POLITICS & POLICY

Keir Starmer has made a flurry of ministerial appointments since becoming UK prime minister last week but one name has stood out: new prisons minister James Timpson.

US President Joe Biden insisted Monday he would not quit the election race, as the White House denied he had Parkinson's disease following a disastrous debate performance.

A Swiss appeals court confirmed Monday the acquittal of six police officers charged over the death of a Nigerian man following a heavy-handed arrest, in a case that drew comparisons to George Floyd.

Palestinians on Monday fled heavy battles in Gaza City as the Israeli military expanded an evacuation order nine months into its war with Hamas militants.

When NATO leaders welcome Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to their summit in Washington this week, they will reaffirm that Kyiv will one day become a member and vow to keep arming its troops.

Hanging from a rope-and-bamboo ladder off a Himalayan mountain cliff, skilled Nepali climbers gather highly prized hallucinogenic honey -- an ancient tradition stung by environmental degradation and rapid climate change.

Shady websites calling for a boycott of Qatar, a New York billboard targeting the Gulf state's rulers, and a Vietnamese outfit floating hundreds of slander-ridden Facebook ads -- all elements of a sprawling influence operation vilifying the country as it mediates between Israel and Hamas.

President Emmanuel Macron on Monday was to start efforts to extract France from its most severe political uncertainty in decades after the left defeated the far right in elections with no group winning an absolute majority.

A loose alliance of French left-wing parties thrown together for snap elections was on course Sunday to become the biggest parliamentary bloc and beat the far right, according to shock projected results.

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz targets the Wimbledon quarter-finals on Sunday against a piano-playing Frenchman, while Emma Raducanu has British fans dreaming of a first home women's champion in 47 years.

Spurred on by Russia's war in Ukraine and the spectre of Donald Trump's potential return to the White House, more of NATO's European members are finally hitting the alliance's defence spending target.

NATO's 75th anniversary summit was meant to showcase the triumph of a larger, stronger alliance.

France votes in legislative elections Sunday that will be decisive in determining its political future and could see the far right become the largest party in parliament for the first time.

World number one Iga Swiatek was dumped out of Wimbledon by Yulia Putintseva on Saturday as Novak Djokovic set his sights on making the fourth round for the 16th time.

Newly elected UK prime minister Keir Starmer on Saturday began his first full day in charge with a meeting of his cabinet after his Labour party's landslide election win ended 14 years of Conservative rule.

Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz defeated close friend Frances Tiafoe in a roller-coaster five sets to reach the Wimbledon last 16 on Friday as Jannik Sinner and Coco Gauff breezed through.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Viktor Orban on Friday that Ukraine must effectively capitulate if it wants peace, in a visit to Moscow by the Hungarian leader that angered the EU, US and Kyiv.

With his reelection bid on the line, US President Joe Biden sits down Friday for a crucial TV interview to persuade doubters of his physical and mental fitness for a second White House term.

On a floating hospital near Gaza, doctors aren't just treating physical wounds -- they're providing emotional support too for children and adults haunted by months of terrifying war.

Israel's spy chief was expected in Qatar on Friday for the latest effort to free hostages held by Hamas Palestinian militants in Gaza, almost nine months into the Israel-Hamas war.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's wife arrived at a Madrid court to testify before a judge Friday as part of a preliminary corruption probe into her business ties, but the hearing was quickly suspended with a new date set for July 19.

Iranians voted on Friday in a presidential runoff election where the choice is between a reformist advocating improved ties with the West and an ultraconservative former nuclear negotiator.

Andy Murray suffered a losing start in his farewell to Wimbledon on Thursday, weeping openly in front of his adoring fans before admitting: "I wish I could play forever."

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen insisted Thursday her party can still win control of parliament despite the centre and left scrambling to block her way and football hero Kylian Mbappe urging fans to outvote "those people".

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv has been pleading with its Western partners to provide the country with modern fighter jets.

In her constituency in northern France, former prime minister Elisabeth Borne is counting on support from left-wing voters to hold her seat, even if many refuse to forget her role in passing a controversial pension reform.

Lebanon's Hezbollah said it launched more than 200 rockets and explosive drones at Israeli military positions on Thursday as tensions have soared amid the almost nine-months-old war raging in Gaza.

Britons voted Thursday in a general election widely expected to emphatically return the opposition Labour party to power and end nearly a decade-and-a-half of Conservative rule.

A magistrate Wednesday charged prominent film director Benoit Jacquot for allegedly raping actors Julia Roy and Isild Le Besco, prosecutors said, in a high-profile MeToo case that has rocked France.