AFP news

Saqafi and his friends bristle at European media suggestions that they are "fake fans" but readily acknowledge that they buy counterfeit team shirts for $3 or less, instead of the $90 which official kit costs.

Demonstrators in Kurdish-controlled Qamishli, in Hasakeh province, brandished photos of people killed during recent strikes in the semi-autonomous region, an AFP correspondent said.

The diminutive superstar with magic in his boots insisted he was in fine shape physically ahead of his last World Cup.

Millions of Ukrainians spent Thursday without power, after Russia launched attack drones at water and electricity facilities across the country.

Power cuts and trench foot: winter bites on Ukraine's Donbas front

The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 upturned global energy markets, sending prices soaring and confronting Europe with the possibility of shortages over the winter.

Voria Ghafouri, an outspoken figure who appeared 28 times for Iran up until 2019, was arrested after a club training session over accusations that he spread "propaganda" against the Islamic republic, the Fars news agency reported.

The Greek coastguard said the migrants were safe and that the fishing boat had sent a distress call after midnight on Monday.

The special session on Iran's "deteriorating human rights situation" is due to kick off at 10:00 am (0900 GMT) in Geneva.

Ankara launched a campaign of air strikes across parts of Iraq and Syria on Sunday as part of Operation Claw-Sword, following a bombing in Istanbul on November 13 that killed six people.

The shallow tremor struck about 170 kilometres (105 miles) east of Istanbul, the country's largest city, according to the US Geological Survey.

The OSCE said on Monday that Sunday's snap election lacked "competitiveness" and showed the need for reforms.

Chinese technology majors have struggled in recent months amid an economic slowdown, Covid-19 curbs that have hammered consumer sentiment, and tighter regulatory scrutiny.

Fresh Turkey strikes in Syria as Erdogan vows ground operation 'soon'

The Ural and the Yakutia are part of a fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers that are meant to ensure Moscow's dominance over the melting Arctic.

The allegations are the latest point of tension over energy deliveries between Kyiv, European capitals and Moscow, which has reduced consignments to Europe in response to Western sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine.

An atomic bomb requires uranium enriched to 90 percent, so 60 percent is a significant step towards weapons-grade enrichment.

Harris is the highest-ranking US official ever to visit the western island of Palawan, the closest Philippine landmass to the Spratly archipelago in the hotly contested South China Sea.

The Norway-based Hengaw rights group said Iranian forces shelled overnight Sunday to Monday the cities of Piranshahr, Marivan and Javanroud, posting videos with the sound of live gunfire and what appeared to be the thud of heavy weaponry.

Overnight, Turkey hit dozens of targets in northern Syria as well as northern Iraq, a week after a bomb attack in Istanbul killed six people and left 81 wounded, which Ankara blamed on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Iran currently executes more people annually than any nation other than China, according to rights groups.

UK appeal hearing to rule on 'IS bride'

The US is pressuring Ukraine to be open to peace talks with Moscow, with a top Pentagon official saying Kyiv's forces will find it hard to recover all the territory Russia has captured in the war.

The overnight raids in northern and northeastern Syria killed at least 31 people, said the British-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. They were mainly against positions held by Syrian Kurdish forces.

During the months of Russian occupation of the city, Kherson was largely spared the harsh ground fighting that has left large swaths of Ukraine in utter ruin.

Long before the final whistle at the spectacular Bedouin tent-inspired Al Bayt Stadium, the host nation's fans among the 67,372 crowd had started heading for the exits.

Erdogan and Sisi have been sparring since the military's 2013 ouster in Cairo of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, personally backed by Erdogan.

The scathing condemnation came in a filing in US bankruptcy court from John J. Ray -- an executive with 40 years of experience in corporate restructurings including the infamous implosion of Enron in 2001.

The pro-democracy blogger is currently serving a five-year sentence for "spreading false news" by sharing another user's Facebook post about police brutality.