China and the Vatican have agreed to extend a deal on the appointment of Catholic bishops in the Asian nation by four years. Some conservative Catholics have criticized the accord for handing too much control to Beijing.

The eastern province of Guantanamo has suffered severe damage due to the storm, which made landfall on Sunday. Electricity has been restored in Havana, but many residents outside the capital remain without power.

An infection with the new mpox variant Ib has been detected for the first time in Germany. The strain has been spreading in several African countries for months.

Documents obtained by Ottawa Citizen show officials were concerned about negative media in case of Kristen Adams

Canada’s military decided not to apologize to an employee after she was sexually assaulted while working with Nato allies, over fears that any apology would be reported by an Ottawa newspaper.

For years, the country’s armed forces has publicly acknowledged a culture that bred abuse and assault, and a longstanding failure to root it out. The crisis, which prompted a shake-up at the most senior ranks, has eroded public trust in the institution and weakened morale within the military’s ranks.

Kristen Adams, who was working at a canteen for troops in Latvia, was sexually assaulted by a Nato soldier on 3 December 2022. After filing a formal complaint about the assault, she was warned by the army’s morale and welfare services that she should have better understood the risks of the job.

European Union candidate Serbia will continue to refuse to impose sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine despite Western pressure, Serbia’s leader said after his telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday.

Populist Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Instagram that he believes the call, what he said was his first in more than two years with the Russian president, will help “further development of relations and trust between Russia and Serbia.”

“We talked as people who have known each other for a long time, as friends, and the ten-minute conversation was marked by a personal note, and we also talked about those who are weak (pro-Western) leaders,” Vucic said.

Vucic quoted Putin as saying “what is good for Serbia is also good for Russia, what is good for the Serbs is also good for the Russians.”

Schools in Mexico have six months to implement a government-sponsored ban on junk food or face heavy fines, officials said Monday, as authorities confront what they call the worst childhood obesity problem in the world.

The rules, published on Sept. 30, target products that have become staples for two or three generations of Mexican school kids: sugary fruit drinks, chips, artificial pork rinds and soy-encased, salty peanuts with chili.

School administrators who violate the order will face fines equivalent to between $545 and $5,450, which could double for a second offense. That could amount to nearly a year’s wages for some.

A Chinese mercenary has shared details about North Korean soldiers allegedly killed shortly after they joined Russia's war effort in Ukraine.

The information was shared on X (formerly Twitter) by the account @whyyoutouzhele on Sunday, in a conversation between a gun-for-hire fighting alongside Russian forces, who goes by the handle "Dian Yuzhang," and a mercenary who has returned to China and goes by the name Li Dafu.

These claims emerged just days after South Korea's National Intelligence Service confirmed that North Korean troops had been training in Russia before being sent to bolster Russia's diminished forces and help contain Ukraine's counteroffensive in Russia's Kursk region.

U.S. and Canadian warships sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, almost a week after China held massive war games around Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory.

The destroyer USS Higgins and the Canadian frigate HMCS Vancouver made a "routine" transit of the Taiwan Strait meant to uphold the principle of freedom of navigation for all countries, read a statement Monday by the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet.

The U.S. Navy, occasionally joined by ships from allied countries, regularly transits the sensitive waterway separating China from Taiwan. Germany sent two warships through the Taiwan Strait last month as it seeks to increase its defense engagement in the Asia-Pacific region.

South Korea has summoned the Russian ambassador, seeking the "immediate withdrawal" of North Korean troops which it says are being trained to fight in Ukraine.

About 1,500 North Korean soldiers, including those from the special forces, have already arrived in Russia, according to Seoul's spy agency.

In a meeting with the ambassador Georgiy Zinoviev, South Korea's vice-foreign minister Kim Hong-kyun denounced the move and warned that Seoul will "respond with all measures available".

Victims of Brazil's worst environmental disaster were taking their case for compensation to a UK court on Monday, almost nine years after tons of toxic mining waste poured into a major waterway, killing 19 people and devastating local communities.

The class action lawsuit at the High Court in London seeks an estimated 36 billion pounds ($47 billion) in damages from the global mining giant BHP. That would make it the largest environmental payout ever, according to Pogust Goodhead, the law firm representing the plaintiffs.

BHP owns 50% of Samarco, the Brazilian company that operates the iron ore mine where a tailings dam ruptured on Nov. 5, 2015, releasing enough mine waste to fill 13,000 Olympic-size swimming pools into the Doce River in southeastern Brazil. The case was filed in Britain because one of BHP's two main legal entities was based in London at the time.

Princeton University, the only other North American school to do so, rolled back its commitment recently

The University of Toronto's environment school has announced it will financially dissociate from fossil fuel companies, in a landmark win for climate activists.

The institution has committed to stop taking funds from the sector for research, sponsorships, scholarships or infrastructure such as buildings. It will also halt collaborations with the industry on events and school initiatives and cease to host fossil fuel recruitment events, while working to "increase transparency about the our funding, donations, and partnerships".

The decision makes University of Toronto's School of the Environment the only academic institution in North America with a commitment to fossil fuel dissociation. Princeton University made such a commitment in 2022 but walked it back this month.

The school's decision came after months of pressure from climate advocates on and off campus.

An airport in New Zealand has limited hugging in its drop-off zone to a maximum of three minutes - with anyone wanting a longer goodbye told to head for the car park.

Dunedin International Airport, on New Zealand's South Island, announced the rule change last month as part of a broader effort to improve safety and keep traffic flowing in the zone, local media reported.

Signs have gone up informing people sending off their loved ones that the new rule is "Max hug time three minutes" or "It's hard to say goodbye so make it quick. 3 minutes max".

They replaced the previous signs which only reminded drivers that cars left unattended would risk being clamped and charged NZ$70, Stuff reported.