The White House said Monday it was "very optimistic" of a deal being reached to end the Russia-Ukraine war, as US envoy Steve Witkoff heads to Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin.

US President Donald Trump was shown to have "excellent" cardiovascular health by an MRI scan performed during a surprise October hospital visit that fueled speculation about his physical condition, his doctor said Monday.

Israeli Defence Forces on Monday said it would be good if India recognises Hamas as a terrorist group.

An oil tanker carrying diesel suffered four external explosions near Dakar, Senegal, its manager said, the third vessel with links to Russia to have been struck over the last few days.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was invited by US President Donald Trump to visit the White House "in the near future" during a phone call on Monday, his office said.

US President Donald Trump warned Israel on Monday against destabilizing Syria and its new leadership, days after a deadly operation by Israeli forces in the south of the country.

The sons of Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Imran Khan fear authorities are concealing "something irreversible" about his condition after more than three weeks with no evidence that he is still alive, one of them said.

Syria published the first print issue of the official Al Thawra Al Souriya newspaper Monday, the latest government-owned media outlet to launch since the fall of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

Amid reports of the failing health of former Bangladesh prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, her son and acting chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party Tarique Rahman has said he cannot return to the country to be by his mother's side.

Officials confirmed that the girl was completely safe and was released to her parents after a medical examination.

The 43-year-old had resigned as a Treasury minister in British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Cabinet earlier this year as the allegations of corruption against her family hit worldwide headlines.

Ukraine is gradually losing territory to Russian troops in fierce and attritional fighting in the east, with commanders and soldiers complaining that the shortage of soldiers is the main factor behind the setbacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stand on Monday for the first time since asking the country's president for a pardon in his long-running corruption trial.

South Africa, Eswatini and Zambia on Monday began administering a groundbreaking new HIV-prevention injection in the drug's first public rollouts in Africa, which has the world's highest HIV burden.

European plane-maker Airbus said Monday it had detected a "quality issue" affecting metal panels on its popular A320 passenger jet but the problem was "contained".

Revenues from sales of arms and military services by the 100 largest weapons-producing companies worldwide rose by 5.9 per cent last year, with demand boosted by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

This exercise comes shortly after Pakistan's Navy Chief Admiral Naveed Ashraf met and held talks with his Bangladesh counterpart Admiral M Nazmul Hassan.

The death count in deadly flooding and landslides across parts of Asia climbed past 1,100 on Monday as hardest-hit Sri Lanka and Indonesia deployed military personnel to help survivors.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in court on Monday for the first time since asking the country's president for a pardon in his long-running corruption trial, a move backed by close ally U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Awami League on Monday rejected the verdict by a Dhaka court against former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her family members in a case filed by the country's Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).