World

Five Dead as ‘Thunderous’ Bomb Attack Hits Colombian City
Five Dead as ‘Thunderous’ Bomb Attack Hits Colombian City

Colombian authorities said five people were killed and dozens more injured when a truck bomb tore through a busy street in the city of Cali on Thursday, deepening the country's most serious security crisis in decades. Police said the explosion targeted a military aviation school in the city's north -- a fresh challenge to Colombia's fragile peace ...

Top US, Europe Officers Develop Military Options for Ukraine Peace Push
Top US, Europe Officers Develop Military Options for Ukraine Peace Push

Top officers from the United States and Europe held talks this week to develop military options as part of efforts to broker an end to the devastating war in Ukraine, the US military said Thursday. US General Dan Caine and his counterparts from Finland, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and Ukraine met Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington, a ...

Israel PM Orders Start of Immediate Negotiations to Release 'All Our Hostages'
Israel PM Orders Start of Immediate Negotiations to Release 'All Our Hostages'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said he had ordered the beginning of immediate negotiations to release the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza. The announcement comes a day after the defence ministry approved a plan authorising the call-up of roughly 60,000 reservists to help capture Hamas's last major strongholds in Gaza ...

21 Countries Sign Joint Statement Condemning Israel's West Bank Settlement Project
21 Countries Sign Joint Statement Condemning Israel's West Bank Settlement Project

Britain and France were among 21 countries to sign a joint statement Thursday calling Israel's approval of a major settlement project in the West Bank "unacceptable and a violation of international law". Israel approved the plans for the roughly 12-square-kilometre (five-square-mile) parcel of land known as E1 just east of Jerusalem on ...

Indian, French Leaders Agree to Strengthen 'Strategic Partnership'
Indian, French Leaders Agree to Strengthen 'Strategic Partnership'

India and France agreed to strengthen their strategic partnership and economic exchanges in a phone call between the two countries' leaders on Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron also coordinated their positions on the war in Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza. India is staring down an ...

Record EU Wildfires Burnt More Than 1 mn Hectares in 2025
Record EU Wildfires Burnt More Than 1 mn Hectares in 2025

Wildfires have so far ravaged more than one million hectares (2.5 million acres) in the European Union in 2025, a record since statistics began in 2006, according to an AFP analysis of official data. Surpassing the annual record of 988,524 hectares burnt in 2017, the figure reached 1,015,731 hectares by midday Thursday, representing an area ...

Israel Army Calls on Hospitals, Aid Groups in North Gaza to Prepare for Evacuations
Israel Army Calls on Hospitals, Aid Groups in North Gaza to Prepare for Evacuations

The Israeli military on Thursday said it had informed medical personnel and aid groups in northern Gaza to start making evacuation plans ahead of a military offensive to seize the area. Israeli military officials this week informed "medical officials and international organizations in the northern Gaza Strip... to prepare for the evacuation of ...

UN Experts Denounce Attacks on Syria's Druze
UN Experts Denounce Attacks on Syria's Druze

A panel of UN experts denounced Thursday what they described as an outbreak of massacres, sexual violence and kidnappings targeting the Druze minority in southern Syria in the past month. Fighting erupted in the Sweida region on July 13. Clashes between local Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin rapidly escalated, drawing in government forces and ...

First Security Guarantees, then Putin Summit, Zelensky Says
First Security Guarantees, then Putin Summit, Zelensky Says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but only after his allies agreed on security guarantees for Ukraine that would deter future Russian attacks once the fighting stops. In comments released Thursday, he also warned both sides were preparing for further fighting, with Russia building up ...

Russia Ramps up Strikes on Ukraine, Killing One
Russia Ramps up Strikes on Ukraine, Killing One

Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles against Ukraine overnight in the biggest barrage since mid-July, killing one person and wounding many others. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said several missiles were aimed at a US-owned business in western Ukraine "producing everyday items like coffee machines". Fifteen people ...