World

Prince Harry's lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch's British tabloid publisher over allegations of unlawful information gathering can proceed to a potential trial next year, a UK judge ruled Friday.

In one of several claims he has brought against UK newspaper publishers, Harry, 39, alleges he was repeatedly targeted by journalists and private investigators working for The Sun tabloid.

Explosions rocked Iran's central Isfahan province on Friday, according to state media, while US officials told American news outlets that Israel carried out a retaliatory strike on the Islamic republic.

The attack comes less than a week after Tehran launched a barrage of more than 300 drones and missiles in its first-ever direct assault on Israel's soil. That unprecedented onslaught was itself a reprisal for an earlier strike in Syria widely blamed on Israel.

The United States on Thursday spoiled a long-shot Palestinian bid for full United Nations membership, vetoing a Security Council measure despite growing international distress over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The move by Israel's key ally had been expected ahead of the vote, taking place more than six months into Israel's military offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory, in retaliation for the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel.

Apple has removed Meta's WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China on orders from the country's internet regulator, US media reported Friday.

Mainland China has some of the world's most extensive internet censorship, with web users unable to access everything from Google to many foreign apps without workarounds such as a virtual private network (VPN).

After a colossal 16-year restoration effort, Abel Gance's seven-hour silent classic "Napoleon" will finally return to the big screen at the Cannes Film Festival in May, organizers said Thursday.

The project to restore the epic 1927 film began in 2008 when two film researchers discovered different versions of the film in Gance's archives at the Cinematheque Francaise in Paris.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) did not contain her anger at Republicans Thursday over delays in funding aid to Ukraine.

At a House Rules Committee hearing on three foreign aid packages for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, DeLauro was asked to comment on Republicans complaining about border security even though they killed a bill that would have helped stem undocumented immigration.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) thinks he's found the perfect job for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

Axios reporter Andrew Solender has flagged an amendment that Moskowitz filed that would make Greene the official representative of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the United States.

Indonesian rescuers raced to evacuate thousands of people Thursday after a volcano erupted five times, forcing authorities to close a nearby airport and issue a warning about falling debris that could cause a tsunami.

Mount Ruang's crater flamed with lava against a backdrop of lightning bolts overnight after erupting four times on Wednesday, pushing an ash column more than a mile into the sky and forcing authorities to raise its alert level to the highest of a four-tiered system.

The United States said Wednesday it will snap back sanctions on Venezuela's crucial oil industry after President Nicolas Maduro's government continued its repression of opponents.

President Joe Biden's administration suspended some sanctions after Maduro's government and the opposition agreed in Barbados last October to hold a free and fair vote in 2024 under the watchful eye of international observers.

Sweden's parliament on Wednesday passed a controversial law lowering the minimum age to legally change gender from 18 to 16 and making it easier to get access to surgical interventions.

The law passed with 234 votes in favor and 94 against in Sweden's 349-seat parliament.

British Olympic Association chief executive Andy Anson has expressed "concerns" over the opening ceremony for the 2024 Paris Games on the river Seine after French President Emmanuel Macron said it could be moved to a stadium in the event of a security threat.

Macron, speaking on Monday, said for the first time that instead of teams sailing down the Seine on barges, the ceremony could be "limited to the Trocadero" building across the river from the Eiffel Tower or "even moved to the Stade de France".

Dubai's giant highways were clogged by flooding and its major airport was in chaos as the Middle East financial centre remained gridlocked on Wednesday, a day after the heaviest rains on record.

Tailbacks snaked along waterlogged, six-lane expressways after up to 259.5 millimeters (10.2 inches) of rain, the most since records began 75 years ago, fell on the desert United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

Terrified onlookers crouch behind a wall as lights streak across the night sky in what self-proclaimed digital investigators claimed was footage of Iranian drones over Israel. But the video is months old, repurposed to sow misinformation.

Social media sites such as X, formerly Twitter, were swamped with misrepresented visuals after Iran launched an unprecedented wave of drones and missiles toward Israel at the weekend, exacerbating Middle East tensions during an ongoing war that has already seen a flood of misinformation.