World News

Hamas has survived Israel’s 15-month war in the Gaza Strip. Now, the militant group is replenishing its ranks, although restocking its weapons supplies will be more difficult.

Late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, Ukrainian drones struck the Nizhny Novgorod oil refinery in Kstovo, in central Russia 520 miles from the front line in northern Ukraine. The blasts triggered what the Ukrainian general staff in Kyiv described as a “powerful” fire that burned through the early morning.

With less than 24 hours before President Donald Trump's deadline to impose sweeping tariffs on the three biggest US trading partners -- Canada, Mexico and China -- the global economy is bracing for impact.

South Africa has warned that further attacks against its peacekeeping forces by Rwandan-backed rebels would be a “declaration of war”, as regional tensions spiralled following a major new offensive in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

For the families of the released hostages, it was a day they had long been waiting for.

Wilas Thaenna wept after receiving a call to say his son Pongsak had been freed on Thursday.

"I never thought this day would come, everything has been too quiet for a while," the 65-year-old told the BBC.

He revealed he had barely slept the night before, as he was so excited at the prospect of his son being released.

"I don't know how to explain how I got through all that happened," he continued.

"My son was taken captive, I lost my wife, I had to stay strong.

"First five or six months, I've lost so much weight. It was distressing, I didn't have strength to do anything or go anywhere. I was worried all the time.

Călin Georgescu, a far-right pro-Russian Romanian politician, has called Ukraine a fictitious state and said that its division between neighbouring states is inevitable.

As Israel began to bomb homes, refugee camps, schools, hospitals, mosques and churches in Gaza, and Israeli cabinet ministers promoted their schemes for ethnic cleansing, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, reiterated the national orthodoxy: “Israel is a country that is committed to human rights and international law and acts accordingly.” As Benjamin Netanyahu’s campaign of indiscriminate murder and destruction intensified, Ingo Gerhartz, the head of the German air force, or Luftwaffe, arrived in Tel Aviv hailing the “accuracy” of Israeli pilots; he also had himself photographed, in uniform, donating blood for Israeli soldiers.

Economic uncertainty is reflected in cautiousness about investing in new cars, according to Outi Ampuja of the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom).

A Stockholm court was due to rule on Thursday whether Salwan Momika, a Christian Iraqi who burned Qurans at a slew of protests, was guilty of inciting ethnic hatred.

Users experimenting with DeepSeek have seen the Chinese AI chatbot reply and then censor itself in real time, providing an arresting insight into its control of information and opinion.

United States President Donald Trump will order the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to prepare a migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay for as many as 30,000 immigrants.

MOSCOW, January 29 - RIA Novosti. More than 280 Romanian mercenaries who fought in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) surrendered to the M23 rebel movement after the rebels captured the Congolese city of Goma, the Rwandan Defense Forces said in a statement.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago, Western nations have accused China of supplying Moscow with microchips and other critical dual-use technologies that are “powering Russia’s brutal war of aggression.”

Germany's parliament descended into heckles and recriminations on Wednesday after a "firewall" against working with the far-right cracked.

A non-binding motion calling for tougher border and asylum rules passed with support from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). During the stormy session, politicians of various parties hurled criticism and blame at each other.

Conservative CDU leader Friedrich Merz, who tabled the plans, defended his actions as "necessary". But Chancellor Olaf Scholz slammed the move as an "unforgivable mistake".

A Chinese social media operation that aims to whip up political anger in the West has called for the overthrow of a foreign government when impersonating protesters criticising flood relief efforts in Spain, online analysis outfit Graphika said.

New York-based Graphika said an operation dubbed Spamouflage, which it believed was linked to the Chinese state, posed this month as human rights group Safeguard Defenders to spread online calls for the government to be toppled in response to the catastrophic floods in October that killed 224 people.

"This is the first time we have seen Spamouflage directly calling to overthrow a foreign government," Graphika said in its latest report.

Chaos has ensued over the last 24 hours among civil society organizations working with refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border after the US government under President Donald Trump implemented an executive order immediately halting foreign aid for 90 days, resulting in the closure of hospitals in refugee camps which receive funding from the US government.

D Documents and devices possibly containing valuable information about Moscow's military were among the items seized by Ukraine's troops in an operation in Russia's Kursk region, according to Ukraine's military.

Soldiers from Ukraine's 8th Regiment of the Special Operations Forces (SOF) discovered the items in an operation in which seven Russian and two North Korean troops were killed.