Israel launched an attack on the Lebanese capital, Beirut, for the first time since a ceasefire ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November. 

Associated Press reporters in Beirut heard a loud boom and witnessed smoke rising from the area in Beirut’s southern suburbs that Israel’s military had vowed to strike. 

The attack was the first strike on Beirut since a ceasefire took hold on November 27, 2024, between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, although Israel has struck targets in southern Lebanon almost daily since then. 

Israel's parliament passed a law expanding elected officials' power to appoint judges, defying a years-long movement against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's contentious judicial reforms that saw massive street protests. 

The approval comes as Netanyahu's government, one of the most right-wing in Israel's history, is locked in a standoff with the supreme court after beginning proceedings to dismiss Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Ronen Bar, head of the internal security agency. 

An Algerian court sentenced French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal on Thursday to five years in jail for undermining national unity, drawing an expression of “regret” from France, which called for a swift and dignified end to the situation. Sansal has been detained in Algeria since November, spending time in hospital for ill-health, and French authorities as well as fellow writers have repeatedly called for his release. 

The detention of South Sudan's First Vice President Riek Machar has effectively collapsed the peace deal that ended the 2013-2018 civil war, his party said.  

The UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) called for restraint, saying the country stood on the brink of relapsing into widespread conflict. 

"This will not only devastate South Sudan but also affect the entire region," UNMISS said in a statement. 

The Sudanese army shelled parts of Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, residents said, after declaring victory over their paramilitary rivals Rapid Support Forces (RSF)in a two-year battle for the capital. 

The army ousted the RSF from its last footholds in Khartoum, but the RSF holds some areas in Omdurman, directly across the Nile River, and has consolidated in west Sudan, splitting the nation into rival zones. 

Khartoum residents expressed delight that fighting was over for the first time since it erupted in April 2023. 

A panel of Brazil Supreme Court justices unanimously ruled that former President Jair Bolsonaro and seven of his associates will stand trial on five counts, including attempting to stage a coup after the far-right leader lost the 2022 election. 

The panel will review existing evidence, potentially gather new evidence and hear testimonies. Legal experts estimate that Bolsonaro could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison, though his actual jail time—if convicted—would be less than that due to procedural considerations. 

Thousands of Palestinians marched between the wreckage of a heavily destroyed town in northern Gaza in the second day of anti-war protests, with many chanting against Hamas in a rare display of public anger against the militant group. 

A prominent human rights group said that rebel groups in Colombia committed “grave abuses” against civilians as they fight for control of the Catatumbo, a resource-rich region along Colombia’s border with Venezuela. 

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip killed at least 23 Palestinians, local health officials said, as the Israeli military expanded evacuation orders to tens of thousands of residents across the enclave. 

The Israeli military resumed its campaign against Hamas in Gaza a week ago, shattering a two-month ceasefire. Since then, nearly 700 people, mostly women and children, have been killed, Palestinian health officials say. 

South Sudan is on the brink of a renewed civil war as violence between rival factions escalates, the United Nations has warned. 

The situation in the country is “dire” said Nicholas Haysom, head of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), as tension between forces allied with President Salva Kiir and those of Vice President Riek Machar continues to build.