A widespread Microsoft outage was disrupting flights, banks, media outlets and companies around the world on Friday.

Escalating disruptions continued hours after the technology company said it was gradually fixing an issue affecting access to Microsoft 365 apps and services.

As President Joe Biden faces a growing drumbeat of pressure to drop his reelection bid, a majority of Democrats think his vice president would make a good president herself.

A new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 6 in 10 Democrats believe Kamala Harris would do a good job in the top slot. About 2 in 10 Democrats don't believe she would, and another 2 in 10 say they don't know enough to say.

Critical days ahead, President Joe Biden is facing the stark reality that many Democrats at the highest levels want him to consider how stepping aside from the 2024 election to make way for a new nominee atop the ticket could be the party's best chance of preventing widespread losses in November.

Isolated as he battles a COVID infection at his beach house in Delaware, Biden's already small circle of confidants before his debate fumbling has downsized further. The president, who has insisted he can beat Republican Donald Trump, is with family and relying on a few longtime aides as he weighs whether to bow to the mounting pressure to drop out.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has promised to bring an end to raging international crises and restore American prestige on the world stage, saying he could "stop wars with a telephone call."

EU lawmakers on Thursday handed Ursula von der Leyen another five-year term as European Commission president during their first parliamentary session since June elections.

Von der Leyen won with the support of 401 MEPs in the 720-seat chamber -- comfortably over the 361-vote majority she needed to remain head of the EU's executive body. There were 284 who voted against in the secret ballot.

Leaders from across Europe gather at an English country mansion on Thursday for a summit clouded by worries about whether the United States would remain a reliable ally if Donald Trump secures a second presidency.

Newly elected U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is welcoming some 45 heads of government to discuss migration, energy security and the threat from Russia as he seeks to restore relations between the U.K. and its European Union neighbors, four years after their acrimonious divorce.

In a relative rarity for presidential elections, both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have long records on foreign policy and clearly stated positions on many of the world's hot spots.

Trump's allies at the Republican National Convention are expected to argue that Biden has weakened America's standing abroad and permitted the outbreak of conflicts between Russia and Ukraine as well as the Israelis and Palestinians. Biden, a Democrat who ran four years ago on a message of shoring up America's foreign alliances and reversing Trump policies, argues that he has restored U.S. standing abroad.

A fire that broke out overnight at a residential building in a working-class neighborhood of the southern French city of Nice killed seven people, firefighters said early Thursday.

Rescuers were alerted at around 2:30 am (0030 GMT) to the blaze in Les Moulins, the cause of which is still unknown. In spite of the substantial resources deployed, "unfortunately seven people died during this fire", rescuers said.

Iran on Wednesday rejected what it called "malicious" accusations by U.S. media implicating it in a plot to kill former U.S. president Donald Trump.

President Emmanuel Macron will on Tuesday accept the resignation of the French government, but ask Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to head up a temporary caretaker administration, cabinet sources told AFP.

French politics have been in gridlock since this month's inconclusive snap election with parties in the National Assembly scrambling to put together a governing coalition.