International from Friday, January 17th, 2025

The US Supreme Court upheld on Friday a law banning TikTok in the United States on national security grounds if its Chinese parent company ByteDance does not sell the short-video app by Sunday.

A Russian missile attack killed at least four people and damaged an educational facility in the city of Kryvyi Rih in southern-central Ukraine on Friday, the regional governor said.

The Palestinian group Hamas is expected to release the first hostages under a Gaza ceasefire deal on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday, after 15 months of war that demolished the enclave.

Pakistan launched its first home-made observation satellite on Friday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northern China.

A Pakistani court sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan to 14 years imprisonment on Friday in a land corruption case, a setback to talks between his party and the government aimed at cooling political instability in the country.

A SpaceX Starship rocket broke up in space minutes after launching from Texas on Thursday, forcing airline flights over the Gulf of Mexico to alter course to avoid falling debris and setting back Elon Musk's flagship rocket programme.

The Israeli cabinet will meet to give final approval to a deal with Palestinian group Hamas for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and release of hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday.

The Gaza Strip ceasefire should begin on Sunday as planned, despite the need for negotiators to tie up a "loose end" at the last minute, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday.