AFP news

World oil prices sank Monday as traders hoped a region-wide conflict could still be avoided and Israel said its forces killed dozens of Hamas militants in clashes in Gaza.

More than 10,000 Afghans living in Pakistan rushed to the borders on Tuesday, just hours before a deadline for 1.7 million people to leave Pakistan voluntarily or face arrest and deportation.

Israel's United Nations ambassador displayed a yellow star on his chest Monday as he addressed the Security Council, provocatively pledging to wear the badge until members of the body condemn Hamas "atrocities".

Repeated attacks on American troops in the Middle East risk drawing the United States into a conflict with Iran even as Washington strives to prevent fighting between Israel and Hamas from spiraling into a regional war.

Israeli troops pushed deeper into Gaza Tuesday, driving tanks and armoured bulldozers through the rubble of shattered buildings, scouring for Hamas militants who carried out the worst attack in the country's history.

In a muddy wetland in Oman's capital, environmental scientist Zakiya al-Afifi measures the bark of a mangrove tree, estimating its capacity to absorb the carbon dioxide that is slowly heating the planet.

The Emirati oil boss preparing to take the helm of UN climate talks said he is stunned to hear that environmentalists suspect him of duplicity on climate change.

A Turkish court on Wednesday rejected a prosecutor's attempts to shut down a leading anti-femicide campaign group on charges of violating administrative laws and "morality".

Oil cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia will cause a "significant" global supply shortfall through the end of the year, raising the risk of further market volatility, the International Energy Agency said Wednesday.

Dozens of people died in a fire at an apartment block in Vietnam's capital Hanoi, state media said Wednesday, with witnesses reporting screams from inside and a small child was thrown from the building.

President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un arrived at the Vostochny Cosmodrome Wednesday, Russian agencies said, set for rare talks that could lead to a weapons deal the United States has warned would violate international sanctions.

Iran has imposed curbs on the internet in the year since protests erupted over Mahsa Amini's death, forcing people to find other ways to run their businesses or keep in touch with loved ones.

Natural disasters are now happening so frequently that reinsurers -- the firms that sell insurance to insurance companies -- are scaling back their exposure to such risks.

Did banking giant UBS make "the deal of the century" when it bought one of the world's biggest banks for a pittance as it teetered on the edge of the abyss?

Equities fluctuated Wednesday ahead of a crunch US inflation report, with investors increasingly nervous that a recent spike in oil will put fresh upward pressure on consumer prices and force the Federal Reserve to lift interest rates again.

With France slowly weaning itself off its traditional obsession with meat, the top chefs in charge of feeding the sporting masses at the 2024 Olympic Games are emphasising a more vegetarian approach.

Libya's devastated eastern city of Derna was counting its dead on Wednesday with the toll from the floodwaters unleashed by Storm Daniel expected to rise even further.

Armed groups from northern Mali on Tuesday claimed they captured the key town of Bourem, between Gao and Timbuktu, before pulling out, fuelling fears of the collapse of a peace deal between the ex-rebels and government forces.

As colder weather sets in, Covid rates are once more rising across the Northern Hemisphere, with several new variants on the scene.

The powerful quake last Friday killed more than 2,900 people, most of them in remote villages of the High Atlas Mountains.

French regulators on Tuesday ordered Apple to halt sales of the iPhone 12 for emitting too much electromagnetic radiation, and to fix existing handsets.

A top senator on Tuesday urged the United States to impose sanctions on Azerbaijan's leader, accusing him of starting a campaign of "genocide" against an ethnic Armenian enclave, charges rejected by Baku.

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, bowing to pressure from his party's hard right, gave the go-ahead on Tuesday for an impeachment investigation into US President Joe Biden.

NATO member Romania announced Tuesday that it has begun building air-raid shelters for residents near the Ukraine border, after drone fragments were found there last week.

The construction sector -- the most polluting and difficult to decarbonise -- must build less, use more sustainable materials and clean up conventional ones to slash its emissions, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

In the cluttered basement of a residential building outside Moscow, 81-year-old Raisa carefully attached plastic strips to a camouflage net stretched over a wooden stand in front of her.

The head of UK anti-monarchy group Republic said on Tuesday he was suing police for wrongful arrest before King Charles III's coronation.

When Apple unveils its latest iPhone on Tuesday, the European Union will have left its mark on the US giant's flagship product.

The shelters popping up in tent cities and beside destroyed or dangerously damaged homes show that aid is starting to flow, but also leave survivors unsure how long these temporary structures will be home.