LONDON – Britain’s King Charles and other senior royals are due to join veterans and crowds to watch a grand military parade and flypast at the start of four days of commemorations marking the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe…

BERLIN -Far-right party Alternative for Germany filed a lawsuit on Monday challenging a decision last week by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency to classify the party as an extremist organisation. A spokesperson for the administrative court in Cologne said the lawsuit…

KINSHASA – Congo and Rwanda have submitted a draft peace proposal as part of a process meant to end fighting in eastern Congo and attract billions of dollars of Western investment, U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior adviser for Africa said…

CAIRO – Six strikes targeted Yemen’s Hodeidah port, the Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported on Monday, blaming the strikes on Israel and the United States a day after the Iran-aligned Houthis fired a missile that struck near Israel’s main airport….

JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his security cabinet on Sunday to discuss the expansion of the Gaza offensive and a possible resumption of aid into the besieged enclave, two government officials said. In a video message…

BUCHAREST -Romanians voted on Sunday in the first round of a presidential election that could propel hard-right eurosceptic George Simion to power in a ballot that will test the rise of Donald Trump-style nationalism in the European Union. Simion, 38,…

CAIRO – Hamas has executed a number of alleged looters after several incidents in which heavily armed gangs attacked food stores and community kitchens in the Gaza Strip this week, sources close to the Palestinian militant group said. Hamas officials…

JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet has approved a gradual expansion of the offensive against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza, Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Monday, citing sources with knowledge of the details.

DUBAI – Yemen’s Houthi rebels said late on Sunday they would impose a “comprehensive” aerial blockade on Israel by repeatedly targeting its airports, in response to Israel expanding its operations in Gaza. The Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility for a missile…

VATICAN CITY – Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle is sometimes called the “Asian Francis” because of his infectious smile, easy laugh, and spontaneity with words. Like the late Argentine pope, he hails from a country far from the Catholic Church’s…

DUBAI – Iran remains committed to diplomacy with the United States, the government said on Monday, after a fourth round of nuclear talks with Washington was postponed over the weekend. “We have announced our commitment to continuing the path of…

Britain’s counter-terrorism police arrested five men, including four Iranian nationals, on suspicion of terrorism offences over a plot to target a specific premises, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement on Sunday. The arrests occurred on Saturday in Swindon, west…

MANILA -Two people, including a four-year-old girl, were killed and several others injured after a car crashed into the entrance of Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Sunday, the Philippine Red Cross said. The airport said the “vehicular accident” occurred…

MOSCOW – Chinese President Xi Jinping will make an official visit to Russia from May 7-10, where he will participate in celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Kremlin said on Sunday. In a statement…

MOSCOW- Russian President Vladimir Putin said in comments broadcast on Sunday said that the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine had not arisen, and that he hoped it would not arise. In a fragment of an upcoming interview with…

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that now is the time for concrete proposals from Moscow and Kyiv to end the war in Ukraine and warned that the U.S. will step back as a mediator…

HAVANA -Cuba on Tuesday arrested high-profile dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer for violating the terms of his parole just three months after releasing the activist from jail as part of a Vatican-brokered deal with the Biden administration. Ferrer had failed to…

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals staged a major political comeback to retain power in parliamentary elections, fuelled by a backlash against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and comments on making Canada the 51st U.S. state. With almost all votes…

JERUSALEM/DAMASCUS -Israel said it carried out a strike in Syria against extremists who attacked members of the Druze community, following through on a promise to protect the minority group as sectarian violence spread near Damascus on Wednesday. It appeared to…

VATICAN CITY – When Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio was elected in 2013 as Pope Francis, he was a near total Vatican outsider. He had never been a Vatican official, instead spending decades in local ministry. And he came from Argentina, the…

PARIS – France will not think twice about reimposing United Nations sanctions on Iran if negotiations to reach a deal over its nuclear programme do not succeed, its foreign minister told the U.N. Security Council late on Monday. France, Britain…

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s defence minister said on Monday that a military incursion by neighbouring India was imminent in the aftermath of a deadly militant attack on tourists in Kashmir last week, as tensions rise between the two nuclear-armed nations. The…

OTTAWA -Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney completed a comeback victory for the governing Liberals in Monday’s election, positioning himself for a global role as a champion of multilateralism against U.S. President Donald Trump’s more protectionist policies. The first person to…

ALEPPO – Moussa Hajj Khalil is among many Syrians rebuilding their homes from the rubble of the historic and economically important city of Aleppo, as Syria’s new leaders struggle to kick-start large-scale reconstruction efforts. Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city and…

Canada’s ruling Liberals held on to power in elections on Monday, but fell short of the majority government Prime Minister Mark Carney wanted to help him negotiate over tariffs with U.S. President Donald Trump. Here are some reactions to the…

The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a network based in Iran and China that it accused of procuring ballistic missile propellant ingredients on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to increase…

CAIRO/GENEVA/GAZA- It took five hours of queuing at a community kitchen in Gaza’s Nuseirat district for displaced grandmother Um Mohammad Al-Talalqa to get one meal to feed her hungry children and grandchildren. But finding food may be about to get…

VATICAN CITY- Heavy is the white mitre worn by the pope. Whoever emerges from the coming conclave as the new leader of the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church will face a myriad of problems. Among the pressing issues are a widening gap…