A 6.9-magnitude earthquake followed by a 7.1 tremor struck off southern Japan on Thursday.

Last month was the second hottest July for the planet on record, breaking a 13-month period when each month was warmest

A helicopter crashed in a forest outside Nepal’s capital Kathmandu shortly after takeoff yesterday, killing all five people on board, an official said, the latest of more than a dozen air crashes in the mountainous region since 2000.

A woman stripped of her British citizenship after leaving the country as a teenager to marry an Islamic State group fighter lost a bid yesterday to take her case to the UK’s top court.

The famine in a displaced persons camp in war-torn Sudan is a “shameful stain” on the conscience of the international community, which failed to prevent it despite multiple warnings, the United Nations said Tuesday.

China carried out a combat patrol to test “strike capabilities” near a flashpoint reef in the South China Sea yesterday, as the United States and its allies held joint military drills in the same waters.

Russia said yesterday that Ukraine is now opening a “second front” in Africa after Mali and Niger broke off diplomatic relations with Kyiv, accusing it of support for “terrorist groups”.

Sri Lanka’s ruling party nominated a scion of the controversial Rajapaksa family yesterday to challenge the incumbent president in next month’s polls, the first since the country’s unprecedented economic meltdown.

Israel has conducted a systematic policy of prisoner abuse and torture since the start of the Gaza offensive, subjecting Palestinian detainees to acts ranging from arbitrary violence to sexual abuse, Israeli rights group B’Tselem said in a report.

A Russian military blogger who criticised Moscow’s conduct in the Ukraine conflict was sentenced to six-and-a-half years’ jail for spreading “fakes” about the army, Moscow’s court service said yesterday.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is drawing more support from Black voters than President Joe Biden did when he was in the race this year, while Republican Donald Trump’s support among white voters has risen somewhat in recent months, according to an analysis of Reuters/Ipsos polling.

Thailand’s most popular politician was banned from politics for 10 years and his party dissolved yesterday over his attempt to reform the kingdom’s archaic royal defamation laws.

Venezuela’s opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia said yesterday that he will not attend a Supreme Court hearing on the disputed re-election of President Nicolas Maduro.

Kamala Harris made her debut Tuesday evening with new White House running mate Tim Walz, who unleashed a stinging rebuke of their Republican rival Donald Trump, questioning his commitment to the country and skewering his record in office.

Turkey yesterday joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Israel ordered residents and displaced Palestinians to evacuate the Beit Hanoon and Beit Lahiya areas of Gaza City yesterday, as reports said a “large scale” Israeli army operation is expected to begin there soon.

Thousands of riot police stood ready yesterday as Britain remained on alert for disturbances during far-right protests across the country.

Russia was battling a major cross-border incursion from Ukraine for a second day yesterday, with authorities evacuating several thousand civilians due to fighting, officials said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Tuesday on Bangladesh to respect democracy after Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was tapped to lead an interim government following an uprising

Hamas named its Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar as successor to former political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran last week, the group said on Tuesday.