World News

The government of Kenya on Friday has finally deregistered the ministry of so-called pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie after the cult leader forced more than 400 members of his congregation to starve themselves to death in order to meet Jesus, Religion News Service (RNS) reports. The Kenyan government also banned four other churches on the grounds they were promoting religious extremism.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied Ukrainian involvement in the reported death of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin in a plane crash near Moscow. He spoke after Wagner vowed revenge over the death of its leader, who led a brief mutiny in June that shook Russia’s military establishment.

A unit of Russia’s nuclear power company Rosatom has begun building new reactors for Hungary’s only nuclear power plant in defiance of European Union criticism.

Russia’s Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a short-lived uprising that challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authority, has died in a plane crash near Moscow, Russian authorities confirmed.

India has become the first nation in known human history to successfully land near the Moon’s South Pole, just days after Russia’s space lander crashed into the area.

Pope Francis made a prayer appeal for war-torn Ukraine on Wednesday as authorities said three people were killed in Russian artillery fire near the eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman. The reported Russian strike came after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of hitting Moscow and other parts of the country.

Greece mourned Tuesday as eighteen bodies were found in a forested area in the north of the country hit by wildfires for the past four days.

Pakistan’s caretaker prime minister thanked all involved in the daring rescue of eight people trapped in a cable car dangling high above a valley in the north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Ancient DNA has been extracted from a 2,900-year-old clay brick, potentially unlocking new ways of studying life from generations gone by.

Russia and China will look to gain more political and economic ground in the developing world at a summit in South Africa this week, when an expected joint dose of anti-West grumbling from them may take on a sharper edge with a formal move to bring Saudi Arabia closer.

Iran’s Defense Ministry unveiled a drone on Tuesday resembling America’s armed MQ-9 Reaper, claiming that the aircraft is capable of staying airborne for 24 hours and has the range to reach the country’s archenemy Israel.

Officials from the US intelligence community have told the Washington Post that they believe Ukraine’s Spring counteroffensive against Russia’s invasion will not succeed in its principal aims. The new report by the Washington Post echoes a similar report by the Wall Street Journal published last month, according to which Western officials said they did not believe Ukraine had the necessary equipment or training to push back the Russian offensive.

Hungary’s nationalist prime minister has warned nations to “think twice” about “messing” with his country after he inked an accord to manufacture combat drones together with Israeli and German firms.

A Russian missile strike killed seven people, including a six-year-old child, in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv as people walked to church for a religious holiday, officials say.

The leaders of Hungary and Turkey, who face criticism over their perceived authoritarian style, agreed in Budapest Sunday to extend natural gas deals involving Russia despite its invasion of Ukraine.

Dutch politician Pieter Omtzigt, who helped uncover one of the biggest political and social scandals in the Netherlands since World War Two, has launched a new party ahead of November’s elections.

Russia on Sunday appeared to lose the race to be the first to successfully land on the Moon’s south pole after its unmanned Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the planet.

The Netherlands and Denmark will give F-16 warplanes to Ukraine as soon as Ukrainian crews and infrastructure are ready for the powerful US-made jets, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday.

The World Health Organization and U.S. health authorities said Friday they are closely monitoring a new variant of COVID-19, although the potential impact of BA.2.86 is currently unknown.

The Chinese military launched drills around Taiwan on Saturday as a “stern warning” over what it called collusion between “separatists and foreign forces,” its defense ministry said, days after the island’s vice president stopped over in the United States.