AFP news

Ukraine on Monday said it had retaken seven villages and made small gains in a "tough" counter-offensive against Russian forces that France said could last months.

Markets were mixed in Asia on Tuesday, with investors awaiting the release of key US inflation data later in the day that could play a big role in the Federal Reserve's keenly anticipated interest rate decision.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed former Wall Street executive Hafize Gaye Erkan as central bank governor on Friday, signalling a possible shift from his unconventional policies to fight soaring inflation.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will make a state visit to China next week, Beijing said Friday, after China expressed readiness to help facilitate Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Fighting raged Friday in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region, a Russian official said, with observers seeing the combat as the possible start of Kyiv's long-expected offensive.

Pakistan failed to meet any economic growth targets for the fiscal year 2022-23, according to a key government report released Thursday -- a day before the new budget is to be presented to the national assembly.

Oleg Orlov, co-chair of the human rights group Memorial, went on trial in Moscow Thursday over criticism of Russia's Ukraine campaign, which could see him jailed for up to five years.

Lionel Messi has yet to put pen to paper on his impending deal with Inter Miami but already massive interest in the Argentine's move is driving huge numbers in social media, ticket sales and more.

There was no immediate confirmation from the Justice Department regarding Trump's assertion.

Stocks rallied again in Asia on Friday, fired by renewed optimism that the Federal Reserve will hold off lifting interest rates next week as fresh data indicated further tightening in the US labour market.

The Sudanese government has declared United Nations envoy Volker Perthes "persona non grata", two weeks after the army chief accused him of stoking the country's civil conflict and sought to have him removed from his post.

Huddled inside a tent in rebel-held northwestern Syria, Umm Khaled says she fears her baby will die unless she gets specialist treatment in neighbouring Turkey for a congenital heart defect.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to undermine prospects for a Palestinian state, after talks in Saudi Arabia which linked normalization to peace efforts. Blinken in a speech this week before the leading US pro-Israel group said that he would work to win recognition of the Jewish state by Saudi Arabia -- a major goal for Israel due to the kingdom's size and role as guardian of Islam's two holiest sites.

Britain's financial regulator on Thursday tightened rules over the promotion and selling of cryptocurrency as it seeks to protect consumers.

Pope Francis, 86, spent a restful night and was in good condition after a hernia operation, the Vatican said Thursday, as doctors cautioned his age and health issues could affect his recovery time.

Russia accused Ukraine at the UN's top court Thursday of destroying a key dam with artillery strikes, and alleged that Kyiv was led by neo-Nazis -- a claim Moscow has used to try to justify its invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the region flooded by the breached Kakhovka dam Thursday, as Moscow-installed authorities said five people had been killed in the disaster.

The Taliban government may have banned international NGOs from offering education to out-of-school Afghan children, UNICEF said Thursday, putting the teaching of half a million boys and girls at risk.

WhatsApp on Thursday began letting select organizations try a new feature called "Channels" that lets them broadcast to followers on the popular, Meta-owned messaging service.

Taliban-trained suicide bomber Ismail Ashuqullah regrets missing the chance to blow himself up at the height of the Afghan war -- like many other young men from the lush green Tangi Valley.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said it was "disheartening and absolutely unacceptable" that some wealthy countries had not brought their nationals home.

The destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine will have a catastrophic effect on locating landmines in the affected region, the Red Cross warned Wednesday.

Ukraine's assault against Russian positions flanking the city of Bakhmut has triggered a surge in battlefield casualties and piled pressure on frontline medics.

It is hoped Messi, who won the World Cup with his country in December, will give a massive boost to the popularity of the league and the sport in the run up to the 2026 World Cup which the US is hosing along with Mexico and Canada.

Renewed fears that the Federal Reserve will lift interest rates next week sent Asian markets into reverse Thursday, tracking losses across Wall Street and Europe, while traders were looking for measures from China to boost growth.

Along a polluted riverside, smoking charred oil drums in Mathare are cooking up chang'aa, a potent liquor that's both a scourge and a lifeline.

Bangladesh has shut thousands of schools as it struggles through its lengthiest heatwave in half a century, with widespread power cuts only compounding locals' misery.

The currency, which was propped up by the central bank before the presidential election, fell five percent to 22.77 lira per dollar at around 0645 GMT.

Eight weeks of fighting have pitted army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo -- commonly known as Hemeti -- who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).