World news

World news

Barrack also renewed US backing for an agreement signed on January 18 between the Syrian government and the SDF on integrating the Kurdish-led forces into state institutions, as part of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's push to unify Syria. Disagreement over how such integration would work had led to recent bouts of conflict between the government and the SDF, which had sought continued autonomy for some Kurdish-majority areas.

Syrian transitional government troops and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had been fighting for weeks in northern Syria. On Tuesday evening, the announcement of a four-day ceasefire restored a measure of calm. SDF fighters were close allies of the international coalition battling the extremist "Islamic State,&quot, or IS, group in Syria and managed to take control of strategically important areas in Syria during 14 years of civil war. Recent clashes with Syrian government troops has pushed them out of these areas.

Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said that authorities arrested the man known as "El Botox," allegedly responsible for extorting lime growers and for various homicides, including the killing of agricultural leader Bernardo Bravo. A Michoacan state official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, confirmed the suspect's full name was César Alejandro Sepúlveda Arellano, leader of a group known as the White Trojans, or Blancos de Troya. The group is known to work with Los Viagras, a criminal organization allied with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

"My view is, 'Don't put your head in the sand.' It is what it is. We're going to deploy it. Will it eliminate jobs? Yes. Will it change jobs? Yes. Will it add some jobs? Probably. It is what it is," said Dimon. "However, I do think it may go too fast for society. And if it goes too fast for society, that's where government and business in a collaborative [need to] way step in together and come up with a way to retrain people or move it over time."

Memorial services will be held at the Sydney Opera House and Bondi's Chabad House, a Jewish community centre. Most of the 15 victims of the attack were Jewish, including a 10-year-old child. The theme of the memorials is Light will win, and the government will stage light installations in the capital of Canberra and other cities featuring pillars of light for each of the 15 victims.

Capitalizing on the inaction of the international community, which failed to apply meaningful pressure on Israel to halt its genocidal war in Gaza, the Israeli state has fast-tracked its efforts to carve up the West Bank through land grabs, home demolitions, and the mass expulsion of Palestinians. The purpose of the E1 project has always been clear; as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said last August, it is intended to "bury the idea of a Palestinian state."

Speaking before the US president's backdown on his threats to take control of Greenland by any means necessary, Carney told assembled leaders it was time to recognise the brutal reality where geopolitics among the great powers is not subject to any constraints. Stop invoking rules-based international order as though it still functions as advertised. Call it what it is: a system of intensifying great power rivalry where the most powerful pursue their interests using economic integration as coercion.

The deaths from a fire in a mall in Pakistan's Karachi have risen to at least 50 as firefighters recovered more bodies from the debris of the charred building. "We have found 20 to 25 dead bodies, or you call them remains," Deputy Commissioner Javed Nabi Khoso told the media on Wednesday. The Gul Plaza mall in Karachi the country's biggest city caught fire late on Saturday. The blaze raged on for more than 24 hours before it could be doused.

According to the UN, more than 1,800 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians about five per day were documented in 2025. Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has approved the issuance of gun licences to Israelis in 18 additional illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, as the right-wing government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushes to expand illegal outposts that undermine prospects for a two-state solution.

Some 182,000 Kurds living in Iraqi Kurdistan were killed in 1988 by chemical weapons launched by Saddam Hussein's regime in a series of attacks known as the Anfal campaign. That campaign included chemical attacks on Halabja, a village on the Iraq-Iran border, and other communities. Five thousand people are estimated to have died in Halabja. They were the victims of sarin and VX nerve agents, and mustard gas.

The prime minister said the day was about remembering the 15 victims of the 14 December attack, which he called a stain on our nation. It's an opportunity for us as a nation to wrap our arms around the Jewish community because people were targeted because they were Jewish Australians. Every Jewish Australian felt that very deeply that evening, and ever since as well, he said on Thursday. Today, we share their grief. A grief with no ending, only a beginning.

And yes, it is true, the Russians have lost in December 1,000 people dead-not seriously wounded, dead-a day. That's over 30,000 in the month of December. In the 1980s in Afghanistan, the Soviets lost 20,000 in 10 years. Now they (Russia - ed.) lose 30,000 in one month.

Peru's interim president, Jose Jeri, has denied lying to the country and claimed he was the victim of a plot to discredit him amid a growing political scandal over his secretive meetings with Chinese businessmen. Jeri, 39, who took office in October after his predecessor Dina Boluarte was forced out, told a congressional oversight committee on Wednesday that he had been the target of a smear campaign designed to destabilise the country ahead of elections in April.

A young Filipino journalist who spent nearly six years in a crowded provincial prison was found guilty of terror financing on Thursday, in a case rights groups and a UN rapporteur labelled a travesty of justice. Community journalist and radio broadcaster Frenchie Cumpio, 26, and former roommate Marielle Domequil broke down in tears and hugged each other as the guilty verdict was read and they were sentenced to 12-18 years in prison by judge Georgina Uy Perez of the Tacloban regional court.

Gold remained close to historic highs on Thursday. Caution dominates despite a slight easing in geopolitical tensions between the US and Europe. While some uncertainty has been reduced over the near-term, sentiment remains in check, keeping demand for defensive assets elevated. US President Donald Trump stepped back from previously announced tariff threats against several European countries following discussions with NATO leadership. The shift points to a tentative diplomatic understanding around Greenland's future.