AFP news

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Saturday that his visit to Kyiv on the first day of Spain's EU presidency showed the bloc's "unequivocal" commitment to Ukraine's bid to join the 27-nation bloc.

Elon Musk announced Saturday that Twitter would temporarily restrict how many tweets users could read per day, in a move meant to tamp down on the use of the site's data by artificial intelligence companies.

Russia's war in Ukraine has had a "corrosive" effect on Russian President Vladimir Putin, CIA Director William Burns said Saturday, with discontent over the conflict creating a "once-in-a generation opportunity" for the spy agency.

US President Joe Biden will head to Europe in a week for a three-nation trip, including a NATO summit, focused on reinforcing the international coalition backing Ukraine as it pursues a counteroffensive against Russia.

Nestle is stepping up its project to combat deforestation in Ivory Coast caused by the growth of cocoa farming, bringing cocoa trading companies directly on board.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked French leader Emmanuel Macron for sending light combat tanks to Kyiv, and Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov was filmed riding in one.

Fierce fighting between the forces of rival generals shook the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Sunday as disease and malnutrition threatened the rising number of displaced. Since April 15, the war between Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has killed nearly 3,000 people and displaced 2.2 million within the country, with another 645,000 fleeing across borders, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Ukraine said on Sunday that Russian troops were advancing in four areas in the east of the country amid "fierce fighting" but reported its forces moving forward in the south.

Data showing inflation easing further boosted Asian markets Monday, fuelled by hopes central banks could be nearing the end of their interest rate hiking cycle.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said Friday that the government was considering "all options" to restore order, including declaring a state of emergency, after a third night of rioting over a police officer's killing of a youth.

Hoping to escape a dire economy and bleak prospects, Egyptians are increasingly attempting the perilous sea crossing to Europe that this month claimed dozens of lives in a shipwreck off Greece.

Some 64 flights were cancelled at Geneva's international airport on Friday, it said, after operations were halted for four hours because of a strike by workers at the start of the busy summer travel season.

An Indian court on Friday fined Twitter $61,000 after dismissing its plea challenging orders to remove tweets and accounts critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

Pakistan could get temporary relief for its ballooning foreign debt with a new stand-by arrangement worth $3 billion announced by the IMF in Washington on Thursday.

Thousands of people on Thursday took to the streets of a Paris suburb to remember a French teen killed by police during a traffic stop, with protesters led by his mother as anger showed no sign of abating.

The Kremlin said Thursday that footage, which could not be verified, apparently showing President Vladimir Putin greeting adoring supporters proved that he has "astounding" support after quelling an armed insurrection.

Mykyta lay in a hospital bed with cuts from shrapnel on his face and body after a Russian missile hit the restaurant where he was having dinner in Ukraine's eastern city of Kramatorsk.

Kyiv said Thursday its forces were gaining ground in Donbas, as Moscow claimed it had killed two generals in a missile strike earlier this week -- the same day strikes on a restaurant in east Ukraine killed at least 12 people.

The UK government on Thursday hailed a decision by ChatGPT creator OpenAI to open its first office outside the United States in London.

At a march for the French teen killed by police during a traffic stop earlier this week, protesters described simmering anger in the community over security forces that are widely perceived as aggressive and racist.

Striking workers at Spirit Aerosystems, a key Boeing supplier, will return to the factory after approving an enhanced four-year labor contract, the union said Thursday.

The European Union warned Thursday that Russia has become more dangerous after a brief mutiny by its Wagner mercenaries that the bloc said exposed President Vladimir Putin as weaker than previously thought.

The UN General Assembly on Thursday created an independent body to "clarify" the fate of thousands of people who remain missing in Syria since war broke out in 2011, overriding objections from Damascus. "This draft clearly reflects flagrant interference in our internal affairs and provides new evidence of the hostile approach being pursued by certain Western States against Syria," ambassador Bassam Sabbagh said, pointing in particular to the United States.

Asian markets fluctuated Friday as more forecast-beating data reinforced the US economy's resilience despite surging interest rates but piled further pressure on the Federal Reserve to keep hiking to tame inflation.

Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations on Thursday condemned the burning of the Koran by an Iraqi living in Sweden, warning such acts "inflame" the feelings of Muslims around the world.

France's civil air authority said Thursday it had ordered airlines to cancel flights to and from three airports because of a strike by air traffic controllers.

Ten years ago, Egypt's then-defence minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi rallied citizens by promising to move the country out of the "terrorist" shadow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Many masterpieces of Iraqi painting were looted or destroyed during the years of war, but now the country's artistic heritage faces another threat: rampant counterfeiting and illicit trafficking.

Saudi authorities were investigating Thursday after an assailant and a security guard were killed in an exchange of gunfire outside the US consulate in Jeddah, the gateway city for the massive hajj pilgrimage taking place in Mecca.