In a surprise move Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II has announced she will abdicate her role early in 2024, after a reign lasting more than five decades. Margrethe, 83, will hand over the throne to her son, Crown Prince Frederik, she said in her traditional New Year’s Eve

Chinese President Xi Jinping, in his annual New Year's Eve address, reiterated his claim that Taiwan would "surely be reunified" with China. His message comes ahead of Taiwan's crucial 13 January elections that will determine the island's cross-strait policy for

A total of 42,851 people have died from gun-related events in the U.S. this year, including 18,761 who died by homicide, murder or an unintentional shooting, plus another 24,090 who died by suicide. The October 25 mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, is the deadliest shooting of the year

Jubilant crowds will bid farewell to the hottest year on record Sunday, closing a turbulent 12 months marked by clever chatbots, climate crises and wrenching wars in Gaza and Ukraine. The world’s population — now over eight billion — will see out the old and usher in

Many displaced Gazans are living "in the open, in the parks," Juliette Touma of the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said. According to the UN's humanitarian office (OCHA), at least 100,000 people have fled to Rafah - which borders Egypt in Gaza's

UN peacekeepers are finishing their withdrawal from Mali on Sunday, after a long-running mission lasting a decade. Minusma - the Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission - began in 2013 after an armed rebellion, but has been asked to leave by the country's ruling military

Ukraine is again under attack by Russian drones, officials say, after two days of major aerial assaults by both sides. There are reports of explosions in Kyiv and Kharkiv, where the mayor said residential buildings were on fire. Moscow has been retaliating against Ukrainian strikes

The Centre, the Assam government and a key faction of Assam’s oldest insurgent group signed a tripartite peace agreement on Friday, with Union home minister Amit Shah describing the pact as a watershed that will end decades of violence in the restive northeastern state and usher in

At least 30 people have been killed in what Ukraine says is Russia's biggest missile bombardment of the war so far. More than 160 people were injured as Russia hit Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv and Lviv in the early hours of Friday morning. Russia "used nearly every

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths says “attack on humanitarian workers are unlawful” after UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) said Israelis opened fire on aid convoy travelling on an authorised route. South Africa has initiated war crimes proceedings

South Africa has filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing it of crimes of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza after nearly three months of relentless Israeli bombardment has killed more than 21,500 people and caused widespread destruction in the

Across the Middle East, Gaza's deadliest-ever war is casting a shadow over the countdown to the New Year.  It follows muted Christmas celebrations among Christian communities across the occupied Palestinian territories, southern Lebanon and Syria. Authorities in Sharjah,

A plane crash in Nepal that killed 72 people, including two infants, was most probably the result of its pilots mistakenly cutting the power, said a report by government-appointed investigators. This caused a loss of thrust that led to an "aerodynamic stall". The Yeti

An American warship shot down a drone and an anti-ship ballistic missile fired Thursday by Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels, the US military said. The Huthis have repeatedly targeted vessels in the vital Red Sea shipping lane with strikes they say are in support of Palestinians in

Syrian state media reported Israeli attacks near the capital Damascus on Thursday. “Our air defense are intercepting hostile targets in the vicinity of Damascus,” official news agency SANA said. “An Israeli attack targeted the vicinity of the capital

An earthquake of magnitude 6.3 on the Richter scale occurred in Japan's Kuril Islands on 27 December, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) informed. According to the NCS, the earthquake occurred at around 2.45 pm IST at a depth of 10 km. The epicentre of the earthquake was

Hundreds of students stormed a temporary shelter for Rohingya in Indonesia’s western Aceh province on Wednesday demanding they be deported, in an escalation of the campaign against the refugees, a U.N. agency and local media reported. The protesters then evicted the 137 shaken-up

Former European Commission President Jacques Delors - described as the architect of the modern EU - has died aged 98, his daughter says. He helped create the single market allowing the free movement of people, goods and services within the bloc. Serving from 1985 to 1995, Delors

Russia has said the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East is a result of the longstanding failures of US foreign policy and called for the establishment of a Palestinian state. In his comments to TASS news agency, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for de-escalation of the

Europe’s efforts to boost arms production and help Ukraine to fend off Russia’s invasion are facing an unexpected obstacle in a German local government. The city council in Troisdorf, which has a population close to 80,000, has for the time being blocked plans put forward