Israeli tanks have pushed into southern and eastern districts of the Gazan city of Deir al-Balah for the first time, where Israeli sources say the military believes hostages may be held.
Britain has launched a new sanctions regime targeting people-smuggling gangs and their enablers in what the government says is the first move of its kind globally.
New Zealand has joined 24 other countries in calling for an end to the war in Gaza, and criticising what they call the inhumane killing of Palestinians.
China says construction has begun on what will be the world's largest hydropower dam, on the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau, at an estimated cost of at least $US170b.
Residents reported calm in Syria's Sweida after the Islamist-led government announced that Bedouin fighters had withdrawn from the predominantly Druze city.
At least 67 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire as they waited for UN aid trucks in northern Gaza, as Israel issued new evacuation orders for areas packed with displaced people.
Sectarian clashes have escalated in Syria's Druze region of Sweida, with machinegun fire and mortar shelling ringing out as the Islamist-led govt struggles to implement a ceasefire.
The chief executive of an American IT company captured in a widely circulated video showing him embracing an employee at a Coldplay concert has resigned.
Authorities in Australia fear the number of hospital contacts could grow as they trace health staff after a rare strain of mpox was detected in an overseas traveller.
US President Donald Trump is suing Rupert Murdoch's WSJ, seeking billions in damages, over a report that Trump sent sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a bawdy birthday greeting.
Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire, the US envoy to Turkey says, after days of bloodshed in the predominantly Druze area that has killed over 300 people.
"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," the most-watched late-night program on US television and a frequent platform of satire aimed at President Trump, will end its 10-year run.