Joe Biden was set to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 honourees, bestowing the highest civilian honour in the United States to entertainers, sports stars, politicians and diplomats.

The world’s oldest person, Japanese woman Tomiko Itooka, has died aged 116.

Thousands of rival South Korean protesters rallied in the capital yesterday, a day after a failed attempt to arrest suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol for imposing a short-lived martial law decree that led to his impeachment.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has notified Congress of a planned $8 billion arms sale to Israel, a source familiar with the plan said on Saturday.

Among those to receive honors from the outgoing US president are singer and activist Bono, basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson, longtime fashion editor Anna Wintour, soccer superstar Lionel Messi, actors Denzel Washington and Michael J Fox, and fashion designer Ralph Lauren

In scenes of high drama on Friday, Yoon Suk Yeol's presidential guards and military troops shielded the former star prosecutor from investigators, who called off their arrest attempt citing safety concerns.

Judge Juan Merchan said Trump, the first former president ever convicted of a crime, can appear either in person or virtually at his January 10 sentencing.

Since the military seized power in a 2021 coup, Myanmar has been rocked by fighting between numerous ethnic rebel groups and the army.

Google and Meta, which together control about 80 percent of all advertising revenue in Canada, had been accused of draining cash away from traditional news organizations while using news content for free.

Russia launched a barrage of drones in an overnight attack on Ukraine, killing two civilians and injuring four others in the Kyiv region, the military and regional officials said yesterday.

India’s foreign ministry yesterday said that New Delhi has conveyed its concerns to Beijing about China’s plan to build a hydropower dam in Tibet on the Yarlung Zangbo river which flows into India.

Israel's military reported that it shot down a missile and a drone launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen yesterday, the latest in a series of attacks from the country targeting Israel in recent weeks.

British researchers have unearthed some 200 dinosaur footprints dating back 166 million years in a find believed to be biggest in the UK.

Austria’s three-way coalition talks to form a new government failed yesterday, with the head of the liberal party announcing its withdrawal from the negotiations.

Malaysia’s coastguard said yesterday it was doubling patrols in its waters to locate boats carrying undocumented Myanmar migrants, after almost 200 were detained on an island in the northwestern Malaysian state of Kedah.

Two people in India set themselves on fire yesterday to protest against the disposal of hazardous waste from the decades-old Bhopal industrial disaster, local government officials said.

South Korean investigators yesterday abandoned their attempt to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol at his residence over a failed martial law bid, citing safety concerns after a standoff with his security team.

US President Joe Biden on Thursday awarded Liz Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman and fierce critic of Donald Trump, with a citizens service medal, after the incoming president warned she “could be in a lot of trouble” once he takes office.

President Joe Biden yesterday announced he has blocked the controversial $14.9 billion sale of US Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel, citing a strategic need to protect domestic industry.

A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled that US regulators overstepped their authority by reinstating “net neutrality” rules governing internet service providers, dealing a blow to the Biden administration.