POLITICS & POLICY

The family of a French man who enlisted dozens of strangers to rape his heavily-sedated wife have been torn apart by his crimes but are still seeking answers after a gruelling three-month trial.

A UK court on Tuesday handed life sentences to the father and stepmother of a murdered 10-year-old British-Pakistani girl who died after being subjected to a prolonged "campaign of torture" and "despicable abuse".

The head of the Russian army's chemical weapons division was killed on Tuesday in a brazen attack in Moscow claimed by Kyiv -- the most senior military figure assassinated in Russia yet as the Kremlin's campaign in Ukraine drags on.

A powerful earthquake struck the Pacific island of Vanuatu on Tuesday, smashing buildings in the capital Port Vila including one housing the US and other embassies, with a witness telling AFP of bodies seen in the city.

The pack of stray dogs -- thin and rain-soaked -- yelped in fear at the roar of incoming Russian artillery fire that echoed off abandoned Soviet-era buildings and an Orthodox church in frontline Pokrovsk.

Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who heads the caretaker government installed after an August revolution, said Monday that general elections would be held late next year or in early 2026.

Three years ago, Andrea Vanek was studying to be an arts and crafts teacher when spells of dizziness and heart palpitations suddenly started to make it impossible for her to even take short walks.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli strikes across the Palestinian territory on Sunday killed at least 40 people, including several children, an Al Jazeera TV cameraman and three rescuers.

The Syrian military intelligence officers who detained Ghazi Mohammed al-Mohammed told him to forget his name and who he was.

South Korea's swift rebuke of martial law and removal of President Yoon Suk Yeol from office have been hailed in the country as evidence of the strength of its young democratic institutions.

South Korean lawmakers have voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his shock decision to declare martial law last week, which plunged the country into some of its worst political turmoil in decades.

The citizens of Damascus largely celebrated the fall of Bashar al-Assad's hated regime with joy, after 13 long years of brutal civil war.

Hours before rebel forces seized Damascus and toppled his government on Sunday, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was already out of the country, telling hardly anyone, five former officials told AFP. The night before, Assad had even asked his close adviser Buthaina Shaaban to prepare a speech -- which the ousted leader never gave -- before flying from Damascus airport to Russia's Hmeimim air base in Syria, and from there out of the country.

Georgia's ruling party is set to appoint a far-right loyalist as president on Saturday in a controversial election process, amid a deepening constitutional crisis and weeks of mass pro-EU protests.

South Korean lawmakers vote Saturday on whether to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law bid, a second parliamentary showdown that appeared on a knife edge.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered the military to "prepare to remain" throughout the winter in the UN-patrolled buffer zone that is supposed to separate Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.

Francois Bayrou, one of few political heavyweights to have stood by French President Emmanuel Macron since he came to power in 2017, now faces his biggest challenge after finally being promoted to prime minister.

Fifty years ago, a 28-year-old Colombian with a bushy beard, flares and vintage Raleigh bicycle led a revolution on the streets of Bogota.

Most of what we know about humans living to very old age is based on faulty data, including the science behind the "blue zones" famous for having a high proportion of people over 100, according to one researcher.

Georgia's pro-EU protests entered their third week Thursday, amid fears the post-electoral crisis could further escalate with the ruling party set to appoint a loyalist as the country's next president.

US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday appointed election denier Kari Lake to be the new director of Voice of America, the state-funded international media organization.

In the small town of Dedovsk, just outside Moscow, pensioner Zinaida Kudriavtseva is struggling to pay the bills.

French President Emmanuel Macron was expected Thursday to name a new prime minister a week after MPs toppled the government, with politicians across the spectrum holding their breath while he conducts a day visit to Poland.

Salome Zurabishvili was a French diplomat before entering the turbulent politics of her ancestral homeland, where she was elected Georgia's first woman leader in 2018 and became the beacon of Tbilisi's EU aspirations.

The United States was pushing Thursday for an "inclusive" transition in Syria from president Bashar al-Assad's brutal rule, after the country's new leaders pledged to protect minority rights.

Her husband orchestrating her sexual abuse by strangers could have broken her.

Mohammed Naeem knew the Kabul street where he and his brothers built matching apartment buildings was too narrow, but he was still in disbelief as their homes were reduced to rubble to widen the road.

Russia on Wednesday vowed retribution against Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of firing Western-supplied missiles on a military airfield in its southern Rostov region.

Taiwan said Wednesday it had detected 53 Chinese military aircraft and 19 ships near the island in the past 24 hours, as Beijing holds its biggest maritime mobilisation in years.