Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday an expanded offensive against Palestinian militant group Hamas would be "intensive" after his security cabinet approved plans that may include seizing the Gaza Strip and controlling aid.

Hype has been building on social media around the Catholic Church's secretive, centuries-old tradition of conclaves to elect a new pope, animating users from the White House on down.

The US Department of Education informed Harvard University on Monday that it was freezing billions of dollars in future research grants and other aid until the nation's oldest and wealthiest college concedes to a number of demands from the Trump administration, a senior department official said.

Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen began a three-day official visit to Jakarta on Monday with a courtesy call on President Prabowo Subianto, during which they discussed strategic bilateral cooperation and regional stability as part of Hun Sen’s effort to expand Phnom Penh’s role in Southeast Asian peace dialogues.

India took measures such as closing its airspace to Pakistan airlines, while Pakistan barred those owned or operated by its neighbour, suspended trade and halted special visas for Indians, although it let international airlines use its airspace.

It comes as the United Nations and aid organisations have repeatedly warned of the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground, with famine again looming after more than two months of a total Israeli blockade.

Rwanda has in recent years positioned itself as a destination country for migrants that Western countries would like to remove.

Instead, his audience numbers came in at half their usual level.

Like the late Argentine pope, he hails from a country far from the Catholic Church's traditional power base of Europe and came to Rome with an outsider's view.

The President said the Saudi leader had responded well to a plan to establish a speical village in Mecca for Indonesian pilgrims.

Gibran, who met Wong in November during the Singaporean Prime Minister's inaugural visit to Jakarta, said that the election win was a stronger mandate for him to lead the city state into a new chapter of development.

Prabowo and Albanese exchanged warm wishes in a jovial phone call on Sunday, with the President saying that he was delighted at Albanese’s “big win.”

The announcement comes as the White House is coming under mounting criticism over its aggressive trade policies that have seen Trump impose sweeping tariffs on countries around the globe.

Residents clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee Jodie Haydon visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and TV journalists. 

Harvard students weave through tree-lined streets and redbrick campus buildings, but beneath the veneer of daily life fear has taken root: the most prestigious university in the United States is bracing for an "assault" by President Donald Trump.

Voters have handed Singapore's long-time ruling party a landslide election victory, offering Prime Minister Lawrence Wong a clear mandate to navigate the trade-orientated Southeast Asian nation through economic upheaval sparked by looming US tariffs.

Australia’s Anthony Albanese claimed a historic second term as prime minister on Saturday in a dramatic comeback against once-resurgent conservatives that was powered by voters' concerns about the influence of US President Donald Trump.

Pakistan's military said it carried out a "training launch" of a surface-to-surface missile weapons system on Saturday, further heightening tensions with India after last month's deadly attack in disputed Kashmir.

South Korea's conservative party on Saturday named its former labor minister as its candidate for June's snap election to replace former president Yoon Suk Yeol who was ousted over his martial law declaration.

Japan's annual "Golden Week" holiday period gets into full swing Saturday, but inflation and hotel prices sent soaring by record inbound tourism have left domestic travelers less eager to pack their bags.

Firefighters have installed the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel which will emit white smoke to signal the election of a new pope as preparations proceed just five days before cardinals gather for the conclave.

The United Nations is considering a massive overhaul that would merge major departments and shift resources across the globe, according to an internal memo prepared by senior officials tasked with reforming the world body.

Millions of Australians voted Saturday in a bitterly contested general election, following a campaign shaped by living costs, climate anxiety and US President Donald Trump's tariffs.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday his administration will revoke Harvard University's tax-exempt status, returning to a threat he issued against the Massachusetts school last month as part of his wider attack on elite universities.

Singaporeans cast their votes Saturday in an election where Prime Minister Lawrence Wong faces his first major test against a rejuvenated opposition in uncertain economic times for the trade-centered nation.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, which has been tracking press freedom for the last 23 years, said its main index had fallen to its lowest-ever level.

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