Palestinians were able to use the Erez crossing point between the Gaza Strip and Israel on Monday for the first time since it was closed over a week ago due to recent protests and clashes along the frontier of the blockaded territory.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said the European Union (EU) should take its security and defence projects into its own hands and become less reliant on the US.

The President of Zimbabwe took the oath of office on Sunday, calling for unity following a disputed election that the opposition claimed was marred by fraud.

The Pakistan government has banned VIP protocol given by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to influential people at airports across the country, the media reported on Monday.

Four people were killed in a shooting on Sunday in a mall in Jacksonville, Florida, media reports said. Eleven people were wounded by the gunfire, of whom four have died, Efe reported.

 John McCain, a proud naval aviator who survived years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and going on to become a Republican congressman, senator from Arizona and a two-time contender for presidency, has died after a battle with a malignant brain tumour. He was 81.

The US and its allies are planning to carry out new missile strikes on Syria on the pretext of a provocation that the Syrian government is behind a "chemical attack," the Russian Defence Ministry has said.

At least two people were killed and 100 others injured when a 5.9-magnitude earthquake jolted Iran's Kermanshah province on Sunday, authorities said.