POLITICS & POLICY

Georgia braced for protests on Monday after the pro-EU opposition called for mass demonstrations, accusing the ruling party of "stealing" this weekend's parliamentary election with Russian help.

Afghanistan's morality ministry is gradually introducing a ban on images of living beings in media, with multiple provinces announcing restrictions and some Taliban officials refusing to be photographed or filmed, journalists across the country told AFP. Since mid-October the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (PVPV) has held meetings with journalists in one province after another.

Israeli forces launched deadly strikes on Lebanon and Gaza on Monday, pressing their offensive against militants after Egypt's president proposed a two-day truce in the Israel-Hamas war.

Actor Gerard Depardieu on Monday asked for a delay to the start of his trial on sexual assault charges, saying his health prevented him from attending the proceedings, with numerous other complaints and a possible second court case already lying in wait.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba faced the prospect of minority rule Monday after his gamble of snap elections backfired with the ruling party's worst election result in 15 years.

Hundreds died in the student-led revolution that toppled Bangladesh's autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina, but those impacted in the violent aftermath fear the new authorities' promise of justice will exclude them.

"It barely exists anymore," said the mayor of Vovchansk, an industrial town razed by a Russian onslaught shocking even for the killing fields of eastern Ukraine.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Sunday that Israel's "precise and powerful" strikes on Iran had been a success, as his country's forces pounded targets in Gaza and Lebanon.

Bulgarians voted Sunday in their seventh election in less than four years, with little hope of an end to political turmoil that has favoured the country's far right.

Israel bombarded Hezbollah and Hamas targets in Lebanon and Gaza on Sunday, with no respite in the conflict one day after its strikes on Iran raised fears of a broader war.

Georgia's ruling party was on course to win a closely watched election Saturday, according to partial results that were rejected as "falsified" by pro-Western opposition parties which denounced a "constitutional coup".

The deployment of North Korean troops to help Russia in its war against Ukraine is unlikely to have a significant impact on the fighting on the ground but could affect security interests in Asia, Europe, and elsewhere, analysts said.

Israel said it conducted air strikes against Iran on Saturday that hit military bases and missile sites in retaliation for the Islamic republic's attacks, warning it would "pay a heavy price" if it responds.

When Georgia's richest man first burst into politics 12 years ago, he vowed to "astonish Europe" with the democracy he would bring to the Black Sea nation.

The US election takes a detour from the swing state circuit to decamp to Texas on Friday as Kamala Harris rallies with pop superstar Beyonce and Donald Trump sits down with the world's biggest podcaster.

"We share a vision for a modern and transformed Australia-United Kingdom relationship, which delivers tangible benefits and prosperity to both our nations and the Indo-Pacific," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

Winding through the lawless, rugged hills of northern Myanmar, National Highway 3 links a stunning series of victories by ethnic rebels and pro-democracy fighters in their war against the junta.

United Nations leader Antonio Guterres pleaded on Thursday for a "just peace" in Ukraine, calling in a speech in front of Russian President Vladimir Putin for an end to more than two years of fighting.

A parliamentary inquiry heared Thursday that nuclear power plants may take another 10-15 years to establish, while facilities for disposing of high-level waste could require twice as long.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday against "illusory" attempts to defeat Russia on the battlefield ahead of his first meeting with United Nations chief Antonio Guterres in more than two years for talks set to focus on the conflict in Ukraine.

For Pakistani police, reports of a college campus rape that went viral this month are "fake news" fomenting unrest.

Italian priest Davide Marcheselli has been fighting for years against Chinese companies illegally mining gold in the town of Kitutu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Before the Zaha Hadid-designed plaza, before the luxury high rises, before the South Korean neighbourhood hosted fashion week, there was a pastor handing out rice to poor pensioners in Seoul's Dongdaemun district.

In her store located a stone's throw from the wall separating the United States and Mexico, Ida Pedrego sighs at the thought of White House hopefuls visiting the border to talk about immigration.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected a strategic missile base, state media said Wednesday, releasing images of him viewing transport and launch vehicles for the country's largest and most powerful intercontinental ballistic weapons.

A Chinese aircraft carrier group sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, Taiwan's defence minister said, a day after Beijing held a live-fire exercise near the self-ruled island.

Kamala Harris faces voters' questions at a live forum Wednesday in must-win Pennsylvania as the vice president and her rival Donald Trump battle for undecided voters in the closing stretch of an extremely close White House race.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday touted the creation of a new "multipolar world order" at the BRICS summit, a gathering of world leaders he hopes will show that Western attempts to isolate Moscow over its Ukraine offensive have failed.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday "now is the time" to end the conflict in Gaza, and urged Israel to avoid further escalation with Iran.