World

The political leader of Hamas was assassinated early Wednesday in what the group said was an Israeli attack on his residence in the Iranian capital of Tehran, which he was visiting to attend the inauguration of the country's newly elected president.

The killing of Ismail Haniyeh, who became the head of Hamas' political arm in 2017, sparked warnings that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing all he can to undermine cease-fire talks with the Palestinian group after they showed signs of progress in recent weeks.

After heavy rain drenched last week's opening ceremony, the Paris Olympics on Tuesday wrestled with entirely different conditions as temperatures soared to 35 degrees Celsius.

Just to add to the mix, France's meteorological service put the capital on a major storm alert, warning thunderstorms, heavy rain, hail and lightning were likely in the evening.

US pop star Taylor Swift said she was “completely in shock” after an assailant in the English town of Southport attacked children at a Swift-themed dance class. A third child died on Tuesday of injuries sustained in Monday’s knife attack as police questioned a 17-year-old suspect arrested minutes after the rampage.

A third child died on Tuesday and five others remained critically injured after a knife attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance event in a quiet seaside community in northern England, police said.

Landslides in India triggered by pounding monsoon rains struck tea plantations and killed at least 63 people Tuesday with at least 250 others rescued from mud and debris, officials said.

The southern coastal state of Kerala has been battered by torrential downpours, with blocked roads into the disaster area at Wayanad district complicating relief efforts.

The wider Paris region was put on a severe storm alert Tuesday as the city hosts the Olympic Games, with heavy rain, strong thunderstorms, hail and lightning forecast from 6pm, France's weather service announced.

France's meteorological service on Tuesday put Paris and its surrounding suburbs on a major storm alert as the city hosts the Olympic Games.

Some gods grant riches and others good luck, but one deity in India offers a much less nebulous fortune to his devotees: tickets to a new life in the United States.

More than 1,000 Hindu faithful visit the Chilkur Balaji temple each day in the belief that the divine presence inside can bless worshippers with a successful visa application.

Fresh demonstrations were expected in Venezuela Tuesday after one person died when security forces tried to break up protests triggered by a hotly disputed election result that gave Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro a third term in power.

Security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets Monday at angry protesters challenging the reelection victory claimed by Maduro but disputed by the opposition and questioned by many other countries.

France was on Monday probing the possible involvement of ultra-left movements in attacks that paralyzed the rail network at the start of the Olympic Games, as new sabotage acts affected fiber optic cables in several areas.

With the government vigilant over the risk of more such attacks during the Games, French authorities on Sunday arrested an activist from an ultra-left movement at a site belonging to national rail operator SNCF.

Olympic organizers cancelled a second day of triathlon training in the River Seine planned for Monday after weekend downpours in Paris polluted the waterway, but said they were "confident" the medal events would be held this week.

In a joint statement, Paris 2024 organizers and World Triathlon said they had taken the decision to cancel Monday's swimming training session because "water quality levels... do not present sufficient guarantees" to allow it to take place.

Hundreds of people are living submerged in floodwater in the suburbs of Hanoi, a week after torrential rains in northern Vietnam caused rivers to overflow their banks.

Residents of Ben Voi village -- around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from central Hanoi –- are travelling through the streets by boat and sleeping in homes partially inundated by muddy water.

Tributes poured in on Sunday for Edna O'Brien, the radical Irish writer whose groundbreaking first novel "The Country Girls" was burned and banned in her native country, after her death at 93.

"She died peacefully on Saturday 27 July after a long illness," said a statement from her publishers Faber Books posted on X, formerly Twitter.

The United States and Japan issued scathing verbal attacks on China and Russia on Sunday after high-level discussions on enhancing already close defense collaboration between Tokyo and Washington in an increasingly unstable region.

A joint statement issued after "2+2" talks in Tokyo between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and their Japanese counterparts said China's "foreign policy seeks to reshape the international order for its own benefit at the expense of others".

She will say this occurred through "a series of unfunded promises" and that the Tories then "covered up the true state of the public finances," according to the finance ministry.