An unprecedented blackout brought much of Spain and Portugal to a standstill Monday, stopping trains, cutting phone service and shutting down traffic lights and ATMs for millions of people across the Iberian Peninsula.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday declared a three-day ceasefire in the war with Ukraine next month to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two.

A climber airlifted with altitude sickness from near the peak of Japan's Mount Fuji last week returned to the slope and was rescued for a second time just four days later, authorities have said.

A Palestinian diplomat has told the United Nations' top court that Israel is killing and displacing civilians and targeting aid workers in Gaza, in a case that Israel has criticised as part of its "systematic persecution and delegitimisation". Israel denies deliberately targeting civilians and aid staff as part of its war with Hamas and did not attend the hearing at the International Court of Justice. In The Hague, Palestinian Ambassador to the Netherlands Ammar Hijazi accused Israel of breaching international law in the occupied territories. "Israel is starving, killing and displacing Palestinians while also targeting and blocking humanitarian organisations trying to save their lives," he told the court. The hearings are focused on a request last year from the UN General Assembly, which asked the court to weigh in on Israel's legal responsibilities after the country blocked the UN agency for Palestinian refugees from operating on its territory. In a resolution sponsored by Norway, the General Assembly requested an advisory opinion, a non-binding but legally important decision from the court, on Israel's obligations in the occupied territories to "ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population".