POLITICS & POLICY

Reclusive Moscow-allied Belarus will hold a presidential election Sunday, with President Alexander Lukashenko set to cruise through to victory unchallenged for a seventh term, prolonging his three-decade authoritarian rule.

Cody Gakpo struck twice as Premier League leaders Liverpool thrashed Ipswich 4-1 to maintain their six-point lead over Arsenal, who survived Myles Lewis-Skelly's controversial red card to snatch a 1-0 win at Wolves in the Premier League on Saturday.

Some of the few remaining survivors of Auschwitz will gather at the site of the Nazi death camp on Monday as the world marks the 80th anniversary of its liberation in the final months of World War II. Around 50 ex-inmates are expected at a ceremony outside the historic gate of Auschwitz II-Birkenau alongside dozens of leaders including King Charles III and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Three South African peacekeepers have been killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where fighting intensified on Saturday between the Congolese army and Rwandan-backed M23 fighters, a political party said.

Dozens of masked, armed Palestinian militants arrived at a key square in Gaza City on Saturday, where four Israeli women hostages are expected to be handed over to the Red Cross.

The Sudanese army said Friday it broke a siege of its headquarters in Khartoum by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which had encircled it since war broke out in April 2023.

A senior Hamas official told AFP that his group will provide on Friday the names of four Israeli women hostages to be freed the following day in the second exchange of a ceasefire agreement.

With the European economy lagging behind the United States, the head of the International Monetary Fund had a piece advice for the continent on Friday: "Believe in yourself."

Hundreds of migrants in the United States were arrested Thursday and others flown out of the country on military aircraft as President Donald Trump's promised mass deportation operation got underway, the White House said.

Afghan taekwondo star Marzieh Hamidi told AFP the death threats she has received, forcing her to live under French police protection, show how effective her stinging criticism of the Taliban has been.

All signs of life have disappeared from the bombed-out houses and empty streets of the Lebanese border town of Naqura, but despite a fragile Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire that has held since November, no one can return.

In a field in southwest England where his dairy cows graze, Adam Stanbury said he feared the government's new farm tax, coupled with existing economic headwinds, will ruin his family business and many others.

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor on Thursday said he was seeking arrest warrants against senior Taliban leaders in Afghanistan over the persecution of women, a crime against humanity.

The families of children killed and wounded by a teenager in a knife rampage that sparked the country's worst riots in years wept in court Thursday as prosecutors described the frenzied attack.

The Kremlin said Thursday it saw nothing new in US President Donald Trump's calls for Russia to end its military offensive in Ukraine, and that Moscow was ready for "mutually respectful" dialogue with him.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman promised on Thursday to pile $600 billion into US trade and investments as he congratulated Donald Trump on his return to the White House.

Political activists in Germany said Thursday they had projected an image of Elon Musk's infamous raised-arm salute and the word "Heil" onto the outside of his Tesla plant.

When Bashar al-Assad ruled Syria, merchants like Youssef Rajab kept much of their imported stock hidden for fear of arrest for breaking the law.

A Palestinian official said hundreds of people began leaving their homes in a flashpoint area of the West Bank on Thursday as Israeli forces pressed a deadly operation there.

The United States' new top diplomat Marco Rubio reaffirmed the country's "unwavering support" for Israel, days into a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a large-scale raid in the occupied West Bank.

Former Syrian detainee Mohammed Najib has suffered for years from torture-induced back pain.

The EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said Wednesday that the bloc must heed US President Donald Trump's demand to spend more on defence, as she issued a stark warning over the threat from Russia.

There will always be border disputes in Asia, and China should not be singled out because of tensions in the South China Sea, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Wednesday.

Donald Trump's plan to end birthright citizenship could fundamentally reshape America, analysts said Tuesday, overturning a principle that has underpinned the country for more than 150 years.

The top lawyer of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison in February last year, told AFP she regretted not finding the right words to stop him returning to Moscow in 2021.

US President Donald Trump's sweeping pardons of Capitol rioters drew starkly contrasting reactions on Tuesday, largely embraced by his Republican supporters and vehemently condemned by Democrats.

Liverpool beat Lille 2-1 on Tuesday to maintain their perfect record in this season's Champions League and clinch qualification for the last 16, while Barcelona produced a stunning comeback to beat Benfica 5-4 in a classic to secure their own place.

The Taliban government said Tuesday it had released two American citizens from prison in return for an Afghan fighter held in the United States, in a deal brokered by Qatar.

A vintage Novak Djokovic tamed Carlos Alcaraz in a late-night blockbuster to set up an Australian Open semi-final with Alexander Zverev as two-time women's defending champion Aryna Sabalenka fought on.