A spyware campaign using tools from a secretive Israeli firm was used to attack and impersonate dozens of human rights activists, journalists, dissidents, politicians and others, researchers said Thursday.

Lebanese politician Saad al-Hariri abandoned his months-long effort to form a new government on Thursday, dimming the chances of a cabinet being agreed any time soon that could start rescuing the country from financial meltdown.  

The Eiffel Tower reopened on Friday after an eight-month shutdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, its longest closure since World War Two.

All 18 people on board a Russian Antonov An-28 passenger plane that vanished from radars were found alive on Friday after the aircraft was forced to make a hard landing in Siberia, the emergencies ministry said.

So much for Donald Trump’s quest for “perfect” hair.

More than 1,000 people were missing in flood-stricken regions of western Germany and Belgium on Friday, where waters were still rising with the death toll already well over 100 and communications in some areas cut. 

A Russian Antonov An-28 passenger plane carrying up to 17 people disappeared from radars while flying over the Siberian region of Tomsk, Russian news agencies cited local officials as saying.

Russian investigative news outlet "Proekt" said it was closing down a US-registered legal entity a day after authorities in Russia banned its activities, but would find a way to continue its investigations into Russia's elite.

The number of people who lost their lives in the heavy floods in the western part of Germany increased to at least 81 on Friday, according to German broadcaster ARD, in what is Germany's worst mass loss of life in years.

President Joe Biden on Thursday appeared to rule out the possibility of sending US troops to Haiti to stabilize the Caribbean nation following the assassination of President Jovenel Moise.

Canada may permit fully vaccinated travellers into the country by early September, the country's prime minister said on Thursday, if the current trend in vaccination rate and public health conditions continue.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has no forecast date for leaving the hospital where he is being treated for an obstructed intestine linked to a 2018 stabbing, as he canceled a weekly broadcast later on Thursday and a weekend event with supporters.

Russia declared investigative news outlet "Proekt" on Thursday an "undesirable" organisation on national security grounds and banned its activities, in the latest blow against media which look into areas the authorities say are off-limits.

Archaeologists said Wednesday that the recent discovery of two stretches of stone bulwark from the Iron Age “unequivocally” prove a huge wall once protected the entire eastern flank of ancient Jerusalem.

Nations most vulnerable to the impacts of global warming yesterday called for rich countries to live up to their promise to finance the fight against climate change, ahead of a crunch UN summit.

Shelling by Syrian regime forces yesterday killed nine civilians, including three children, in the Idlib region in the country’s northwest, a war monitor reported.

South Africa yesterday mustered its army reserves in a bid to quell looting that has stoked fears of shortages and dealt a crippling blow to its already battered economy. 

Amnesty International yesterday said that migrants held in Libyan detention camps are subject to horrific sexual violence at the hands of guards, including being forced to barter sex for clean water, food and access to sanitation. 

Climate change and deforestation have flipped a large swathe of the Amazon basin from absorbing to emitting planet-warming CO2, a transformation that could turn humanity’s greatest natural ally in the fight against global warming into a foe, researchers reported on Wednesday. 

1790 – US Congress declares Washington, DC as new capital.