A UN official who took part in a humanitarian aid convoy to northern Gaza said on Sunday aid groups were on track to deliver the biggest shipment in over a month, describing thin, gaunt residents slaking their thirst as soon as water arrived.

A humanitarian pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas will extend by two days, mediator Qatar said Monday as an initial four-day truce in Gaza was set to expire

New Zealand's plans for world-leading anti-smoking laws will be revoked, Christopher Luxon confirmed Monday after being sworn in as prime minister, in a move described as a "huge win for the tobacco industry".

The EU's top foreign policy official Josep Borrell called for an extension of the truce in the Gaza Strip, which is due to end on Tuesday.

Former airline boss Christopher Luxon formally took office as New Zealand's prime minister on Monday, vowing to tame inflation and bring down interest rates.

Police and federal agents searched on Sunday for a gunman who shot and wounded three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington, Vermont, in what investigators suspect was a hate-motivated crime, authorities said

The truce between Israel and Hamas entered its final 24 hours Monday, with Hamas saying it was willing to extend the pause after it freed more hostages, including a four-year-old orphaned by its attack

A new group of 17 more hostages, including 14 Israelis and the first American, were freed yesterday from Gaza, on the third day of a truce after seven weeks of war.

Brazil’s geological service announced a new species of dinosaur, a speedy animal that lived in the desert during the early Cretaceous period.

India’s military brought in specialised equipment yesterday as efforts to free 41 trapped workers entered a third week, with digging ongoing in three directions after repeated setbacks to the operation.

The world’s largest iceberg is on the move for the first time in more than three decades, scientists said on Friday. At almost 4,000 square km (1,500 square miles), the Antarctic iceberg called A23a is roughly three times the size of New York City.

After seven weeks of bombardment stopped in Gaza for a truce, Tahani al-Najjar used the calm yesterday to return to the ruins of her home, smashed by an Israeli air strike that she said killed seven of her family and forced her into a shelter.

Israeli air strikes yesterday made Damascus airport inoperable just hours after flights had resumed following a similar attack last month, a war monitor said, as state media also reported the attack.

Russia yesterday put Meta Platforms spokesperson Andy Stone on a wanted list on unspecified charges as the US social media giant -- which owns Facebook -- is classed as “extremist” by Moscow.

China’s health ministry yesterday urged local authorities to increase the number of fever clinics as the country grapples with a surge in respiratory illnesses in its first full winter since easing Covid-19 restrictions.

Attackers seized a tanker linked to Israel off the coast of Aden, Yemen, yesterday, authorities said.

Two Chinese fighter jets were monitored “orbiting” a Philippine aircraft participating in patrols with Australia in the South China Sea but did not cause any untoward incident, Manila said yesterday.

Sierra Leone has declared a nationwide curfew after unidentified gunmen attacked a military barracks and attempted to break into an armoury in the capital, Freetown, the government said yesterday.

A Comoros-flagged cargo ship with 14 people on board has sunk off the island of Lesbos in gale-force winds, the Greek coastguard said yesterday, prompting a major rescue operation.

Farmers in the occupied West Bank face near-daily incursions and violence from Israeli settlers, to the point that they live in fear of having their homes and land stolen, they say.