza's population of more than two million facing famine and malnutrition, Israel bowed to international...

Rights groups B'Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel have been frequent critics of Israeli government policies, but the language in their reports was their most stark yet.

UN's World Food Programme said a third of the population of Gaza had not eaten for days, and 470,000 people were "enduring famine-like conditions" that were already leading to deaths.

Shanghai, China -- Serving craft beer, playing mahjong, stacking shelves and boxing, the dozens of humanoid robots at Shanghai's World AI Conference (WAIC) this weekend were embodiments of China's growing AI prowess and ambition. The annual event is primed at showcasing China's progress in the ever-evolving field of artificial intelligence,...

Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on March 2 after ceasefire talks broke down. In late May, it began allowing a small trickle of aid to resume, amid warnings of a wave of starvation.

Geneva, Switzerland -- The world urgently needs to find a global approach on regulating artificial intelligence, the United Nations' top tech chief said this week, warning that fragmentation could deepen risks and inequalities. Doreen Bogdan-Martin, head of the UN's International Telecommunications Union (ITU) agency, told AFP she hoped that AI...

The US president argued that the Palestinian militant group was not ready to hand over the remaining captives in Gaza because "they know what happens after you get the final hostages".

"The negative statements of the US envoy Witkoff run completely counter to the context in which the last negotiations were held, and he is perfectly aware of this, but they come to serve the Israeli position," said Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim.

London, United Kingdom -- New UK age verification measures to prevent children accessing harmful online content came into force on Friday, with campaigners hailing them a "milestone" in their years-long battle for stronger regulations. Under the new rules, to be enforced by Britain's media watchdog, websites and apps hosting potentially...

United Nations, United States -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday slammed the international community for turning a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinians starving in the Gaza Strip, calling it a "moral crisis that challenges the global conscience." "I cannot explain the level of indifference and inaction we...

The court said climate change was an "urgent and existential threat" and countries had a legal duty to prevent harm from their planet-warming pollution.

Mediators have been shuttling between Israeli and Hamas delegations in Qatar for more than two weeks, but the indirect talks have so far failed to yield an elusive truce.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- A Saudi delegation of over 100 investors arrived in Damascus on Wednesday ahead of a conference aimed at securing billions of dollars in deals to help rebuild war-battered Syria. The kingdom has been one of the major backers of the new Syrian government that seized power...

The 25-page "America's AI Action Plan" outlines three aims: accelerating innovation, building infrastructure, and leading internationally on AI. Overall, the administration frames AI advancement as critical to maintaining economic and military supremacy.

Abu Dhabi, UAE --  Renewables maintain their cost leadership in global power markets, IRENA’s new report on Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2024 confirms. The report confirms that renewables maintained their price advantage over fossil fuels, with cost declines driven by technological innovation, competitive supply chains, and economies of scale....

Sydney, Australia -- Humans beat generative AI models made by Google and OpenAI at a top international mathematics competition, despite the programs reaching gold-level scores for the first time. Neither model scored full marks -- unlike five young people at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), a prestigious annual competition where...

Gaza's population of more than two million people is facing severe shortages of food and other essentials, with residents frequently killed by Israeli forces as they try to collect humanitarian aid at a handful of distribution points.

Moscow, Russia -- Russia has showcased what it calls the biggest drone factory in the world, broadcasting rare footage from inside a plant assembling the deadly attack drones it fires at Ukraine on a daily basis. Moscow has launched record numbers of drones at Ukrainian cities in recent weeks, escalating...

"The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths," the signatories, including Britain, France, Australia, Canada and 21 other countries, plus the EU, said in a statement.

UNRWA said that shortages in the Palestinian territory had caused food prices to increase by 40 times, while the aid stockpiled in its warehouses outside Gaza could feed "the entire population for over three months."

Rabat, Morocco -- Tens of thousands of Moroccans demonstrated Sunday in the capital Rabat against the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, calling for the reversal of the kingdom's normalization deal with Israel. Protesters gathered in the city center, brandishing Palestinian flags and placards calling for the free flow...

Berlin, Germany -- Britain, France and Germany are planning to hold fresh talks with Iran on its nuclear programme in the coming days, a German diplomatic source told AFP on Sunday. The European powers, known as the E3, "are in contact with Iran to schedule further talks for the coming...

Washington, UAE -- Global gas flaring surged for a second year in a row, wasting about $63 billion in lost energy and setting back efforts to manage emissions and boost energy security and access. Flaring, the practice of burning natural gas during oil extraction, reached 151 billion cubic meters (bcm)...

Druze fighters had pushed out rival armed factions from the city on Saturday, a monitor said, after the government ordered a ceasefire following a US-brokered deal to avert further Israeli military intervention.

Edwin Wiek founded Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT) facility in 2001 with two macaques and a gibbon. It now spans 120 hectares and houses 60 species.

Kingston, Jamaica -- Scientists present at the latest effort to hash out international rules for deep-sea mining say it's unclear if it's possible to restore damaged sea floor ecosystems -- or how long it would take. One of the last wild zones on the planet, the sea floor is a...

UN has said it had recorded 875 people killed in Gaza while trying to get food, including 674 in the vicinity of sites run by US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which replaced UN agencies.

The statement came after months of escalating attacks by US President Donald Trump on Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell. The US leader has repeatedly lashed out at Powell for not lowering interest rates more quickly, calling the central banker a "numbskull" and "moron".

Baghdad, Iraq -- The Iraqi government announced Thursday an agreement to resume crude exports from the autonomous Kurdistan region after a more than two-year halt and amid drone attacks on oil fields. Lucrative oil exports have been a major point of tension between Baghdad and Arbil, with a key pipeline...

Pope Leo XIV said he was "deeply saddened" by the loss of life, which a witness said was the result of a tank shell hitting the church. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem named the dead as Najwa Abu Daoud, Saad Issa Kostandi Salameh and Foumia Issa Latif Ayyad.

Kurdistan has seen a spate of unclaimed drone attacks, which have come as the regional government and the federal authorities in Baghdad wrangle over control of export revenues from the Kurdistan fields.

Singapore, Singapore -- There is a "strong argument" for putting video cameras in airline cockpits to assist in accident investigations, the head of global aviation industry group IATA said Wednesday. The comments by Willie Walsh, director-general of the International Air Transport Association, followed the release of a preliminary report on...

The conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, was originally planned for mid-June to revive work on the long-standing diplomatic effort to find a way for Israeli and Palestinian states to live side-by-side in peace. It was postponed at the last minute after Israel's military campaign against Iran.

Arbil, Iraq -- A drone strike forced a US company to suspend operations at an oil field in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region Tuesday, the latest in a string of attacks targeting the region's energy infrastructure. The Kurdistan Regional Government said the Sarsang oil field in Duhok province was hit, calling...

The indirect negotiations in Qatar appear deadlocked after both sides blamed the other for blocking a deal for the release of hostages and a 60-day ceasefire after 21 months of fighting.

On the ground, civil defense agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said at least 43 people were killed in the latest Israeli strikes, including 11 when a market in Gaza City was hit. Elsewhere, eight children were among the 10 victims of a drone strike at a water point in the Nuseirat...

Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- Police in Dubai said three individuals accused of a litany of crimes, including drugs and human trafficking, were extradited to Belgium, authorities said on Sunday. Officials said the three suspects had been wanted in Belgium in connection with cases of "cross-border organized crime". In December,...

"This deal means more crossings open, aid and food trucks entering Gaza, repair of vital infrastructure and protection of aid workers. We count on Israel to implement every measure agreed," said EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas.

Geneva, Switzerland - The purchase of physical assets was eclipsed last year by a surge in investment in intangible items like software, data and AI, the UN said Wednesday, describing a "fundamental shift in how economies grow and compete". Investment in intellectual property-backed assets grew three times faster in 2024...

Geneva, Switzerland -- UN experts decried Tuesday the US resumption of migrant deportations to third countries, including to war-torn South Sudan, stressing Washington's obligation to ensure it is not sending people into harm's way. The experts, who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but who do not speak...

While Trump imposed a sweeping 10 percent tariff on goods from almost all trading partners in April, higher rates customized to dozens of economies were unveiled, then halted until July 9. But the president this week again delayed their reimposition, pushing it back to August 1.

Paris, France -- The potential of artificial intelligence is immense -- but its equally vast energy consumption needs curbing, with asking shorter questions one way to achieve, said a UNESCO study unveiled Tuesday. A combination of shorter queries and using more specific models and could cut AI energy consumption by...

Five Israeli soldiers were killed and 14 others injured late Monday night when a roadside bomb exploded during an ongoing ground operation in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced.

US President Donald Trump said Monday the United States will send additional weapons to Ukraine, after the White House announced a halt to some arms shipments for Kyiv the previous week

An armed coalition led by HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa overthrew then-Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December, ending half a century of brutal rule by the latter's family.

Rice blocks require less cement, which is responsible for approximately eight percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, according to 2023 figures from the World Economic Forum.

BRICS leaders on Sunday described Trump's stop-start tariff wars as "indiscriminate", damaging, and illegal, drawing a quick rebuke from the pugilistic US president.

The BRICS also called for a "full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and all other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories."

"We cannot remain indifferent to the genocide carried out by Israel in Gaza, the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians and the use of hunger as a weapon of war," President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told leaders from China, India, and other nations.