Syrian couturier Rami Al Ali made history Thursday as the first fashion designer from his country to feature in the official Paris Haute Couture Week calendar in a new landmark for Arab representation in the luxury business.
After years of showing his tailored evening dresses on the sidelines of Couture Week, he was invited this year by France's Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode to join the programme.
A UK parliamentary committee on Thursday blamed Iran for at least 15 attempts to kill or kidnap British-based individuals since 2022, saying the threat from Iran had "significantly increased".
London's response has been too focused on "crisis management", said parliament's intelligence and security committee, with concerns over Iran's nuclear programme dominating their attention too much.
Tehran swiftly issued a "categorical rejection of the unfounded, politically motivated and hostile allegations".
Israel is ready to negotiate a lasting deal with Hamas to end the Gaza war when a temporary halt to hostilities begins, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.
But Netanyahu said the Islamist militants must first give up their weapons and their hold on the Palestinian territory, warning that failure to reach a deal on Israel's terms would lead to further conflict.
Ten people have been rescued after Yemen's Huthis sank a cargo ship, an EU naval force said Thursday, with three killed and 12 missing in one of the rebel group's deadliest Red Sea attacks.
Three Filipino crew and a Greek member of the Eternity C ship's onboard security team were plucked from the sea overnight, "bringing the total number of those rescued to 10", the European Union's Operation Aspides naval task force posted on X.
The halt to US foreign aid is a "ticking time bomb" that could reverse decades of hard-fought gains in the fight against AIDS, the United Nations warned Thursday.
Around 31.6 million people were on antiretroviral drugs in 2024 and deaths from AIDS-related illnesses had more than halved since 2010 to 630,000 that year, the UNAIDS agency said in a new report.
But now infections were likely to shoot up as funding cuts have shuttered prevention and treatment programmes, it said.
Gaza's civil defence agency said eight children -- killed as they queued for nutritional supplements outside a health clinic -- were among 66 people who died in Israeli strikes on the Palestinian territory Thursday.
The agency said the children were among 17 victims in a strike on Deir el-Balah.
According to the UN children's agency, the dead included a one-year-old boy whose mother said he had spoken his first words just hours earlier. The mother was critically injured, UNICEF added.
At the end of a dusty road in southern Israel, beyond a Bedouin village of unfinished houses and the shiny dome of a mosque, a field of solar panels gleams in the hot desert sun.
Tirabin al-Sana in Israel's Negev desert is the home of the Tirabin (also spelled Tarabin) Bedouin tribe, who signed a contract with an Israeli solar energy company to build the installation.
The deal has helped provide jobs for the community as well as promote cleaner, cheaper energy for the country, as the power produced is pumped into the national grid.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday announced Washington was sanctioning the United Nations special expert on the Palestinian territories, following her criticism of Washington policy on Gaza.
"Today I am imposing sanctions on UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt (International Criminal Court) action against US and Israeli officials, companies, and executives," Rubio said on social media.
Benjamin Netanyahu might have expected better headlines on Wednesday from his high-profile talks with Donald Trump in Washington, as the US president pushes for an end to the Gaza war.
But instead of plaudits, the Israeli prime minister faced mounting pressure to quickly wrap up the conflict back home, after five soldiers were killed in an ambush this week in the embattled Palestinian territory.
Monday night's losses came as Netanyahu was on an official visit to the United States to discuss a ceasefire and hostage release deal with Trump.
As well as being optimistic about the future of his war-ravaged country, Rami Al Ali has other reasons to be upbeat: he is about to become the first Syrian fashion designer to show his work at Paris Haute Couture Week.
The invitation to appear on the world's most prestigious fashion stage is a huge endorsement for the 53-year-old from the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor who turned to design after a childhood admiring his architect father's drawings.
